Ruth Chapter 3 2026 - Caleb Richardson

the end of chapter one, that it's a barley harvest

has come and it's time to glean. It's time to

gather up the barley, which is a picture of hope.

So Ruth goes with Naomi and they have nothing.

And they discuss and Ruth says, I need to go

glean. Gleaning was interesting. Gleaning was

a system set up for the poor and the powerless

to follow behind the harvesters. And the harvesters

would leave a little bit of scraps -like, and

they would scoop that up, and that gave them

enough to eat because they had no power or position

to get anything otherwise. And it just so happened,

which is, by the way, one of the themes of Ruth,

just so happened, God's sovereign hand is at

play, but it just so happened. that Ruth shows

up and begins to glean in a field of Boaz. Chapter

2, Boaz sees her in the field. This is what Jared

unpacked last week. Sees her in a field and invites

Ruth to come eat with her at his table. This

is a picture, the picture of this is that he

serves her. He provides for her and he protects

her. And then we see that Boaz is this godly

man. He's a tough and a tender man. My boys,

when I, in fact, my middle child, my first child,

first child's middle name is Boaz. Sorry, middle

child, I only have two. Isaac Boaz, his middle

name is Boaz. And part of the reason his middle

name is Boaz is because what we see in this guy

Boaz. That he is a tough and a tender. And so

as my boys, as we were growing up, we always

would tell them, boys, we want you to grow up

to be tough and tender. Tough to deal with this

jacked up world that you're going to face as

you grow into it. And you've got to stand. You've

got to be tough. You've got to be strong. But

you've got to be tender. And you've got to have

compassion for those who are hurting. And both

of those are in play with Boaz. So the name Boaz

actually means strong man. He's a strong man.

And he was. In a lot of different levels. And

in chapter 2, he just invites her in. And so

he's just drawing this picture of a helpless

Ruth and Naomi. And somebody who is strong and

able to provide someone of good character. In

chapter 2, we see this idea of a kinsman redeemer.

I think it's a family redeemer, which is what

is oftentimes described in the CSB version. It's

a redeemer in that we're going to see this idea

of this redeemer coming to full in chapter 4.

We'll get there. Because of his character and

kindness, Boaz, Naomi says to Ruth, you should

continue to glean at Boaz's field because it's

safe. Now, you've got to remember the backdrop

to this book. It's a backdrop of darkness and

destruction. It's the time of the judges. And

so what you see, if you were painting a picture,

it's almost like behind the story is darkness

and destruction and sin. And out of this picture

comes Boaz and Ruth and this story. We've said

it before that it's kind of like a whisper of

hope in darkness. So she says, You've got to

stay at Boaz. It's a safe place. He's actually

demonstrating he will protect you. Now as we

come to chapter 3, what I'd like to do first

is just walk through the story. Because there's

a lot of things. And there's a lot of different

applications you can pull from this story. So

even though I'm not going to hit all of those,

I'll get like again, like the Lord might hit

you with something in this. But we'll walk through

it and we'll just jump into the story. We're

going to like verse by verse through it. So just

start with verse 1. It says, Ruth's mother -in

-law, Naomi, said to her, My daughter, shouldn't

I find rest for you so that you will be taken

care of? Think back to Naomi. Here's Naomi, described

in chapter 1 as bitter. And what we see with

Naomi is she's taking her eyes off of herself

here. And she's looking at Ruth and she says,

Ruth, we've got to take care of you. I mean,

I was just thinking, like, Ruth is probably thinking,

if I die, she has nothing because she's a foreign

lady. What Naomi wants for her is the same thing

she stated back in chapter 1, verse 9, when she

says, may the Lord grant each of you rest in

the house of a husband. Because in order for

Ruth to be taken care of, she needed to have

somebody to provide for her. It was incapable

of doing it on her own. So in order for Ruth

to have security and rest as a woman in an Israelite

society, she needed to be married. So, what Naomi

says is, Ruth, you need a husband. And I have

a plan. Now, My wife and I were talking about

this. Ruth's track record on a plan and a strategy

hasn't been that good. But she has a plan. And

here it is. Verse 2. Now isn't Boaz our relative?

