FRAMEWORKS: Ruth 3 & 4 - scroll down

FRAMEWORKS: Ruth 3: Ruth and Boaz at the Threshing Floor

 

v.1-5 Naomi Instructs Ruth on Potential Courtship Rites

v.6,7 Ruth obeys Naomi

v.8-13 Boaz understands, accepts & instructs Ruth

v.14-18 Ruth Reports back to Naomi

 

 

v.1-5 Naomi Instructs Ruth on Potential Courtship Rites

 

v.1 One day Ruth's mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for.

v.2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.

v.3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking.

v.4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”

v.5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered.

 

[Notes: Naomi is naturally concerned for Ruth's future and knowing Boaz is still single, is wealthy and is in line to become a possible guardian redeemer, she thinks of a way that Ruth can ‘test the waters' and see if Boaz is interested in her. She instructs Ruth accordingly.]

 

 

v.6,7 Ruth obeys Naomi

 

v.6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do.

v.7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.

 

[Notes: Ruth follows Naomi's instructions.]

 

 

v.8-13 Boaz understands, accepts & instructs Ruth

 

v.8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet!

v.9 “Who are you?” he asked.

“I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”

v.10 “The Lord bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor.

v.11 And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.

v.12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I.

v.13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.”

 

[Notes: When Boaz wakes in the night and sees Ruth, he knows exactly what is happening and says he would be very willing to become her guardian-redeemer but he is not first in line in the family, so he must check out the family first.]

 

 

v.14-18 Ruth Reports back to Naomi

 

v.14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.”

v.15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town.

v.16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”

Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her

v.17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'”

v.18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”

 

[Notes: In the early morning, he sends her off with a gift of more barley. She reports back to Naomi who understands the situation and simply counsels her to be patient .]

 

 

 

FRAMEWORKS: Ruth 4: Boaz Marries Ruth

 

v.1-12 Boaz Negotiates for Ruth

v.13-17 Naomi Gains a Son

v.18-22 The Genealogy of David

 

 

v.1-12 Boaz Negotiates for Ruth

 

v.1-4 Boaz approaches the first in line and presents hm with his obligation

v.1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

v.2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

v.3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.

v.4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.”

“I will redeem it,” he said.

 

v.5-8 When he points it is not only the land but also Ruth, the man backs off

v.5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”

v.6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.”

v.7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

v.8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.

 

v.9-12 Boaz makes it official with the elders who pronounce their blessing

v.9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon.

v.10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”

v.11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

v.12 Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

 

[Notes: In this chapter we see the one example of the outworking of the Law of the Kinsman-Redeemer. Boaz points out the land that has become available and then the need of this widow. The man first in line to be redeemer would like the land but when he realises the widow, Ruth, comes with it, he concedes the situation and makes way for Boaz to step in and redeem both the land and Ruth – by marrying her. ‘Passing a sandal' was a way to signify the passing of an agreement and the town elders agree with this and bless the union.]

 

 

v.13-17 Naomi Gains a Son

 

v.13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

v.14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord , who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!

v.15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

v.16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him.

v.17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

 

[Notes: The two are married and in due season Obed is born and Naomi becomes the grandmother she had not been able to be before. Obed becomes a significant member of what eventually becomes the Messiah's family tree.]

 

 

v.18-22 The Genealogy of David

 

v.18 This, then, is the family line of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

v.19 Hezron the father of Ram,

Ram the father of Amminadab,

v.20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon the father of Salmon,

v.21 Salmon the father of Boaz,

Boaz the father of Obed,

v.22 Obed the father of Jesse,

and Jesse the father of David.

 

[Notes: The family tree is laid out and shows how Ruth had played a significant part in creating the family tree that flowed on to David and was later acknowledged to be a significant part of the Messiah's family tree. See also Mt 1:5,6. Ruth, a foreigner, is thus grafted into the Messiah's family tree.

 

To Summarise: In this simple story we see

An amazing and beautifully simple story with profound messages.]

     

      

Design Criteria 1. Divided by main sub-headings which are also listed at the top. 2. Notes after each section reiterate the content of what has just been read, or expand or clarify it. For these particular chapters we felt additional explanations would be helpful for the reader to explain customs that would be foreign to the modern reader. 3. In 4:1-12 we added supplementary subheadings for additional clarification. 4. For this particular book we added a summary of the 'big picture' of what the book is all about. 5. Note also the colour coding we use to distinguish headings, notes etc. from the blue text. 6. For this particular book, as it is quite short, we put chapters 1 & 2 together and here 3 & 4 together for easy flow of the story.