Voices of the Past

God’s Provision:
Two Hearts and a Plan for the Future

Naomi didn’t know it, but God was at work. He had not forgotten or forsaken her. Ruth, Boaz, and she were all part of God’s tapestry.

In case you missed Part 1: Widow Naomi returned to Bethlehem with her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, also a widow. Determined to provide for herself and Naomi, Ruth goes to work in a barley field picking up the scraps left from the gleaners (Israel’s version of a work-for-your-food soup kitchen for the poor and needy). However, thanks to God’s providence, Ruth finds herself in the fields belonging to Boaz, a relative of Naomi’s husband, and a man who loves the Lord.

Boaz was ready to provide for and protect Ruth from the moment he saw her and learned her name. He’d already heard stories of her great kindness toward her mother-in-law and of her faithfulness. She had forsaken Chemosh for the God of Israel.

Boaz could have scorned her as a foreign idol worshipper and kicked her from his fields. Instead, he looked at her changed heart and her actions which testified to her character, and he welcomed her.

Part Two:

Ruth returned home to mother-in-law Naomi laden with a week’s worth of grain after only one day of work, due to Boaz’s generosity.

Naomi was doubly excited to learn that the man who’d shown Ruth such favor was Boaz, a close relative. A potential kinsman-redeemer.

Two months passed, as Ruth faithfully worked in Boaz’s fields during both the barley and wheat harvests. At this point, Naomi decided to act as a matchmaker. Scholars believe that Naomi’s main motivation was to see “Ruth happily settled” and to see Ruth provided for and safe in a land (Israel) foreign to Ruth after Naomi’s death. The fact that Boaz was a kinsman made it more likely that he would welcome Ruth as a wife.

Naomi’s plan was for Ruth to secretly go to the threshing floor where the men had been busy winnowing barley all day. She instructed Ruth to bathe, put on perfume, and dress up (good steps to help catch a man). Then, Ruth was to wait until after Boaz had eaten and drank and laid down to sleep. (Personally, I picture a festive occasion with a bounty of food and a little bit of wine after a hard day’s work of capitalizing on a good harvest.)

Boaz “just happened” to go off to an isolated corner to sleep.  Following Naomi’s plan, Ruth sneaked over, lifted Boaz’s blanket, and lay down next to him. Some interpretations state that Naomi told her to lie next to his “feet” or “legs.” Scholars contend that the implication was to “lie beside one another as husband and wife.” There are sexual undertones, but nothing in the text suggests that they had sex. Boaz wasn’t a man to take advantage of the situation. It is believed that Ruth’s act of lifting the blanket and lying next to him was “a customary way of requesting marriage.”

Boaz woke up in the middle of the night, shocked to discover a woman beside him. “Who are you?” he demanded.

“I am Ruth,” she told him and asked him to marry her. Brave woman. She took major risks here. Boaz could have accused her of being a harlot or ridiculed her for daring to think that a poor foreigner like herself could hope to marry a wealthy landowner like himself. Or he could have decided he wasn’t interested in her.

Instead, he declared he would do everything in his power to marry her. He had a choice. While it is true that as a close relative, he had the obligation and responsibility as a kinsman-redeemer to help out or act on behalf of a poor relative, nothing in the law required him to marry his relative’s widow. Custom might have suggested this, but he wasn’t under legal obligation.

He chose to pursue marriage to the virtuous woman at his side.

Likewise, Ruth wasn’t bound to seek marriage from a kinsman. She could have set her heart on any man of the village. Maybe it was more than kindness and loyalty that led her to Boaz’s blanket. Perhaps during her two months of gleaning, she’d fallen in the love with the noble man with a generous heart.

But not quite a happy, ever-after yet: There was a closer relative who had first rights to redeem Elimelek’s land and marry the son’s widow. As a man determined to follow God’s will, Boaz wanted to do everything above board. He told Ruth he would settle the matter that day.

In God’s providence, the other relative had no interest in taking on a wife whose offspring would continue someone else’s line of inheritance.

Boaz happily took Ruth as his wife, with no idea that their great-grandson, David, would one day become king of Israel.

After the death of Naomi’s husband and sons, she thought God had forsaken her. She believed that Ruth was tying herself to a miserable life by following her to Bethlehem.  But God had other plans. He blessed Ruth’s faithfulness and Boaz’s heart for Him. He worked in the situation to unite their hearts and to weave them into his great tapestry that over a thousand years later would lead to the babe in the manager. The baby that would change the world forever.

We can be confident that God is at work in our lives to work all things for good when we seek to do His will. Who knows what surprises He has planned for us?

Sources:

Lawson Younger. Jr. The NIV Application Commentary. Judges/Ruth.
Holy Bible, NIV.