• Why were they digging through someone else’s field? They weren’t committing grand theft barley.
• For context, per ancient Jewish law, impoverished people were allowed to go into the fields and glean any leftover food from the dirt and rocks.
• They’d use their collection to make a couple loaves of bread, which would feed their family for a few days.
• This is how Naomi and Ruth survived.
• They scavenged the fields for grain, wheat, and barley.
• Strangely enough, this is where Ruth’s love story begins.
• Call luck. Call it fate. I prefer to call it God’s providence.
• Whatever the circumstances, Ruth found herself gleaning in a wealthy young man’s field one day. His name was Boaz.
• As Ruth was swapping stories of his good heart and golden reputation with Naomi, Naomi’s face lit up.
• Boaz, she revealed, was a relative and a potential kinsman-redeemer for their family, and they should get married.
• I know. Your stomach likely just twisted into a knot. Did I just say Boaz was her relative? Why did Naomi get excited? Isn’t that strange?
• When you see this mention of relative, it’s speaking a lot more broadly than we assume in modern times.
• Ancient Israelites saw families as tribal relationships.
• Being from the same tribe meant they could preserve their bloodline, protect their religious rituals, and keep the family strong.
• This seemingly strange custom has everything to do with preservation.
• In the context of Mosaic Law, a kinsman-redeemer is a close relative who has the duty to marry a widow to continue the family line of the deceased.
• While the custom seems bizarre, some key cultural elements were at play.
• First, a kinsman-redeemer protected the widow from falling into debilitating poverty.
• Second, a kinsman-redeemer ensured the tribe remained strong and Abraham’s nation continued to grow.
• Boaz fit this role perfectly. Naomi, fully aware of this, begins to plan a big proposal.
• You heard that right. It was a Sadie Hawkins situation.
• Ruth was about to pop the question, but this is where the story gets even more strange.
• Naomi planned a unique, symbolic proposal.
• She told Ruth to go to the threshing floor where Boaz was sleeping, uncover his feet, and ask him to marry her. Boom, right there on the spot. Just like that.
• Your stomach likely went into another knot, didn’t it? Who sneaks up for a proposal? Now, what’s up with this whole “uncovering the feet” thing? What is that about?
• As we have seen with the example of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, uncovering feet was a sign of service and sacrifice back then—especially after a person had spent all day toiling in the fields.
• While this is still a head-scratcher for even the smartest researchers, many scholars point out that an act like this was likely a ritual that displayed servanthood and humility.
• Women would do this to let men know they were interested and open to a proposal.
• There was a ritual involved because her asking him outright was unheard of at that time.
• Ruth had to sacrifice her time, her sleep, and quite a bit of her ego.
• Her out-of-the-box proposal was an example of sacrificial love.
• Ruth followed Naomi’s instructions. Boaz then exchanged shoes at the city gate and asked for her hand in marriage.
• Yes, there is some more strange cultural context to unpack.
• It was an ancient ritual to offer something that belonged to you when hammering out a marriage proposal.
• So, after some bizarre shoe-swapping negotiations, Boaz marries Ruth.
• They have a son named Obed, the grandfather of King David, making Ruth the great-grandmother of King David.
• Ultimately, this family line led all the way to the true King of Israel.
• Ruth was the great (x30) grandmother of King Jesus. And we all lived happily ever after because of it.
• Ruth’s story is packed full of powerful symbols and strange customs. For the sake of this study, let’s zoom into three practical principles from the perplexing tale of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz.
