Introduction
For the last three weeks, we’ve been looking at the book of Ruth in the Old Testament. It’s August; people are away a lot, so I thought I should start this morning by quickly summarising the story so far.
It all starts in Chapter 1 with a series of tragedies, disappointments and setbacks. A family leaves their hometown because of a famine and relocates to an ungodly place called Moab.
The husband, Elimelek, dies. The two grown-up sons marry outside of God’s people. For ten years, neither couple is able to have children. Then the two sons die, leaving Elimelek’s wife Naomi with her two daughters-in-law, all three, now penniless widows. And even though one of those daughters-in-law, Ruth, loves and stands by Naomi, chapter 1 ends with Naomi returning to Israel dismayed and empty handed, complaining that her life has become bitter.
The opening chapter of Ruth could hardly be bleaker. The one faint glimmer of hope is this; Israelite family law at the time provided a potential lifeline for destitute widows. The nearest male relative, though he was under no obligation to do so, would be asked to consider taking on responsibility for a widow’s well-being by marrying her. He was called a guardian-redeemer, and this was Naomi and Ruth’s only real chance of avoiding a lifetime of abject poverty.
In chapter 2, Naomi begins to wonder if there is perhaps a way out, because a kind, considerate and godly man with a good job, called Boaz, who just happens to be single, is so kind to Ruth that maybe, just maybe, Cupid’s arrows might fly. In addition, he is related to the dead man Elimelek so qualifies as a potential guardian-redeemer.
But Boaz turns out to be no Casanova. And after a promising start, it all goes quiet. The tension starts to build in chapter 2. Will he, or won’t he, show any interest? Has he got eyes for Ruth or not?
By the beginning of chapter 3, the harvest has ended. Ruth will soon have no reason or opportunity to be near this man. No doubt, she begins to wonder to herself, “Should I, or shouldn't I, force the issue?”
And so we left chapter 2 last Sunday, holding our breath. We want answers. But we are left in suspense. Isn’t it so hard to trust God when you’re waiting and waiting, and just don’t know where you stand?
Some of you might be in a waiting season at the moment. What’s God got for me? Where am I going? What will my exam results be? What career path am I going to take? Where am I going to live? Will I marry or remain single? What will my medical tests reveal? What is my diagnosis going to mean for me?
Psalm 130.5 says, “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.” Does that sound familiar? Well, in his word we put our hope.
So let’s read the next bit of the story, where Naomi decides it’s all or nothing time.
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. Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 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. 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.
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. In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! “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.”
“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. 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. Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 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.”
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.” 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.
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 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’” Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”
This is the word of God.
The plot thickens
So Naomi and Ruth throw caution to the wind in an audacious move that I would tend not to advise any woman, young or old, to try at home. There are some things that do not translate so well from culture to culture, and creeping up unannounced, pulling back the duvet on a man’s bed and startling him in the middle of the night is one of those things. I’ll come back to that in a minute.
But first, another thing that we might not understand is what winnowing is. Having lived my whole life in towns or cities, and having taken no interest in history at school, it will be no surprise to you that my expertise and familiarity with pre-industrial agricultural practices is zero. But, be reassured that after some painstaking research, I have learned plenty about winnowing barley this week.
Winnowing consists of energetically throwing a harvested pile of straw and grain into the air with a large fork. The useless chaff is blown away by the cool evening breeze, while the edible grain is collected in piles as it falls back to the threshing floor. This is what Boaz will be doing one evening, says v2.
Here’s the plot. Verses 3-4 tell us that Naomi devises a plan in which Ruth will appeal for marriage to her guardian-redeemer.
Ruth will put on her best dress and perfume, and silently approach Boaz when he’s asleep, exhausted from the day’s hard work and sleeping off a hearty supper and a few drinks. She will then remove the bedcovers from his feet as he sleeps, snuggle up at the end of his bed and wait to see what happens.
This she obediently does. In the middle of the night, something - someone - makes him jump. It’s dark. He’s half asleep. He’s not sure what’s going on. But he can smell perfume. And as his eyes adjust, he can make just about make out the silhouette of a woman. Who’s this lovely, sweet-smelling, attractive young female at the end of the bed?
Faith is always risky
Here's the first thing this passage teaches us; faith is always risky. Faith is all about taking risks. I hardly need to convince you that this plan is fraught with risk. The tension rises and the suspense increases because so much can go wrong here.
