Anyone who has read the book of Ruth has experienced a sense of awkward puzzlement at the threshing-floor scene, where Ruth visits Boaz in the middle of the night after he had been drinking (Ruth 3:1–13). It’s a scene charged with sexual tension. So, what happens?
For context, the book of Ruth tells the story of the reversal of Naomi’s fortunes. It begins with Naomi as a destitute widow, with no husband or children, on the run from a famine in a town ironically named “The House of Bread” (Bethlehem). By the end of the narrative, God completely restores Naomi, and her restoration is pleasant (1:20; 4:13–16). She sits in joy with a child on her lap, with an abundance of grain in Bethlehem. But God brings about this reversal through someone we would least expect: a Moabite woman named Ruth.
The book of Ruth is carefully crafted to celebrate the conversion of a Moabite into the covenant people of God. In God’s plan, her offspring is the King who will restore the cosmos (4:18–22; Matt. 1:5). Let’s consider how, at the threshing floor, Boaz and Ruth reject Moabite promiscuity and inhospitality and embrace covenant faithfulness and lavish generosity.
Moab’s Sordid Past
At key moments, the story evokes the Moabites’ sordid past to build tension. At the beginning of the narrative, an Israelite family leaves the promised land to find refuge in Moab and intermarry with the inhabitants (Ruth 1:1–4). This appears scandalous. The law is clear that Israelites are not to marry those who are outside of the believing covenant community (Deut. 7:1–4; Ezra 10:2–3). The book of Ruth alludes to three transgressions by the Moabites to underscore the scandal of a Moabite woman being brought back to Bethlehem.
The book of Ruth alludes to three transgressions by the Moabites to underscore the scandal of a Moabite woman being brought back to Bethlehem.
The Moabite origin story is told in Genesis 19:30–38. This incestuous event is dark and troubling. It is a history we would rather not read. Lot and his daughters are hidden up in the hills after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the older daughter believes their prospects for a husband and children have passed. She says to her sister, “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve offspring from our father” (v. 32). The son of the older daughter was named Moab (v. 37).
However, this origin story isn’t what brings the Moabites under the Lord’s curse. Generations later, as Israel heads toward the promised land, Moab refuses to show hospitality to them and give them bread and water. Instead, the King of Moab, Balak, seeks to curse Israel through the prophet Balaam (Deut. 23:4). Because of this, God commands, “No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. . . . You shall not seek their peace or their prosperity all your days forever” (vv. 3, 6).
Even though the Moabites didn’t give bread or water to the traveling Israelites, they did give them Baal and invited them to worship false gods. The scene is recounted dramatically in Numbers 25. Apparently, the Moabites only gave food if it came with sexual promiscuity and gross idolatry. Moses recounts,
The people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. (Num. 25:1–3)
Righteousness of Boaz and Ruth
Given Moab’s history, Ruth, a Moabite in Israel, is scandalous. When we near the threshing-floor scene, we hold our breath: Is this just another instance of Moabite evil and seduction of the Israelites? In fact, it’s the opposite.
Boaz and Ruth’s actions at the threshing floor are full of covenant love and faithfulness. Every action stands in stark contrast to the Moabite history. Boaz and Ruth trade promiscuity for restraint, inhospitality for generosity, and seductive idolatry for covenant faithfulness.
At the threshing floor, Ruth lies down at the feet of Boaz and waits for him to “tell [her] what to do” (3:4). Some interpreters argue that innuendos in the text imply a sexual liaison. But that simply doesn’t happen (cf. 4:13).
The author is intentionally alluding to Moab’s origin. As Moab’s first mother did with Lot, Ruth the Moabite could have capitalized on Boaz’s drinking and seduced him. But she didn’t. She waited and trusted. Boaz could have seized this opportunity and slept with Ruth. But he didn’t. He waited in a desire to fulfill the law by approaching a closer redeemer than himself. A Moabite woman is being brought under the shadow of the wings of the one true God (2:11–12; 3:9).
Unlike Moab with its inhospitality to Israel, Ruth shows lavish hospitality to Naomi by daily laboring and caring for her. In fact, in this scene at the threshing floor, Ruth is humbly submitting to Naomi’s advice (3:6). Naomi knew what their family needed to experience deep restoration: they needed to find rest in their redeemer (3:1–2).
Boaz recognizes Ruth’s covenant love for her mother-in-law (3:10). Boaz in turn shows generosity toward this Moabite woman and her Israelite mother-in-law by repeatedly giving them grain. After the evening at the threshing floor, Ruth is sent home with more grain (3:17).
Pentecost Story: Abundance for the Nations
By the end of the story, Boaz emerges as more than the redeemer of the line of Naomi’s dead husband, Elimelech, in accordance with the law (Lev. 25:23–28; Deut. 25:5–10). He is the concrete way that God provides full covenant inclusion to a foreign woman under the curse of her people. Ruth provides a picture of what conversion means. She is saved from the Moabite curse of perpetual exclusion and brought into the peace of the people of God (Eph. 2:11–14).
Boaz and Ruth trade promiscuity for restraint, inhospitality for generosity, and seductive idolatry for covenant faithfulness.
Traditionally, the book of Ruth is associated with the Feast of Pentecost. This isn’t surprising because, in the book of Acts, Pentecost signals the beginning of an international harvest of people worshiping Jesus Christ from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Ruth the Moabite is a firstfruit of this coming worldwide harvest. And it’s through her offspring that this happens. The book of Ruth isn’t only about Naomi’s restoration. It’s about God’s plan of worldwide restoration through Jesus Christ, offspring of Ruth.