Huh. Haven't you been working with the female

servants? This evening, he will be winnowing

barley on the threshing floor. Oh. Okay, let's

unpack that. Naomi says, Ruth, I don't know if

you've been paying attention, but Boaz is your

man. Like, don't you just love a mother -in -law

who gets up in your business? That's what she's

doing here. She says, Boaz is your man. First

of all, he is a kinsman redeemer, meaning he

is an eligible bachelor. And, Ruth, he has a

job. That's a big deal. Now, we don't have a

lot of single young men around this church. Everybody's

married to 4 .5 kids, so it's a little different,

but man, he has a job. So ladies, if you're looking

for a man, make sure he has a job first. His

house is in order. His house is in order. So

Ruth, it's time to make your move. Tonight. tonight

he there will be this time when he's alone so

here's the plan and now in verses three and four

it starts to get a little shady please use your

imagination okay it's meant to use this so here

we go verse three wash wash okay we'll keep going

put on perfumed oil and wear your best clothes

Okay, so stop right there. It's not that she's

stinky. Something's changing, okay? So we'll

get to that in a second. Wash, put on your perfumed

oil and wear your best clothes. Go down to the

threshing floor, but don't let the man know that

you're there until he's finished eating and drinking,

okay? Ruth, go make yourself beautiful. It's

time to transition from being a widow in mourning,

and to present yourself as available. That's

what's happening. It's time. So here's, so she's

placing herself in front of Boaz now. Now, we

know in chapter two that Boaz has paid attention

to her already, right? He's already recognized

who she is. He's already started to show protection

and care for her. But now Ruth moves in and does

something interesting. She's been kind of just

in this place of mourning, maybe a little dirty.

She's poor. She's got nothing. Maybe just average.

Naomi says, uh -uh. Doll yourself up. Smell good.

Guys are simple. We're visual. That's Caleb's

addition. He's going to notice you. Years ago,

I asked permission to tell this story, so I'm

going to just state that. But I've been married

30 years to a beautiful, but this summer that

I met my wife. We were at Victor Bible Camp,

and I was working as program director. She came

up as a counselor, and I saw her, and I went,

oh, la, la. And I got to know her, but there

was something behind her that she says, I don't

really want a relationship. She would tell me

this. I'm not interested. I came to this camp.

I'm out of the boy scene right now. Like, I'm

just here to serve the Lord. And I went, yes.

Right? But what happened throughout the summer

is I really got to know her. And I knew her heart.

And I began to really like her. And it grew.

And at the end of the summer, we really made

it official. We began to date. I knew at the

end of the summer that was the girl I was going

to marry. And then she moved back down to Memphis,

Tennessee. I was up here in Alaska at the time.

And I get this thing in the mail, and it's this

picture, which I didn't know at first. It was

a beautiful woman. And I looked at it, and I

was like, wait a minute. Is this a setup? It

doesn't look like her at first. But I knew it

was, but she was baiting me because she's like,

so what do you think? And I was like, hmm. If

I say she's really that beautiful and it's not

her, I'm in trouble. But if I don't say she's

beautiful and it is her, I'm in trouble. I mean,

yeah, you hear my dilemma. And finally, I just

like, I got to risk this because she's amazing.

It was beautiful to me. She put herself in front

of me. And it's kind of reminding me of this

text. Like, all of a sudden, it's like, and I

went, oh, wow. Like, it wasn't she was trying

to be ugly. She just said, oh, you want to see

me? Now you see what else you get. It was just

one of those pictures and I was like, I'll just

leave it right there. I was like, yes! What's

that? Sounds bad, I know, but it wasn't. So the

plan is make yourself beautiful and available

and get rid and go hide until your moment comes.

