GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
RUTH 3:1-3
In this chapter the book moves toward its climax. All of the points of Naomi life and Ruth’s in which these women have been emptied again and again are now about to be refilled—just as Ruth’s full dinner plate and overflowing baskets of grain have already hinted.
Boaz and Ruth at the Threshing Floor
3 Naomi her mother-in-law said to Ruth, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find a home for you, so that you will have a good life? 2 Boaz is our kinsman, isn’t he—the one whose servant girls you worked with? You will see: tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. 3 Wash yourself, put on perfume, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let the man see you until he has finished eating and drinking.
Naomi began to reveal her bold plan to Ruth. First she posed the question: Wasn’t it her responsibility as Ruth’s mother-in-law to provide for her? Naomi already had a complete plan in mind. She knew that it was God who was providing for her and Ruth. And Naomi didn’t want to despise God’s gift. But it’s also true that when God gives us gifts, he wants us to use them and not bury them away for safe keeping (Luke 19:11-27). An unused talent is a wasted talent, after all. So Naomi began to seize the gift God had given her.
Naomi’s idea began with Ruth’s appearance and scent. She was to have a bath, put on perfume, and then put on her best clothes. Perfume was not distilled as it is today. Perfume makers blended various substances together with oils to create pleasing scents. Their sources of material included these thirteen items and maybe more:
1, Aloe from India (the juice of a plant, Psalm 45:8; Song 4:14)
2, Bdellium from Arabia (a plant sap, NIV “aromatic resin,” Gen. 2:12; Num 11:7)
3, Calamus from India (an aromatic cane, Song 4:14; Ezekiel 27:19)
4, Cassia from Ceylon and India (a bark, Psalm 45:8)
5, Cinnamon from Ceylon (another bark, Prov. 7:17; Rev. 18:13)
6, Frankincense from Arabia (another plant sap, Isaiah 60:6; Matthew 2:11)
7, Galbanum from Persia (another plant sap, Exodus 30:34; Sirach 25:15)
8, Myrrh from Arabia (yet another plant sap, Gen. 37:25; John 19:39)
9, Nard from India (a root, Song 4:13-14; Mark 14:3; John 12:3)
10, Onycha, from the Red Sea (from a mollusk, Exodus 30:34)
11, Saffron, a local flower (Song of Solomon 4:14)
12, Stacte, a local sap (NIV “gum resin,” Exodus 30:34)
So, washed, perfumed, and well-dressed, Ruth was also to wait for just the right moment to present herself to Boaz. This wasn’t the whole plan, however. Naomi had even more in mind. But for the moment, we will focus our attention on the choice of the time. Naomi told Ruth to wait until Boaz had finished eating and drinking. Several passages in the Bible tell us that harvest was a time of special festivities. The men worked hard all day, and they celebrated, too (we would say that they “partied hard”). “People rejoice at the harvest” (Isaiah 9:3), there was shouting (Jeremiah 48:33), and there was singing (Isaiah 16:9-10). The reason, then, for waiting until Boaz was finished eating and drinking was to be sure to catch him when he was no longer doing these things; Naomi wanted Ruth to find Boaz when he was alone. This was forward, but not inappropriate. Ruth wasn’t going to offer to sleep with him (that’s the impression many people in our culture have today, and in many other cultures around the world). That assumption only shows how deeply accustomed to sexual sins we have become. But it was something that wouldn’t even have occurred to Ruth. Sex outside of marriage was something a woman did if she was an adulteress (2 Samuel 11:4), or a prostitute (Judges 16:1), or a seductress (Proverbs 2:16). Any of those warranted the death penalty under the Law of Moses (Leviticus 20:10) and condemnation from God on the Last Day (1 Corinthians 6:9).
Ruth was none of these things. One part of wanting to talk with Boaz alone was to allow him the dignity of saying no. By doing that, Ruth insured that if he might say yes, it was not because he had violated her, or that he felt obligated because there were witnesses, but because he chose her; because he wanted her. Ruth wanted their marriage, if they were to marry, to be honest and truthful. Then they would be partners in their marriage covenant, as the Bible teaches (Malachi 2:14). Marriage, the New Testament says, “should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure” (Hebrews 13:4). Ruth wanted these things for herself, so that her marriage would not only please her and her husband, but so that it would please God, too. This is a lesson we all need to take to heart. Ruth was showing that she feared, loved and trusted in God above all things.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota