Ruth 3:1-6

00:00:00:12 – 00:00:28:06
Clint Loveall
Hey everybody. Thanks for joining us. Welcome back. We’re continuing through Ruth. An interesting, interesting intersection today. The third chapter of this book. A lot happens and. we sort of mentioned yesterday as a little bit of a preview that in some ways, this chapter. Asks you to make a decision, about some of the things that are happening.

00:00:28:06 – 00:00:55:55
Clint Loveall
And what I mean by that is that. There is language and there is storytelling in this third chapter that can be read on the surface or. Can be read as something else. And we’re trying to do our best to point it out. I don’t think it will be upsetting. I hope that it isn’t upsetting, but. There’s some interesting things going on here as we now.

00:00:55:57 – 00:01:24:38
Clint Loveall
Really narrow our focus in this third chapter to a relational moment between Ruth and Boaz. And hanging in the balance is these the bigger questions that we’ve talked about from day one? That these are women who are in a vulnerable position and to secure their future, they have to find a way forward. They have to maybe take some risk or have some initiative.

00:01:24:43 – 00:01:48:48
Clint Loveall
And I think we we begin to see all of those things. At play here. So just a very quick recap before we get into that part. Just remember that. At this point in the story, we know that Naomi and Ruth have kind of fallen under the care of man named Boaz. Naomi just told Ruth he’s a close kin person and Naomi has said, stick in his field.

00:01:48:48 – 00:02:19:30
Clint Loveall
Stay with him. So that nothing could happen to you. And then we were told that the harvest season had kind of come to a close. And so now we move into the rest of the story. I think I’m going to read, just the first five verses here, because there is a surprising amount to unpack. So chapter three, verse one, Naomi, her mother in law, said to her, to Ruth, my daughter, I need to seek some security for you so that it might be well with you.

00:02:19:35 – 00:02:45:58
Clint Loveall
Now here is our kinsman Boaz. With whom? With whose young women you have been working. See, he’s winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now wash and anoint yourself. Put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he’s finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies.

00:02:46:03 – 00:03:17:01
Clint Loveall
Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do. And Ruth said to her, all that you tell me, I will do. So what? What is interesting, I think, here, Michael, is that Naomi steps to the forefront to kind of take the lead, and Naomi has a plan in mind. And by her own words, it’s a plan to secure, a path for Ruth to seek security for Ruth.

00:03:17:06 – 00:03:52:35
Clint Loveall
And it involves Boaz. Now, this is where I think things begin to get interesting. Boaz. Clear or I’m sorry. Naomi clearly has in mind a a plan that will intersect Ruth and Boaz in some sort of a relational way. So she is, there’s a sense in which she’s playing matchmaker here, and she is going to explore the possibility that if she can get these two together, it will go well for Ruth.

00:03:52:35 – 00:04:00:15
Clint Loveall
That’s her stated purpose. And there’s more to unpack there, but I think that is the obvious thrust of the story.

00:04:00:19 – 00:04:33:34
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. So we do, as a reader, get asked to make some interpretive questions. Some of those are linked to the themes that we’ve seen before, Clint. And I think that it’s important to read that as part of the story. There’s this natural kind of movement from the problem, which is the loss of security that came with the loss of sons and also husband, and it now leads them to having a a generous, certainly gracious, obviously kinsman in Boaz.

00:04:33:39 – 00:05:14:43
Michael Gewecke
but this kind of caring relationship, though it is generous, is not the same as a permanent, settled, secure or relational relationship in the midst of this culture and time. And, Clint, some are going to be trapped and caught by that itself and say that how we interpret the story like this on some level, boils down to what we think about the value of a patriarchal society, where the men have access to security and finance and resource and and there are legitimate critiques to be had their entire books, many, many tomes written to to evaluate that.

00:05:14:43 – 00:05:46:18
Michael Gewecke
And if that’s of interest to you, certainly recommend that you pursue that. But within the course of the text, you have women who have experienced layer upon layer of stripping away of their agency and security. At the end of the day, the last thing that they could do was to return home. Naomi would have gone home with nothing except for Ruth’s commitment to her to say, I will be faithful to you when they make it back to the house of bread, the place of God’s provision for them.

00:05:46:22 – 00:06:20:49
Michael Gewecke
Boaz miraculously becomes a benefactor, a person who cares for them. Now the question is, is it simply going to be a benefit of comfort, or will it be a benefit of permanence? Will there be a transition in this in which Ruth herself will once again be, you know, a consistent and stable, secure, relational structure in which she can be safe and cared for and, and that then if that’s the move, if that’s the question, if the text is wondering, is that possible?

00:06:21:03 – 00:06:49:23
Michael Gewecke
What we see, Naomi doing here is a deep celebration of some cultural values of the Middle East. Certainly the idea of, savvy thinking, possibly making use of a situation, the idea not to use trickery in a negative way, but the way of sort of affecting a situation with some risk, but towards a positive event. I mean, there’s there’s a lot of cunning and a text like this.

