"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 Lord lives, I will redeem you. Lie down until the morning.”
Ruth 3:1-13
There are some people who by nature take a delight in managing other people's affairs. With the best will in the world, we find it difficult to escape the conclusion that Naomi was such a person. We can hardly conclude, on the basis of the Mosaic legisla- tion, that her action was necessary. All that needed to have been done was for Naomi to send word to Boaz and ask him, as near kinsman to Ruth, to do his duty by her. What we know of Boaz is surely sufficient for us to assume that he would certainly not have been slow to respond to such a request. He was not the kind of man who would brush off family responsibilities and evade them. Naomi was precipitate, and she was precipi- tate because she did not really trust God to manage the affair without her help and inter- ference, and did not trust Boaz to do his duty without her conniving unworthily to oblige him to do so. The story of Ruth would have read better, if this chapter had not needed to have been written. It is little wonder that Boaz was afraid (8). Interestingly - and this seems to bear out the interpretation we have placed on the situation - an old Jewish commentary draws a parallel with the story of Joseph and the wife of Potiphar, and suggests that Boaz was afraid because that ancient story came into his mind. There is, of course, no ground for suggesting anything of the sort; but the tradition serves to show that even ancient Jewish scholars had misgivings about Naomi's scheming. It can hardly be right, therefore, to maintain that what she did was a well-recognised ritual.
The lessons here are considerable. Naomi could not keep her hands off the situa- tion, and she was taking no chances. She had already confessed that the Lord was at work in all this (2:20) - why then, did she not leave the Lord to do His own work in His own way? Did she really think that God needed her help, and that He did not know best how to arrange His own purposes?