And Boaz is in a relaxed mood. And then you're

going to present yourself. Verse 4. Okay, here's

it goes. This is really messed with a lot of

people. This one mirrors a lot of Song of Solomon.

So here we go. Verse 4. And when he lies down,

notice the place where he is lying. And go uncover

his feet and lie down. Then he will explain to

you what to do. That's weird. Okay, there are

three words in the Hebrew language here to see

here. They're just filled with sexual overtones.

Sorry, that's your Bible. It's loaded in this

text right here. Uncover legs or feet, depending

on which way it's translated in your Bible, and

lie down. Okay, something's happening here. It's

important to know, though, as we go through this,

there is nothing immoral happens here, but is

extremely provocative. And the original readers

would have went, ooh. In fact, a couple of people

have commentated, if the original readers were

reading this, all of a sudden mom would reach

over and cover the ears of the kid in this verse.

This is how charged this is in their language.

And so Ruth's actions of uncovering Boaz's feet

and lying down is a nonverbal, customary means

of requesting marriage. Okay, so she's going

after it. That's what's happening here. She's

like, going for it. So Ruth, she's actually saying,

look at what verse 5 says. So Ruth said to her,

mother -in -law, after the plan has been concocted,

I will do everything you say. I will do everything

you say. Okay, so it's on. So this is a picture

of selflessness and submission of Ruth. Things

could go really bad in this plan. Think about

it. Boaz, she could lay down, do all the things

she said, and Boaz could mock her request for

marriage. And she's just a poor, widowed Moabite.

What is she doing there? This could go really

wrong for Ruth and Naomi. And it could be, she

could also be branded as an adulteress because

of how she presents herself to Boaz. He could

say, get out of here. That's what he could do.

Or, even worse, Boaz could use this night's opportunity

as an opportunity for his sexual pleasure. She's

right there, presenting herself to him, which

would bring her great humiliation. All these

things are risky. Everything she's doing is dangerous.

And yet, Ruth responds, I'll do everything you

say. I'll do everything you say. And this demonstrates

her commitment and trust in Naomi. She's committed.

Look at verse so and look at verse six. So she

went down to the threshing floor and did everything

her mother -in -law charged her to do. And after

Boaz drank and was in good spirits, He went to

lie down at the end of his pile of barley. Now,

before I go any farther, the reason they did

that was two things. One, protect his, that's

cash. It's like he's going to the bank and laying

in his pile of money, okay? But the second reason

they did this was to show, it was to celebrate

God's goodness. And so it was a picture. And

so she, after he lays down in the pile of barley,

She came secretly in. Some versions say softly

in. He's kind of snoozing already. He's sleeping.

She comes in, uncovers his feet, and lays down.

Ruth is stepping out in bold and risky faith.

And this thing is happening right now. Look at

verse 8. At midnight, Boaz was startled. Maybe

a little breeze on his legs. I don't know. Boaz

is startled, turned over, and there lying at

his feet was a woman. Okay. Guys. Can you imagine,

not just guys, but all of you, but guys. Can

you imagine what was racing through Boaz's head

when this happened? Verse 9, so he asked, who

are you? I am Ruth, your servant. She replied,

take me under your wing, for you are a family

redeemer. Ooh, what's going on here? So when

Ruth says, Ruth, I am Ruth, your servant. This

is not, I am Ruth, your slave. It is her saying,

I am available for relationship with you. Wow.

Now Ruth departs from Naomi's plan, right? Naomi's

plan is to say, he'll tell you what to do. And

she says, we're taking it one step farther. She

says, She speaks for herself in this moment.

She says, take me under your wing. She is saying,

boys, I want you to pursue me and marry me. She's

not proposing marriage to him. What she's proposing

is that he propose to her. Like, hey, I know,

guys, sometimes we're not that bright, but...

