Chapter Three

Ruth asks Boaz for marriage in the name of the law of kinship-redemption.

Ruth 3:1. And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, so that it goes well with you? Naomi begins to strive to arrange Ruth’s fate, to provide her with that “rest” (Hebrew manoach), which she long desired for both daughters-in-law (Ruth 1:9, menuchah)—marriage and life under the protection of a husband.

Ruth 3:2. Now Boaz, with whose young women you have been, is a kinsman of ours; behold, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor; Ruth 3:3. Wash yourself, anoint yourself, put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to him until he has finished eating and drinking; Ruth 3:4. and when he lies down, note the place where he lies; then go and uncover his feet and lie down; he will tell you what you should do. Naomi intends to arrange Ruth’s marriage with Boaz on the basis of the law of kinship, or kinsman-redeemer (cf. Num 27:1-11)—the so-called levirate marriage (cf. Deut 25:5-10), from which, in her opinion, Boaz should not refuse (legally) and could not refuse (morally) in view of his known behavior toward Ruth (chapter II). The measure for approaching Boaz suggested by her to Ruth fully corresponds to the legal and moral concepts of the ancient Hebrew way of life, sanctioned by law, and in no way can be judged from the perspective of European Christian concepts. (Cf. blessed Theodoret, Question 2 on Ruth: “Some blame both Naomi and Ruth, the former for suggesting and the latter for obeying and fulfilling, i.e., sleeping at Boaz’s feet”). Though the letter of the law (Deut 25:5-10) does not directly speak of the obligation of other kinsmen—not brothers—to restore the seed of a childless deceased through levirate marriage, the spirit of the law doubtless imposed this obligation on them also, though later rabbinic literalism did not even extend this obligation to a brother born after the death of his childless brother (Mishna, Yevamot II, 1–2). Winnowing of grain in Palestine (v. 2) in ancient times and now happens in the late afternoon, because around 4 o’clock in the afternoon a favorable wind usually blows from the Mediterranean Sea (W. Nowack, Hebraeische Archaeologie, Vol. I, Leipzig 1894, p. 233–234). Washing, anointing the body, and putting on festive clothes (instead of, probably, “widow’s garments” (cf. Gen 38:14); according to the Midrash, p. 44, Ruth put on Sabbath or festival clothes) were the preparations of Ruth according to Naomi’s advice, similar to a bride’s preparations for marriage (cf. Ezek 16:9-13) and in this case were designed to make the most favorable impression on Boaz. The same purpose was served by, in Naomi’s mind, Ruth’s meeting with Boaz after the latter’s meal, when “his heart will be merry” (v. 7), i.e., in good spirits.

Ruth 3:5. And she said to her, “All that you have said, I will do. Ruth 3:6. And she went down to the threshing floor and did exactly as her mother-in-law had instructed her. Ruth, feeling the maternal love and life wisdom in Naomi’s counsel, carries out the latter’s instructions precisely.

Ruth 3:7. And Boaz ate and drank, and his heart became merry, and he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. And she came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. In his patriarchal simplicity of life, Boaz’s wealth and prominence did not prevent him from directly participating in field and other farm work, nor from keeping watch himself at night over the grain in sheaves and grain. The source of Boaz’s merriment, the Midrash (p. 45) indicates in the thanksgiving prayer he performed after eating. When he fell asleep, Ruth, according to Naomi’s instruction (v. 4), lay down at his feet, as if entirely entrusting herself to his will and protection.

