I N D E X
No longer has Naomi to speak of a possible husband and future sons (Ruth
1:12,13) for now she can say: `Is not Boaz of our kindred!' (Ruth 3:2).
It was the custom at threshing time for the owner to remain all night on
the threshing-floor until the harvest was safely garnered.  Naomi knew this and
instructed Ruth how to act.  Judged by modern standards of morality Ruth would
probably be condemned, but Boaz bears testimony that `all the city of my people
doth know that thou art a virtuous woman' (Ruth 3:11).
When Ruth said: `Spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid for thou
art a near kinsman' (or, one who has the right to redeem) (Ruth 3:9), Boaz knew
that she was asking him not only to redeem the land that had been lost, but also
to marry her and save the name of the dead husband from being blotted out.  Boaz
is touched by the fact that Ruth had not followed after young men, but had let
her choice fall upon one who was apparently many years her senior.
Boaz was not Ruth's brother-in-law and was, therefore, under no compulsion
in the matter, for the law of Deuteronomy 25 is concerned with the `husband's
brother' and the case of `brethren dwelling together' (5,6).  By removing to
Moab, Elimelech had made impossible the second of these conditions, and Boaz,
though of the kindred of Elimelech, was not the deceased husband's brother.
We find this practice of marrying the brother's widow in operation before
the giving of the law (see Gen. 38:8), and we have records of its existence in
Athens, in Persia, in Tartary and Circassia, and among the Druses.  Niebuhr
writes:
`It does indeed happen among the Mahometans that a man marries his
brother's widow, but she has no right to compel him so to do'.
Boaz was obliged, in fairness, to defer complying with Ruth's request,
for, said he: `It is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman
nearer than I' (Ruth 3:12).  However, Boaz probably guessed that the marrying of
the Moabitess would be a stumbling-block in the other kinsman's way, and
promises to perform the office of the kinsman himself, should the nearer kinsman
fail.
It is interesting to note that, while Ruth's virtue could not apparently
be called in question, and neither she nor Boaz had any cause for shame, they
did not in any way flaunt their innocence, but sought rather to preserve their
good name from the smallest suspicion of evil:
`Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor' (Ruth 3:14).
Naomi's immediate question: `Who art thou, my daughter?' (Ruth 3:16) does
not mean that she was unable to distinguish Ruth owing to the early hour of the
day, but rather expresses her intense desire to know what had transpired
(compare Judges 18:8).  In Ruth 2:19 Naomi had inquired where Ruth had gleaned,
and when she was shown the ephah of barley she immediately perceived that the
Lord's hand was in it.  So here, when she sees the six measures of barley, she
expresses her confidence that Boaz will not rest until the matter is settled.
In Ruth 3:15 the A.V. reads: `And she went into the city'.  This, however,
is incorrect, the true rendering being: `And he went into the city'.  Boaz meant
to lose no time in bringing the matter to a head.  Sitting down in the gate,
where all public transactions were carried out, he hails the other kinsman and,
117