For NIV reading click here
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ruth%203:6-18&version=NIV
This scene, when read slowly is full of tension and mystery. It's where all the 'chance' happenings begin to come together. Threshing floor was often a place of sexual activity and theivery as well as a generally festive atmosphere (harvest is being gathered!). So Boaz sleeps near his harvest. Notice also how some of the activity is cloaked - Boaz and Ruth are simply called 'the man' and 'the woman.' This all takes place at night.
There is some ambiguity here. But read in light of chapters 1-2 helps us fill in some of the gaps.
Some of the words used can be used in a very striaghtforward way, they can also be euphemism: legs (genitals), lay at the feet (sex).
What do you read here and how do you understand it?
My jury is still " out " .The internet has 146,000
ReplyDeleteresponses to the query : did Ruth and Boaz have sex ?" Many lodge strong arguments both ways .
Several of my O.T. bible heroes had trouble controlling their carnal natures ; pre marital and extra marital . Should I think less of Ruth and Boaz if in fact they did have sex ?
I will be hesitant to use this as an example of premarital chastity when teaching teens .
However, I'm wondering if there is not something bigger that I'm missing . As is often the case ( I miss the beauty of the forest because I'm focusing on a couple scrawny trees ) , Is there something larger , more important , a deeper level of meaning that would bear on my personal relationship to God ?
Help me out , friends .
Good thoughts,Doc. The main issue is clearly not whether they had sex...that clarity comes through the mystery. If the author thought it was important, it would have been more clearly communicated. The larger issues are how God is providing for this broken family...and that provision is first through God's hesed (faithful care) and through the hesed of people like Ruth, Boaz, and even Naomi. Hesed that is not required, or often even requested. The cross-currents of God and human hesed lead to the kinds of beautiful praises and surprises of this story.
ReplyDeleteI think that Boaz not only expresses gratitude for Ruth that she has been so faithful, but also love for her.
ReplyDeleteThose that have been faithful are receiving their rewards, the harvest is in.
Wendy , I really like the poetic way you phrase that . You should write songs !
ReplyDeleteJust got home...I meant to comment earlier. Here are some of my thoughts: 1) we are more concerned in this particular story with issues of sexuality than the author was; 2)though the language and setting was mysterious and ambiguous and charged with intimate possibilities, what seem to argue against a spontaneous sexual encounter for me includes that Boaz mentions 'the Lord' as soon as he notices her, Ruth is desribed as a woman of 'noble' character, and especially that Boaz says right then that there is a nearer-kinsman whom he is willing to allow to have primary place for Ruth. I think that although we can't be sure, what took place was filled with romantic tension and opportunity, but that Ruth and Boaz acted out of noble faith fully trusting that God was at work and would orchestrate the best blessing.
ReplyDeleteOne important bit of theology that you may have noticed, is how the prayers that are spoken in the book are sometimes answered through the one praying! For example, Naomi's prayer for the two daughters-in-law to find rest and a husband (1:8-9): Naomi is an active part of answering that prayer for Ruth. And, Boaz, who prays that Ruth find refuge under the Lord's wings (Hebrew kanaph in 2:12) is an active part of answering that prayer when he spreads the corner of the blanket (Hebrew is kanaph (3:9)! How cool is that. In other words, even our human actions are part of God's activity in answering our prayers, especially through unreasonably faithful actions!
ReplyDeleteOK , I get it . Worry more about hesed ( faithful care ) and kanaph ( underwing protection ) and less about who was sinning or if they even were .
ReplyDelete