Ruth 3:8. At midnight he was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. Ruth 3:9. And he said, “Who are you?” And she said, “I am Ruth, your maidservant; spread your cloak over your maidservant, for you are a kinsman-redeemer. When Boaz awoke at midnight and noticed a woman near him and asked her name, Ruth, naming herself, calls herself Boaz’s maidservant—in the sense of one needing Boaz’s mercy and protection—and then asks him: “spread your cloak over your maidservant, because you are a kinsman-redeemer” (Hebrew: goel, LXX: ἀγχιστεύς ἀγχσιευτής). “To spread one’s cloak” over a woman (cf. Ezek 16:8)—a well-known symbol not only among the ancient Hebrews but also among Arabs (Jacobs. Studien en arab. Dichtern III, 58)—of not simply protection in general (as in Ruth 2:12) but directly of marriage, a covenant of marriage; Ruth motivates her request for the latter: “because you are a kinsman-redeemer”—goel—a person who, by virtue of kinship closeness, has not only the right but also the obligation to render every kind of material, moral, and such assistance to a related, in whatever way suffering, family (Lev 25:25-26; 1 Kgs 16:11 and others); in relation to a childless widow of a kinsman, the obligation is to take her as wife (cf. v. 13). In distinction from the properly levirate marriage in its original ancient sense, according to which in this land the family, name, or house of the deceased was restored (Gen 38:7-11; Deut 25:6), in the words of Ruth (v. 9) and in all that follows in the narrative of Ruth (see Ruth 4:3-5) there is in view a modified form of levirate in combination with the law of preservation of inheritances within each tribe (Num 27:1-11), wherein the requirement of “restoring the seed to the deceased” (Gen 38:7-11, Deut 25:5-6) recedes: Boaz, marrying Ruth, built his own house, not rebuilt the house of Mahlon (Ruth 4:11-13), so that the child born to him from Ruth, Obed, was called the son of the former (Ruth 4:21), not the latter.

Ruth 3:10. And he said, “You are blessed by the Lord, my daughter! You have shown more kindness in this last matter than in the first, that you have not gone after the young men, poor or rich; Ruth 3:11. And now, my daughter, don’t fear; I will do all that you have asked, for all the people of my town know that you are a woman of excellence; Boaz responds with all sincerity to the trusting movement of the poor woman’s soul; as a father to his daughter, he blesses Ruth and praises her, finding that this determination of hers to seek protection from an elderly Boaz (according to the Midrash, p. 47, Boaz was at that time 80 years old), passing by young men, is such a “deed of kindness” (Hebrew chesed more precisely than in the Russian translation, in the Slavonic: “mercy,” Vulgate “misericordia”), which by its worth surpasses the “former” deed of kindness, i.e., the selfless abandonment of her native home and homeland for love of Naomi (Ruth 1:16)—surpasses it, inasmuch as in the former respect she acted according to the natural inclinations of the heart, in respect to Boaz she was guided by a sense of duty and the inspiration of piety, contrary to the impulses and sympathies of the female heart toward young suitors. Reassuring the trembling Ruth, Boaz promises to fulfill every request of hers concerning that which belongs to her by right—of course, now not as a Moabitess, but as a member of the Israelite community, into which Ruth has entered (Ruth 1:16) and according to whose laws she acts. This latter and altogether high dignity of Ruth as a “woman of excellence” (“escheth-chail,” cf. Prov 31:10); LXX: γυνὴ δυνάμεως, Vulgate mulier virtutis, Slavonic: “woman of strength”—a more accurate translation of the Hebrew than the Russian), testifies, according to Boaz’s words, to the general opinion of her among his compatriots, the inhabitants of Bethlehem; (“all the gate,” Hebrew kol-schaar—the whole city, inasmuch as the gate in cities was the gathering place of the population for public affairs, legal, and judicial (Deut 25:7; Isa 29:20-21; Prov 22:22 and others); LXX: Πασα φυλὴ μου, Slavonic). Such an appraisal by Boaz of Ruth’s moral worth is very important for preventing and dispelling erroneous, alien to this epoch and milieu, judgments on the same subject.