Hey, I'm available. This is forward. Boaz, bring

me under your care. Take me in. This really,

this goes back to chapter 2, verse 12. Do you

remember what Boaz said to Ruth when he invited

her in for dinner and that kind of thing? She

says, May the Lord, Boaz saying this to, may

the Lord reward you for what you have done. He's

talking about the relationship with Naomi and

how she has just treated her so well. May the

Lord reward you for what you have done. May you

receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel

under whose wings you have come for refuge. This

is the same exact words as used in verse. of

chapter 3. What she is saying is, Boaz, be the

answer to the prayer you prayed for me. You,

Boaz, are the covering and rest for me. I want

to be loved by you. I want your wings around

me. Beautiful, isn't it? And Boaz responds like

he should. And he said, May the Lord bless you,

my daughter. That's an affection, not me, like

my little kid, like my child. My daughter is

an affectionate term. May the Lord bless you,

my daughter. You have shown me more kindness

than before because you have not pursued younger

men with a richer poor. Boaz's first words out

to Ruth are words of blessing. He says, this

kindness, remember the word chesed? Which means,

he says, this chesed, this kindness is greater

than before. Remember what the word chesed means,

right? The first kindness, chesed, was Ruth's

compassionate move toward Naomi. Meaning, chesed

is this word that we cannot define in the English

language that is so full. But it's God's love

and kindness and protection and care and beauty

and... just all so big and encompassing, but

it always comes from God to us. But what's happening

here, he says, this has said, the reason he uses

that term, he says, look, everything you've experienced,

obviously, the vertical you have with God is

a horizontal now to how you've treated Naomi.

And I see it. And then he says it again. He said,

that first has said, this is what you're doing

for me? It's greater than what you did before.

Same word. But now, but now her availability

to Boaz is next level. He is stunned that she'd

be interested in him. We don't know all the details.

Is he older? Is he ugly? I mean, we don't know.

All we know is that he is like, whoa. Look at

verse, and so he continues. Verse 11. Now, don't

be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever

you say. Since all the people in my town know

that you are a woman of noble character. Oh,

there's something to know about Ruth. He's been

observing Ruth, right? Boy, it says, yes, I will

pursue you. And he then points out her noble

character. He's had his eye on her because of

who she is. He's seen it. I could use my imagination,

which is what you have to do here. Probably thinking,

that's a good girl, but man, she's probably out

of my league. I'm older. This verse mirrors Proverbs

31 .10. If you get a chance, read Proverbs 31.

It's the end of Ruth. Now, here's the thing about

Proverbs 30. Proverbs is that many in the Hebrew

believe that the Hebrew Bible was set up in such

a way that Proverbs was there and then Ruth came

right after it. Well, if you look at the very

last chapter of Ruth, you see in chapter 31,

it is really about a wife of, and it says this

in verse 10. And this is the same language as

used in Ruth. So there's this connection, there's

tying this together. Who can find a wife of noble

character? She is far more precious than jewels.

It's kind of what he's saying. Oh, she's that

kind of woman. Oh, she's more precious than anything.

It's like Boaz is saying, you, Ruth, are precious.

Man, that's a good way to... Have a good conversation

now with your wife. Like, do you see your wife

as precious? I think that's what he does right

there. He's like, man, you're precious. I don't

know a woman who doesn't want to be treated as

precious. Isn't this just amazing? Everything

seems to be working out. It's coming together.

Naomi's plan is good. Love is in the air. Hope

is in the air. But wait, there's verse 12. And

nobody likes verse 12. Look at verse 12. Yes,

it is true. that I am a family redeemer, but

there is a redeemer closer than I am. Uh -oh.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. There's another guy?

You can just think of her belly just sink right

there. Maybe this is why Boaz hadn't already

pursued Ruth. What we see in this is Boaz's high

integrity. He's like, you know what? I may desire

her, but I can't do that because there is another

that is family redeemer. Look at verse 13. He

has more to say, though. He says this. Stay here

tonight and in the morning. If he wants to redeem

you, that's good. Talking about the other family

redeemers. If he wants to redeem you, that's

good. Let him redeem you. He will take care of

you. But. If he doesn't want to redeem you, as

the Lord lives, this is a vow, this is like massive

statement, as the Lord lives, I will. Now lay

down until morning. Basically, Boaz is saying,

I am going to fight for you tomorrow morning.

