Third Sunday of Advent: Ruth
Ruth 3:1–18; 4:13–17
An excerpt from The Women’s Lectionary: Preaching the Women of the Bible Throughout the Year, Ashley M. Wilcox (Westminster John Knox Press, 2021)
The harvest is ending, and Naomi knows that she and Ruth need more security. Until now, the women have relied on Ruth’s daily gleanings, but that source of food will end with the harvest. So Naomi devises a plan for Ruth to marry Boaz.1 Naomi’s plan is risky: she is sending Ruth into a situation where she could be humiliated or even raped.2 But these women know that Boaz is a good man. They know this because Ruth has been gleaning with the other young women who work for him (Ruth 2:8), and women talk to each other about whether a man is trustworthy.
This passage is filled with innuendo and sexual language, which may be one of the reasons the Revised Common Lectionary skips over Ruth 3:6–18. Naomi’s goal is for Ruth to entice Boaz: she tells Ruth her to wash and anoint herself and put on her best clothes.3 Naomi then instructs Ruth to go to the threshing floor, wait until Boaz has eaten and drunk and is lying down, and uncover Boaz’s feet (a euphemism for genitalia).4 When Ruth does this, Boaz is terrified: he wakes up startled and demands to know who she is.
Instead of waiting for Boaz to tell her what to do, as Naomi told her, she proposes! She tells Boaz to “spread your cloak over your servant” (3:9), a phrase that was symbolic of marriage in the Israelite tradition. She also invokes the levirate law by saying, “You are next-of-kin [to me]” (3:9). In effect, she is telling Boaz that, as the closest male relative, he must marry her, and their first son will be considered the offspring of her deceased husband (cf. Deut. 25:5–6). Ruth is asking Boaz to act as her “kinsman-redeemer,” a word that is used in the Bible for both this kind of relative and for God (e.g., Ps. 69:18).
It is unclear what happens between Ruth and Boaz that night. Boaz sends her away at first light to protect their reputations. But he does not send Ruth away empty-handed. When Boaz gives Ruth grain, he provides food for her and Naomi and gives Ruth the hope of being filled with a child. Then Boaz uses levirate law to his advantage. He knows that there is a closer relative who could serve as kinsman-redeemer, and Boaz goes to him and asks if he wants to buy a field from Naomi. According to levirate law, if a person falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, the next-of-kin shall redeem what the relative has sold (Lev. 25:25). But in this case, the field would come with a widow—Ruth. When the closer relative realizes that Ruth’s first child would inherit the field, he forfeits his claim,5 leaving the field (and Ruth) to Boaz.
Ruth and Boaz marry, and one of the blessings of the people is the hope that their house will “be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah” (4:12). This links to another woman in Jesus’ lineage and is a reminder that for these people, Tamar is a hero. Ruth has a son named Obed, who is part of Naomi’s line under levirate law (he is considered the son of her son). Obed is the father of Jesse, who is the father of David, and the ancestor of Jesus.
Throughout this text, there are examples of people investing in each other. Ruth has followed Naomi to a strange land, and she trusts Naomi enough to put herself in a dangerous position on the threshing floor. Naomi knows that Boaz is a good man and that he will follow the law and take care of Ruth. Finally, Boaz recognizes the goodness in Ruth and Naomi, and he acts quickly to resolve the situation and marry Ruth. Each person chooses to turn toward another, and all of it builds toward God’s plan.
How have you heard the story of Ruth told before? Is the sexual language in this text surprising?
How does it change the story to omit 3:6–18, as the Revised Common Lectionary does?
What are some parallels between Ruth and Tamar?
Eunny P. Lee, “Ruth,” in Women’s Bible Commentary (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012), 147.
Patricia Tull, “Commentary on Ruth 3:1–5; 4:13–17,” Working Preacher, November 11, 2012, https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentaryid=1336.
Alphonetta Wines, “Commentary on Ruth 3:1–5; 4:13–17,” Working Preacher, November 8, 2015, https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentaryid=2617.
Katharine D. Sakenfeld, “Ruth,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible One-Volume Commentary (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010), 185.
Brent Strawn, “Commentary on Ruth 3:1–5; 4:13–17,” Working Preacher, November 8, 2009, https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentaryid=414.
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