What if someone sees Ruth and accuses her of indecency, trashing her good name? What if Boaz reads the signals wrongly and interprets this as a flirtatious seduction?
Here he is, in a dark room, alone with her, in her best clothes, smelling like a garden of flowers, introducing herself with her soft, feminine voice. Many lesser men would assume they’d hit the jackpot. We might suppose from our modern perspective that all this is inappropriately racy and suggestive, but we would be wrong. It is so risky. But it is not risqué.
As it happens, up to now, we have plenty of evidence that Boaz is a righteous and virtuous man, so it is no surprise to us that he acts completely honourably towards Ruth.
Nevertheless, it’s not at all clear how this plan will work out. Naomi herself in v4 doesn’t really know. She just says to Ruth, “he will tell you what to do.” There’s no detail, no plan-b, no guarantees and no assurances.
Ruth has to take a step of faith. I hope we haven’t forgotten how it feels to step out in faith! There’s a testimony I heard four years ago that I share whenever I train people for prayer ministry.
A prophetic evangelist called Rachel Hickson opened the post one day and found a letter from someone she had met only once – and very briefly. This is what the letter said:
Dear Rachel, you came and spoke at my church on Mothering Sunday last year. At the end of your talk, you invited people to the front for prayer, in particular women who were unable to conceive and carry children. I was in the ladies’ at the time but a friend of mine ran out and said to me, ‘Come back in, there’s an appeal for women who long to conceive but have so far not been able to.’
So I left the ladies’ and walked to the front where the team was praying for those who had come forward. It was you came to me and as you did, you simply looked at me and said, ‘The Lord is giving you two zebras.’ Then you moved on to the next person.
I have no idea whether you knew what you were saying or if you have any memory of it. But what you need to know is this. My husband and I have a marriage of mixed ethnicity, black and white. We have been trying unsuccessfully for years to conceive. Every day, we’ve been praying that God will give us a little zebra. [That was their love language name for the mixed-ethnicity child they longed for]. Then she said, “I enclose a photograph of the twins that were born nine months after you spoke that word.
Rachel remembered the moment very well and had, at the time, no idea what it was about. It was high risk faith. High risk obedience.
Francis Chan in his brilliant book Crazy Love asks, “What, specifically, am I doing in my life that requires me to take a step of faith?” Ouch!
So be inspired and provoked by the faith and initiative and boldness and obedience of these two women. And let’s understand that the sovereignty of God in all things never means we sit back, do nothing, and wait for God to work.
In v9, Ruth immediately averts any potential misunderstanding. She gives no opportunity for Boaz to misconstrue the situation. “I am your servant, Ruth” she says. Then, heart in mouth, she says, “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.”
She is not exactly proposing to Boaz. But she is asking him to propose to her. She is saying, “I want you to protect me, to be a refuge of safety and to provide for me, as my husband.”
This is amazing. Even in our culture that assumes equality, it’s usually men who initiate courtship and who propose marriage. In those days, and in that conservative society, this was totally not done.
A woman proposing marriage to a man! Not only that; a poor woman, proposing to a wealthy man. Not only that; a foreign woman proposing to an Israelite man. Not only that; a younger woman proposing to an older man, as we’ll see in a minute. Not only that; a female labourer proposing to her male boss.
The power dynamics, the sexual politics, the social customs, the conventional gender roles, the whole lot is out the window!
Will it work? Boaz, remember, is not obligated to act as a guardian-redeemer, only to consider it. But notice, Boaz tells Ruth, not how out of line she is, but how kind she is.
Love is always kind
What is it about Ruth that steals Boaz’ heart? She's a young woman in a nice dress and wearing perfume, what’s not to like? I don’t doubt there is some physical attraction, that would be natural, though it is not mentioned here. Boaz is struck by her kindness to him (v10) which exceeds the kindness towards her destitute mother-in-law that has been on display throughout chapters 1 and 2.
Boaz has spent weeks quietly observing Ruth’s faithfulness, her gentle servant heart, her devotion, her love for Naomi, her fierce loyalty to her, her willingness to work from dawn till dusk gleaning leftover grain. And now her audacious faith.
Boaz then says, v10, “You haven’t gone running after younger men.” So that must mean, as I just said, that Boaz is noticeably older than other eligible bachelors. And he calls Ruth “my daughter” which suggests there is quite an age gap.
