Friday, September 17, 2010

God Is At Work - The Story of Ruth Part III - A Strange Proposal, Part 4 of 31

TEXT: "One day Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to Ruth, 'My daughter, I must find a home for you where you will be well provided for.  Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours.  Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on 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.  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.'  'I will do whatever you say,' Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do" (Ruth 3:1-6).

IDEA: Human ingenuity may serve God's providence.

PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate that human means and God's sovereign purposes can work together

Listen to this passage in Ruth 3:1-6:

"One day Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to Ruth, 'My daughter, I must find a home for you where you will be well provided for. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. Wash and perfume yourself, and put on 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. 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.' 'I will do whatever you say,' Ruth answered.  So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do."

How does it make you feel when you hear it?

I. Naomi gives her daughter-in-law some instructions on how to get a husband.

Ruth was to bathe herself, put on perfume, and get dressed in her best clothes (Ruth 3:3).

Taking a bath wasn't as easy to do then, but using perfume was as common then as cologne or perfume today (Song of Solomon 1:3). Perfumed oil was particularly needed in that hot climate.

Literature outside the Bible suggests that Naomi may have instructed Ruth to dress as a bride. Certainly she wanted Ruth to look and smell her most alluring. Her garment, however, was an outer garment to keep her warm.

Ruth was to go down to the threshing floor (Ruth 3:3).

Naomi calculated as carefully as she could to set up the "right" kind of situation.

Ruth was not to be seen or heard by Boaz until exactly the right moment.

She was to wait until Boaz finished his dinner. Why would that be important?

Then Ruth from her hidden vantage point is to watch Boaz's movements and carefully note the place where he lies down (Ruth 3:4). Why would that be important?

Ruth was to lay bare Boaz's feet (by laying back the large mantle in which he slept).

Naomi was suggesting that the two would not talk until they were totally alone—or at least the only one awake. He would not awake until his feet were exposed to the cold night chill.

II. We have questions about this secretive scheme to get a husband.

Was this custom well-known to the first readers of this book, or was this Naomi's own and highly unusual invention?

Why didn't Naomi approach Boaz herself with the responsibility he had as a near relative?

Naomi may not have intended for Ruth to be seductive. Suppose it had gone wrong and Boaz had responded out of passion as a lecherous old man?

Do you think that God would use a scheme like this to accomplish His purposes?