Ruth 3:12. Although it is true that I am a kinsman-redeemer, there is another kinsman-redeemer more closely related than I; Ruth 3:13. wait this night; in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do so. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until morning. Ruth 3:14. So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor. Inclined toward Ruth and ready to enter into marriage with her, knowing also that she desires marriage with him, Boaz nevertheless insists that this undoubted right of Ruth must be realized by the lawful, formal path, that it is necessary publicly (Ruth 4:2) to offer the option of taking Ruth to the kinsman more closely related to her than Boaz. The Midrash (p. 47) and the rabbis (Rashi and others), standing on the letter of the law and supposing that levirate marriage was obligatory only for the brother of the deceased, call this presumed brother of Mahlon Tov (understanding the word tob (v. 13) as a proper name), but the latter must be attributed to pure rabbinic invention: in Ruth 4:1 Ruth’s kinsman is not named (to which attention was already drawn by Ibn Ezra). Ruth was to remain on Boaz’s threshing floor until morning, that is, until the full break of dawn (v. 13–14): Boaz did not send her away immediately that night, on the one hand, so as not to awaken any suspicion in her of Boaz’s unwillingness to fulfill her request, on the other—to prevent possible danger to Ruth when returning at night from the night sentries (cf. Song 5:7); early, before dawn, Ruth was to leave Boaz’s threshing floor because “propriety required avoiding all gossip, which would have had absolutely no foundation” (Josephus “Jewish Antiquities” V, 9, 3).

Ruth 3:15. And he said, “Bring the mantle you are wearing and hold it.” She held it, and he measured out six measures of barley into it and laid it on her; and he went into the city. Perhaps this wise concern for good reputation—his own and Ruth’s—rather than merely disposition and care for Ruth’s and Naomi’s subsistence (v. 17) prompted Boaz’s gift to Ruth—6 measures (of uncertain quantity) of barley, which he poured for Ruth into a cloth and laid upon her shoulders. In giving Ruth this burden, with which people had become accustomed to see Ruth, Boaz prevented suspicion that might have arisen in all who knew Ruth, in returning early from Boaz; eliminate such suspicions was all the more necessary because by Jewish traditional law, in the presence of these suspicions, he could not have married Ruth: “if anyone is suspected of relations with a gentile woman, then, although she has converted to Judaism, he should not marry her” (Mishna, Yevamot, II, 8, cf. Toseph. 4, 6). The Midrash understands the 6 measures of barley given by Boaz to Ruth allegorically: of the six or eight descendants of Ruth, endowed with 6 highest qualities: David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, Daniel, and the Messiah (p. 52). With Ruth, perhaps, Boaz himself also went into the city (but the Vulgate sees in the concluding words of v. 15 speech about Ruth alone: ingressa est civitatem; however, the feminine form tabo instead of the accepted masculine form iabo are found in many codices of Hebrew texts according to Kennicott Rossi, for example, №№ 1, 47, 76, 93, 100 and others). According to the Midrash (p. 52), Boaz went with Ruth, protecting her from attacks by young men.

Ruth 3:16. And she came to her mother-in-law. She said, “How is it with you, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her. Ruth 3:17. And she said, “These six measures of barley he gave me and said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ Ruth 3:18. And she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has finished the matter today. The meaning of Naomi’s question to Ruth upon her return the Midrash (p. 52) conveys; “are you still free or do you already belong to a husband?”, to which Ruth answered: “I am still free.” The supply of barley brought by Ruth—a gift from Boaz—still more confirms Naomi in her confidence in his good disposition toward Ruth, and she advises Ruth to remain at home (as betrothed to Boaz) in firm hope of quick, on the very same day, and exact settlement of Ruth’s fate by Boaz, who will not rest until the matter is complete: “In the virtuous, ‘yes’ is always ‘yes’ and ‘no’ is ‘no’,” notes the Midrash (p. 58). * * * “By your deed,” blessed Theodoret explains Boaz’s words to Ruth (v. 10), “you have shown that you acted not out of lust: otherwise you would have gone to young men, reasoning not about wealth or poverty, but only about the satisfaction of desire. On the contrary, you came to a man who by age could be your father. For this is what the word ‘daughter’ means” (Answer to Question 2 on Ruth, p. 316–317).