I'm going to do everything it takes to fight

for you. Amen. This is not even my notes. Fight

for your woman. How God's created us. Do everything

you can. And so he does. Verse 14, he says, so

they lay down at his feet until morning and got

up while it was still dark. I'm pretty sure that

nobody was sleeping right there. They were just

wondering what was coming next, right? Then Boaz

said, don't let it be known that a woman came

to the threshing floor. He says, basically, let's

just keep this whole thing quiet. Verse 15, he

told Ruth, bring me your shawl or your overcoat,

something you'd wrap around, a big kind of cape

or something, that you're wearing and hold it

out. And she held it out, and he shoveled in

six measures of barley into the shawl, and she

went to town. Okay. What Boaz does here is really

subtle, but it's massive. He doesn't know if

he's going to get her, does he? But that doesn't

matter. What does he do? He blesses her. That's

a lot of barley. Some people estimate that what

he gave her was 50 to 70 pounds. Ruth's got some

strong muscles. She's got this crossfit. She

can throw the thing over and go. But she blesses

her and Naomi regardless of how things are going

to turn out. And then verse 16, she went to her

mother -in -law, Naomi, who asked her, what happened,

my daughter? You can just see here, she's like,

what happened? How did it go? That's what's happening

right here. Then Ruth told her everything the

man had done for her. Now, I want you to do something

in your Bibles. Circle that for her. It's not

Ruth told her everything the man had done to

her. It was what he did for her. Big thing. And

what he did was bless her. Verse 17, he said,

he gave me the six measures of barley because

he said, don't go back to your mother -in -law

empty -handed. Underline that, empty -handed.

So this verse points back to Naomi's in chapter

1, verse 21, when it talks about, I went away,

what? Full. But the Lord brought me back empty.

It's the same thing. He's pointing back to that.

Don't go back to your mother -in -law empty.

You're going to go back full. Naomi was empty.

But Ruth, Naomi and Ruth were in a place of great

despair. But God is working it out. And they're

trusting God in this. And Boaz just says, you're

going back full. I think the grain is a picture

of the fullness that's coming. It's a fullness

that's coming. Now, Naomi has one last thing

to say. Verse 18. Naomi said, my daughter -in

-law, underline this next word, wait. Wait until

you find out how things go. For he won't rest

until he resolves it today. Sit tight and wait.

Things are in the hand of God. That's the picture.

Trust him. So, As we wrap this up, there are

a lot of different things that we could pull

from this story. I want to zero in on Ruth. I

want you to think about Ruth for a minute. This

is the last time in our story that Ruth or Naomi

speak. This is it. Everything now shifts. So,

it's going to focus on Boaz the Redeemer. I think

Ruth... is a picture to us on how we approach

the great Redeemer, Jesus Christ. So I want you

to think about who she is, and then we're going

to throw this out for discussion, and just for

a second here, just wrap this up with a question.

Over the past three chapters, as you've been

working through this story, what have you seen

about Ruth that informs us about how we come

before God? What is Ruth's posture before God?

What do you see? Because it's pointing at it.

What are some of the things you see about Ruth

in relationship to how she's coming to God? What

are your thoughts? I've got a whole bunch written

down here, but I think you should go. What do

you think? What do you see in Ruth? What kind

of qualities would you see that inform us on

how, in many ways, how we are to approach God?

Or we are to go after our Redeemer. What do you

see? Humility. Good. There's a sense of humility,

like she's humble. She's like, I don't got nothing,

but I humbly lay it down. What else? Okay, what?

A willingness to serve. Yeah, yeah, what else?

I heard desperation. Okay, but there's a calm

desperation in that, isn't there? It's like...

