[Read Ruth 3:1-5]
This past week I was talking to someone about my call to ministry. It completely caught me off guard—and everyone else—but once I was certain God was calling me to the ministry, I had no doubt in my mind. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God wanted me to be a Minister of the Word. Yet, this certainty was definitely tested and strengthened. I had this foolish idea that since God was calling me to the ministry EVERYTHING would go smoothly and fall into place. Yet, that’s not how it went.
I went into my first interview with so much optimism. I didn’t really prepare for it. Why would I need to if God was working all of this out? Yet I bombed the interview—it was SO embarrassing—and I was not offered the job. This caused me to question whether I was even called into the ministry. Had I heard God wrong? Weren’t things supposed to go smoothly if I WAS called? I wrestled with these questions for about six months, until God more deeply confirmed his calling on my life. Later that year, someone from our church told me to re-apply for the job. I thought they were crazy. I had already been turned down once, why should I embarrass myself again? But, they were someone I respected, so I listened to them, reapplied for the position, and got another interview. The interview went much better……but I still didn’t get the job. About a month or two later, the church called me, asking if I was still interested in the position, they were willing to take a chance on me. The rest is history.
Last week I mentioned something similar. We knew God was calling us to this church, we knew this is what he wanted, so why weren’t things happening smoothly? Why were things difficult? I came across this quote from Sinclair Ferguson that answers the question, “In a fallen world there are obstacles in the way, roadblocks that need to be dealt with…When the work of God begins to advance, obstacles appear in the way.” (76). That’s a truth I have learned the hard way—but I truth I’ve experienced over and over again.
We’ve watched some of this happen throughout the book of Ruth. We may also be seeing some of this in today’s passage. Remember how things ended last week. Ruth was living with Naomi and working in Boaz’s field till the end of the barley harvest—which was about two months long. Now take a moment to put yourself in Naomi’s position. She knew Boaz was a redeemer. She knew Boaz was caring for her and Ruth. She knew Ruth has been working in his field day after day after day for the past two months. And NOTHING. Sure they had a lot of barley, but Boaz wasn’t making his move. Boaz hadn’t stepped in to fulfill one of the roles of redeemer. He hadn’t asked Ruth to marry him.
There’s a lot of speculation about why this was happening. In all reality, we don’t know why things haven’t moved quicker. We know Boaz isn’t hesitating because he’s irresponsible or lazy or not fulfilling his role as redeemer. From the story so far—and later on—we know that he’s not that type of man. We know there’s another redeemer in town—possibly more?—so some have speculated each was waiting for the other to act. Especially Boaz, because Boaz knows the other man is a closer relative, who has the right to act first. So, possibly, Boaz was waiting for him to make the first move. Others have wondered if there was hesitation because Ruth was a Moabite. Either way, it seems like Naomi decided action needed to be taken. So, she does.
It’s interesting, at the beginning of chapter one we see Elimilech taking initiative. At the beginning of chapter two we see Ruth taking the initiative. Now, at the beginning of chapter three we see Naomi take the initiative. Eventually, at the beginning of chapter four we’ll see Boaz take the initiative.
In this week’s passage, Naomi takes the initiative by saying, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?” (Ruth 3:1, ESV). Once again, in order to understand the importance of this statement, we need to flashback to chapter one, to another prayer of Naomi’s over Ruth. Last week, we looked at Naomi’s prayer that the Lord would deal kindly with Ruth. This week, we’ll look at the very next part of the prayer. Naomi prays, “The LORD grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” (Ruth 1:9, ESV). She prayed Ruth would find rest in the house of a husband—provision and protection. Now, she takes responsibility for the answer of that prayer. She feels the burden of finding rest, protection, and provision for Ruth. To a large degree, Naomi is acting like a mother to Ruth at this point. Ruth is not some foreign, daughter-in-law anymore. Naomi sees her as a daughter and feels the burden of providing for her needs.
Once again, this has been a theme throughout the book. Who is granting Ruth rest? Naomi or the Lord? Both. Naomi prayed that the Lord would give her rest, and then recognizes the Lord will use her to give Ruth rest. This is how God works in the world. Of course, there are times when God does something miraculous and works outside the normal way. However, MOST OF THE TIME God is carrying out his purposes through the normal things we do every day.
James has strong words for people who don’t recognize this. He says, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:14–16, ESV). Here’s what he’s saying. If someone comes to you hungry and naked, and you have the ability to meet their needs, but, instead, says, “I’ll pray for you,” that’s not faith. It’s very possible that God is planning on providing for this person THROUGH YOU and the gifts He’s given you. Do you have faith that he will and that he will provide for you in return? But this can go even deeper. What if YOU ARE the person who is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food? Should you simply say, “May God give me what I need to be warmed and fed” and do nothing about it? No. You pray that God will provide for you. You trust He will take care of you. Then, because of that faith, you do something. You go to work—and work hard. You go out and try to scrape together a living to the best of your ability—all the while trusting God will give you whatever you need.
This is what Naomi is doing. She prayed that God would provide rest for Ruth. Now she recognizes her opportunity to meet that need. So, she comes up with a plan. It’s a well thought out, well timed plan. Things have to be a certain way and happen at a certain time. As Naomi explains the plan to Ruth, you can tell she’s been thinking about it for quite a while, making sure each detail is in place.
Again, I feel like it’s important to say this: This is how God works! He doesn’t expect us to go through life, flying by the seat of our pants. He gave us a brain for a reason. We also have the Spirit, leading and guiding us at every moment—even when we’re making plans. God brings about his plan through our plans—even our failed plans. I have talked with some pastors about this over the years, who say they won’t prepare their sermons because they want to be “led by the Holy Spirit.” My typical response is, “Isn’t the Holy Spirit with you throughout the rest of the week? I believe I’m being led by the Holy Spirit as I study God’s Word, as I read commentaries, as I create an outline, as I write my sermon, AND as I preach that sermon. He’s with me every step of the way.” It's the same with everything else we do.