00:06:49:28 – 00:07:07:25
Michael Gewecke
And one of the things that we as the reader are going to explore as we see the story go on, is when when these two women take a big risk, what’s going to happen and how and how do they conceive of that risk? And there’s a lot of these sort of details built into the story as we see it unfold here.

00:07:07:30 – 00:07:34:19
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And this is where I think you you get to the point where you have to make some decisions about the text. I mean, Naomi says, here, wash and anoint yourself. Put on your best clothes, go down to the threshing floor. Now, women weren’t typically allowed or supposed to be at the threshing floor. The word threshing floor is also a, a place that’s kind of associated with, rowdy behavior.

00:07:34:24 – 00:08:10:37
Clint Loveall
So, it’s sometimes there would have been, partying and things happening there. and then we get into these series of words in Hebrew that are used in a variety of ways. So, there’s this word when he lays down to sleep, the word sleep there is also used for sex in some, some places in the Old Testament, the word uncover, has a sexual connotation to, to undress.

00:08:10:42 – 00:08:40:30
Clint Loveall
it’s not always used that way. But in other parts of the Old Testament it is. And then the word feet in Hebrew, or just as we do in English, there are euphemisms for genitals and feet, is one of the ways that Hebrew, Hebrew, the language, will sometimes talk about male genitalia. And so again, none of that is outright saying that that this is a sexual encounter.

00:08:40:35 – 00:09:04:15
Clint Loveall
But when you add it all up there, is that there is a sort of sense that maybe what’s happening here is that Ruth is offering herself to Boaz. He’s been kind to her. Now she’s making it known that she’s available, that she’s interested. And Naomi kind of coaches are in that. Now that can be offensive at many levels.

00:09:04:15 – 00:09:35:33
Clint Loveall
It can be offensive that women have to resort to sexuality to find their place in the world, that that is historically and often culturally true. and it’s unfortunate, but it may be part of the story. It may also be that the women are just using the tools at their disposal, and that, Ruth has seen in Boaz a future Naomi is helping her move that direction and that this is the the blossoming of a relationship.

00:09:35:33 – 00:10:06:54
Clint Loveall
And she wants to let him know that she’s interested. I think that ultimately, the point is. At some point, you have to come to terms with how bold do you think Ruth is being in this text? And you can read it modestly. And I think that’s a tougher reading, but I think the language will support you if you want to take this very modestly, or you can read it a little bit more aggressively and maybe a little bit even, to say racy.

00:10:06:59 – 00:10:32:43
Clint Loveall
And I think the text may support that as well. So I do, I do think the author kind of gives us a choice here. What do you think is happening? What do you think’s going on? How friendly do you think Ruth is being? I think those are all right there in the text. I don’t have great answers, but I want you to know that there are those questions, because under the surface of this story is a much more adult.

00:10:32:43 – 00:10:39:34
Clint Loveall
And much more, complex story than you might read, just without knowing some of the details.

00:10:39:46 – 00:11:13:48
Michael Gewecke
I make no mistake here that leaving details to interpretation and careful use of words is not an accidental inclusion in the text. I mean, the the people who told this story, who wrote it down, who passed it on through thousands of years so that we could study it here together. Today. These are incredibly intelligent human beings who have thought very carefully about the core story being told and the point to make in it, and I think it just make known that human lives have ambiguity.

00:11:13:48 – 00:11:39:28
Michael Gewecke
And so does this recounting of these human lives. There’s some question about what happens in the night. There’s some question about what is going to transpire as these women take their fates into their own hands in very real and substantial ways. And I think that the fact that that there is some interpretive room is actually not a problem for an interpretation of this text, but actually an invitation.

00:11:39:28 – 00:12:05:47
Michael Gewecke
It’s actually an opportunity because it provides for us a way of recognizing that even in the lived experience of the people of faith, you have the foreign, more rabbi woman who shouldn’t be coming back with Naomi by any sort of racial or historical precedent, but yet is a woman who should not be showed generosity and grace to, by Boaz.

00:12:05:47 – 00:12:29:30
Michael Gewecke
But she is, and that’s very same woman now is going to ask a question in the dark of the night. She’s been instructed go in and take the future in your own hands. And that very interesting way of phrasing, he will tell you what to do at a sort of open admission, a literal statement in the text that the next step won’t be yours.

00:12:29:34 – 00:12:52:30
Michael Gewecke
Right? This is yours to do. And then we’ll see what happens after that. And I think that there’s a kind of trust in that. There’s a kind of faith in, in certainly what might happen with Boaz, but maybe even behind the scenes we’ve seen God at work. and Boaz has been an instrument of that work. So there may be some God will be faithful to us, in the future.