All of which raises a delicate question. Why, in that society, would an older man with property and a good income be unmarried? That would be most unusual. Was it just that he hadn’t yet met Miss Perfect? Was he perhaps a widower? Was he simply not the marrying type? Did he perhaps have some physical disfigurement? Did his personal hygiene leave a lot to be desired?
Here’s the reason no girl wanted to marry Boaz; it’s because of who his mother was. Matthew 1.5 tells us that his mother was Rahab – that’s the Rahab from Joshua 6; a prostitute who betrayed her own people. For some reason, none of the girls in Bethlehem want a Canaanite, double-dealing, retired sex worker as a mother-in-law!
Boaz is clearly a lovely guy, and he’s done well for himself, but he’s got baggage, and no one wants to marry into his family. Except Ruth, who sees his heart and accepts him for who he is.
No wonder Boaz says to Ruth in v10, “The Lord bless you for this kindness.” This is the first woman who has ever seen him and loved him for who he is and who is unconcerned about his dodgy background and questionable family tree.
Despite the shadow over his past, Ruth chooses him. And listen, no matter what you’ve done and where you’ve been, if you are a Christian, you were chosen to be adopted and cherished by your heavenly Father. You are the focus of his affection. You are the apple of his eye. You are his son, his daughter, by faith. He has lavished grace upon you. You were once cut off from mercy, but now you are part of a chosen people, a holy, treasured possession. God’s love for you is always kind.
Boaz tells her to stay till morning. It wouldn’t do to send her off into the dark night all alone.
This chapter paints such a beautiful picture of godly masculinity and godly femininity. Notice the lengths they go to protect each other’s honour, the integrity, the respect for boundaries and the duty of care. “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor” he says in v14. He’ll have no one whispering that she is a flirtatious tart. Because love is always kind.
Wow! A few weeks earlier, Ruth arrived in Bethlehem as a heartbroken widow from a foreign land. Now, she’s pretty much engaged to a worthy and godly man who values her and cherishes her above all, v11, for her true beauty; the purity of her character.
God is always working
Faith is always risky. Love is always kind. Third and final point; God is always working.
The book of Ruth teaches us how God’s hidden hand sovereignly operates in our lives. Looking back over the story so far, even as Naomi is grumbling bitterly on her return from Moab, the Lord’s perfect timing is graciously bringing forth an abundant barley harvest.
Then it just so happens that Ruth lands in Boaz’ field. Then it just so happens that he notices her. All the way through, God shows he has not forgotten Naomi by graciously providing grain for her time and time again, including here at the end of chapter 3.
We sometimes sing, “All my life you have been faithful, all my life you have been so, so good.” It’s true. In so many ways, most of them subtle and mundane, the providence of God orders your steps, provides for your needs, goes before you, removes obstacles, protects and defends you, keeps you from falling and works all things for your good. The Lord has not forgotten you, nor will he ever forsake you.
When the day dawns, v15, Boaz sends Ruth off, but not before pouring six measures of barley into her shawl to once again bless Naomi with.
Ruth arrives home, and Naomi asks, no doubt having slept very little, “Well, how did it go?” And the chapter ends with more uncertainty, more waiting, more suspense. How will it all turn out? We’ll just have to wait till the next chapter.
But, because faith has taken the risks and love has shown its kindness, we can trust that God will keep working his purposes and complete the good work he has begun.
Ending
And so they both live happily ever after… Right? Except, unfortunately, there’s a twist in the tale. A complication.
Boaz is a man of honesty and integrity, so he feels honour-bound to tell Ruth in v12 that there’s a closer male relative who therefore has first refusal for a potential marriage proposal. There is a legal process that must be respected and who knows what the outcome will be?
The book of Ruth is a beautiful short story, skilfully told, tucked away in the Old Testament between two books full of smiting and carnage. It’s a rose between two thorns. But Ruth is not just a literary gem, it’s God’s word, eternally true, always alive, and God wants to speak through it to you today.
Are you ready to take risks in faith this week? Are you committed to showing this week to all those you meet, as 1 Corinthians 13 says, that love is kind? Are you freshly awakened to the reality in your life that, even if we don’t see it or feel it, God is always working?
Let’s stand to pray...
Sermon preached at King's Church Darlington, 10 August 2025