There's almost like more desperation in Naomi

because she's concocting a plan. We've got to

figure this out. But there's this posture of

Ruth where she says, yeah, I got nothing, but

I'm willing to go after it, even go into the

fields to glean. I'm going to do it. What do

you want me to do? Okay, so what else? Available?

Is that what I heard? Okay, what else? Faith.

It kind of comes right out and jumps out at us.

She's got some crazy faith. She's left her own

country and her gods and her family, everything

that she had, and she's following Naomi to where?

To nothing. And yet she says, your God is my

God, and I will follow you. That's some faith.

What else do you see? What's that? I'm sorry,

I didn't hear you. Surrender. Thank you. There's

a surrender, isn't there? Anybody else? What's

that? There's action with what she's doing. Good.

Okay, real life. Character. It's a really high,

I mean, you're a noble character. There is a

woman here that honors God, and you can just

see it. It oozes out of her. That's what I saw

in my wife when I first met her. That was the

thing that I... fell for it was I was like and

she's like don't you say this to me it was true

like I was like oh that's it that's awesome what

else patience what else obedience patience she

genuinely loves Naomi she's willing she there's

that something you don't do that that act like

that or give up everything unless you love somebody

okay what was that She's vulnerable. Yeah. This

is something that I wrote down here. I want you

to just think about Ruth's posture before God.

She's humble. She's loyal. Meaning, she clung

to Naomi and her God. She surrendered. She's

not demanding anything. I think the one that

really struck me the most, which you see really...

It comes out in chapter 2, verse 10, is that

she is poor in spirit. She knows she has nothing.

She falls face down. Why have you found favor

with me? I am a foreigner. And I think she's

a person of noble character. She's a student

of God's law. She's brave and bold. But again,

I think one of the things that really struck

me is how this mirrors the Sermon on the Mount

with Jesus says, blessed are those who are poor

in spirit. The starting point is to say, I got

it. Next week, we will see the Redeemer go to

work to redeem. I think the book of Ruth is a

picture that is ultimately pointing through the

Redeemer, Jesus. it's also pointed to that and

the he is our ultimate redeemer and the question

uh i think that we have to wrestle with is how

are we approaching that redeemer are we approaching

that with humility and surrender or are we approaching

it going what can i get from this god are we

saying i'm poor in spirit are we saying no no

tell me what i can get out of being a christian

tell me what i can get She is not at the center

of her life anymore. She says, your God will

become my God, meaning Ruth. Ruth, God is at

the center. I think that's a challenge for us.

We oftentimes look at our own faith and we go,

yeah, I believe it intellectually, but the way

we function is that we're at the center. Jesus

is our true and final redeemer. And as that,

he willingly, did what was necessary to redeem

us, his bride, the church. Again, this is pointing

to what's coming next week. But the posture,

the thing that really stuck out to me and my

encouragement for us this morning is this. Like

Ruth, we need to walk in selfless humility. We

need to walk as poor in spirit. We need to walk

toward our Redeemer with surrender. Which is

what Jesus did for us, didn't he? When we do

communion every week, it is a picture of us looking

at what Christ did and said, look, and what Christ

did is he came surrendered and gave up everything

for us. His body was broken, his blood was shed.

Why we come back and look at that every week?

Because it needs to look at that and go, Now

the way I approach back my Savior is, God, I

surrender. All to Jesus, I surrender. All to

him, I freely give. Is that the way we live?

So, my encouragement is walk in selfless humility,

walk in poor in spirit, and walk surrendered

before our God. Let's pray together. Everything

in my flesh, Lord, wants to put me first. But

your call to us is to come and be surrendered

before you, the great Redeemer who surrendered

all for us. So Lord, today I pray that as we

examine our hearts, We're all in different places,

Lord, I know that. But as we examine our hearts,

will you prick the areas in our hearts that we

need to surrender? And I pray, God, that we will

be a people that come with humility and surrender

before you. Thank you for being our Redeemer.

In your name we pray, amen. Band, you can come

up.