"1Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? 2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.3 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. 4 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.” 5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”
6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her. 7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! 9 He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wings[a] over your servant, for you are a redeemer.” 10 And he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman. 12 And now it is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I. 13 Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lordlives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”
Ruth 3:1-13
The background of this strange and perplexing chapter is the Jewish custom of what is called levirate marriage (cf Deuteronomy 25:5-10). The word derives from a Latin word meaning 'husband's brother'. This ancient law, traces of which go back as far as Genesis 38:8ff, provided that when a married man died without a child, his brother was expected to take his widow and raise up a seed for his dead brother, who would become the legal heir of the dead man's property. Underlying this law (caricatured so perversely by the Sadducees in Luke 20:27ff) was the very strong desire to preserve the family name. Family ties were extremely strong and sacred in Israel, as was the desire on the part of Israel's womankind to have family. Alongside the reference in Deuteronomy we need to place another, in Leviticus 25: 25-30, which indicates that the custom had wider application, as may be seen in the next chapter of our story (4:3ff). When the widow of a childless man desired to sell his estates, his next of kin was obligated to buy or redeem it of the widow. The property was thereby kept in the family. Custom was also urgent that the kinsman 'voluntarily assume levirate duties' and take the woman to wife, if he would not thereby endanger his own inheritance. It was considered magnanimous so to do, and a mark of loyalty to the family. It was therefore regarded as a matter of course, and a matter of right, that a widow should appeal to her near kinsman to perform this duty, in the case of the family, and in the case of the property and land requiring to be re- deemed. From this point of view, what is recorded in this chapter was accepted custom.