00:12:52:43 – 00:13:11:15
Michael Gewecke
And there’s a lot of themes here. And I think the abstract ness and the, the openness of the text to interpretation is, is not there by accident. And I think that instead of us trying to lock it down, I think it’s generally wise in a text like this to let it be open enough to still speak to us from different vantages.

00:13:11:15 – 00:13:48:12
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I don’t think we want to get forced into a false choice where we have to say it’s A or B, but if you prefer the tame reading, you know, even if threshing floor is just threshing floor, and even if after he’s at ate and drank and that just means had a regular meal and and a drink, even if uncover is just uncover and feet our feet, you still have this very risky move for Ruth as she as she did, taking a risk of saying, I’m going to stick with you, Naomi.

00:13:48:27 – 00:14:30:12
Clint Loveall
She is still, even if you color everything else completely aboveboard. She is an unmarried woman going to lay down with, an unmarried man in a sort of public space. This is that alone in her culture is pretty far outside of the norm. And so just in that risk alone, we see again Ruth’s character of being willing to step outside of what might be normal, to find a way forward for herself and Naomi, her mother in law.

00:14:30:12 – 00:14:53:49
Clint Loveall
And and I think we see a courageous woman. I think we see, a sort of unusual woman, at least as far as we know. There aren’t other stories really like this. this isn’t a trap in in the way that we see some stories in, say, Judah and Tamar in Genesis. But this is very different than that.

00:14:54:03 – 00:15:23:40
Clint Loveall
But there is that there is some sexuality here, there’s some flirtation, there’s some question mark. And and Ruth is willing to chart those waters in order to provide a measure of protection for herself, and particularly, I think, for her mother in law, Naomi. And and we don’t want that to get lost amidst, you know, these other questionable things that that have, you know, that don’t really have great answers.

00:15:23:45 – 00:15:46:35
Michael Gewecke
And there to your point, I think it’s really well made. There are many stories in the Old Testament where women are in situations where they use their charms, and those are often accompanied by a kind of qualitative statement that, you know, kind of immoral ness, or they’re called out for that action, or it’s spoken of lightly, not here.

00:15:46:35 – 00:16:26:45
Michael Gewecke
I mean, we’re not going to receive a substantial amount of theological reflection upon what is or isn’t happening here. I think the thing that makes this book so compelling to me, Clint, is that the author confidently presents to us the story of these women and their experience, and an unflinching look at it. And this author, I believe, expects that if we look closely at these women’s lives, we will not only see what is happening because of their action, the agency that they have, but we’re also going to see God at work in that some in some mysterious ways.

00:16:26:45 – 00:16:59:06
Michael Gewecke
There’s a kind of narrative trust in, in recognizing that faith is not just the things that we profess, but it’s the things that’s that are lived out. And this book exemplifies that in real human ways. So is this is this a story that defies simple sort of moral judgment? I think it is. It’s also an invitation to recognize that the human life is full of these moments where things aren’t easily boiled down and choices are not simple ones and zeros.

00:16:59:06 – 00:17:18:34
Michael Gewecke
And one might look back on your life and see any number of those that either went well or you feel like didn’t go well. But the author of Ruth presents this picture, I think, with the invitation, hey, look, no, look even deeper. And when you do, you’re going to see that there’s there’s more here than what meets the eye.

00:17:18:34 – 00:17:40:04
Michael Gewecke
And I think faithfulness, providence, filial piety, human to human, but also God to that, to these women is all present in a story like this. And though there’s cunning, there’s also wisdom. And though there’s some risk, there’s also courage. And it all blends together to bring us to where we’re at thus far in the text.

00:17:40:04 – 00:18:05:25
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And I think as we continue, we’ll learn that there’s also, there’s also connection. There’s also interest. And Ruth and Boaz, become a kind of, the Bible doesn’t do a lot of what we might call romance, but, Boaz is interested in Ruth, and Ruth is going to make sure that she tries to fan those flames.

00:18:05:25 – 00:18:36:58
Clint Loveall
And so, very interesting part of the story. a kind of, like a kind of moment in the Bible that lends itself to a little bit of the adult world, not so much in the sense that it’s explicit, but in the sense of mining the depths of the ways men and women are attracted and relate to one another, and how these relationships play out in this story, I think, is unique.

00:18:37:09 – 00:18:48:16
Clint Loveall
We don’t have a lot of I can’t think of a lot of other moments in the Old Testament that are like this one. And, you know, again, that makes Ruth stand out.

00:18:48:21 – 00:19:02:38
Michael Gewecke
We’re grateful that she would join us for this part of the story. There’s a lot more to come. So if you haven’t already, subscribe, we would love to have you join us for the remainder of this study. Like this video? If you found it interesting and intriguing, it certainly helps others find it in the midst of their own study.

00:19:02:38 – 00:19:06:21
Michael Gewecke
And we, of course, look forward to seeing you. So we continue to stay together tomorrow.