Now, here’s where things get interesting, because Naomi’s plan has made people wonder “what in the world is she thinking?” for the past few thousand years. She begins by talking about Boaz saying, “Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.” (Ruth 3:2, ESV). She reminds Ruth that Boaz is a redeemer—a redeemer who can do more than provide them with grain, who could possibly be a husband. And, Naomi already knows where Boaz is going to be that night. The barley and wheat harvest was over, the grain was coming in from the fields, and needed to be winnowed. So, she knew Boaz would be hard at work on the threshing floor. She also knew he would be alone.
So, what does she tell Ruth to do? She says, “Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.” (Ruth 3:3, ESV). Basically, Ruth is to get all dolled up. She’s to clean herself up, put some perfume on, and put on her nicest dress. She’s supposed to make herself as attractive as possible and as enticing as possible. Then, she’s supposed to head down the threshing floor. BUT, she’s not supposed to flaunt her stuff in front of everyone. She’s supposed to get dolled up, head down there, and wait until the right time—after he’s got a full stomach and some wine in him.
She goes on with her plan: “But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.” (Ruth 3:4, ESV). This is where everyone gets uncomfortable and their minds start racing a bit. What is Naomi thinking? Is she REALLY telling Ruth to make herself as attractive and enticing as possible, then after Boaz has a full belly and some wine in him and is off by himself, Ruth is supposed to lay down with him and do what he says? This doesn’t seem like a good idea, does it? I mean, think about it. Would you give this advice to your young daughter or grand-daughter? Put on a sexy dress and some perfume, go find a man who had a little too much to drink, wait till he’s all by himself, lie down with him, and then do what he says? I DON’T THINK SO! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!
Things get even more dicey as you dig deeper. In those days, the threshing floor was not known to be a place of righteousness. It was known as a place of licentiousness. Besides that, the word “feet” could also be translated “leg” AND was sometimes used as a euphemism for sexual organs. So, this passage is FULL of sexual overtones and innuendos—which really causes people to get uncomfortable. What’s really going on in this passage?
When answering this question, it’s important to understand one important point. One commentator says the author is using “carefully contrived ambiguity” (Hubbard, 196). He isn’t EXPLICITLY saying anything. He’s intentionally leaving things ambiguous to get your attention AND HOLD your attention. He wants you on the edge of your seat a bit, wondering what’s going to happen next.
Yet, it’s also important to remember the character of Ruth and Boaz. Ruth has proven herself to be a righteous, Godly woman and Boaz has proven himself to be a righteous and Godly man. Even though there are many risqué, sexually ambiguous statements made in this passage, that doesn’t mean Ruth and Boaz DID ANYTHING that was risqué or sexual OR THAT it was Naomi’s intention that something sexual happen at this moment. It’s important that we don’t read too much or too little into this plan. On the one hand, some people have made too much of these details, saying it was Naomi’s intention that something sexual would happen on the threshing room floor. That’s highly unlikely based on everyone’s character in the story. Yet, because some get uncomfortable with this scene, they try to read less into it and try to remove/ignore all of the sexual innuendo from the scene, trying to explain everything away like it was completely innocent. There’s intentional tension built into the story.
On the one hand, Ruth responds how we would expect. She’s obedient. She says, “And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”” (Ruth 3:5, ESV). Ruth has repeatedly shown how obedient and hard-working she is. Yet, I still have to point out that this may not have been the expected answer from Ruth. Remember, Naomi’s plan is risky and risqué, there’s a lot of temptation involved, chances of moral failure and possibly even chances that Boaz will refuse to marry her. It’s possible she knew the Proverb that says, “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27, ESV)—talking about how we should not put ourselves in situations where we will be burned, tempted to sexual sin. So, there may have been an expectation that Ruth would say, “No, I’m not doing that.” Yet, she trusts Naomi, and commits to doing everything she said.
In the midst of the lacking clarity, it’s important to remember what is clear—what we DO know. Although we’re not sure why Naomi came up with this particular plan—or even IF it’s a GOOD plan—we do know why Naomi came up with a plan—she wants Ruth to find rest and a husband. That tells us that everything in this plan is designed for Ruth’s good and would lead to marriage with Boaz. Naomi is wanting to make things right. John Piper calls this Strategic Righteousness. He says, “There is a kind of inactive righteousness that simply avoids evil. But strategic righteousness takes the initiative and dreams of how to make things right” (A Sweet and Bitter Providence, 81). This type of righteousness doesn’t simply avoid evil and wait for things to happen. It’s active, strategic and led by the Spirit in pursuit of righteousness. It’s seeking out ways to make things right.
And this strategic righteousness flows from our faith in God and hope for the future. Insightfully, John Piper says, “It’s hopelessness that makes people think they have to lie and steal and seize illicit pleasures for the moment…People who feel like victims rarely make plans…Only hopeful people, hopeful families, and hopeful churches plan and strategize” (A Sweet and Bitter Providence, 81-82).
Faith and hope are deeply connected. We have hope because we have faith in our God—we trust Him. We have hope because Jesus Christ has died for our sins and set us free from the tyranny of the devil. And BECAUSE we have hope, we can make plans for the future—trusting God to walk with us. Because we have this hope, we can practice Strategic Righteousness, seeking to make things right and further the kingdom of God. Yes, we must keep praying, praying, praying. But when we’re done praying, we get off our knees, trust our God, follow the Spirit, and do something.