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Texts -- Ruth 3:1-6 (NET)

Context
Naomi Instructs Ruth
3:1 At that time, Naomi , her mother-in-law , said to her, “My daughter , I must find a home for you so you will be secure . 3:2 Now Boaz , with whose female servants you worked, is our close relative . Look , tonight he is winnowing barley at the threshing floor . 3:3 So bathe yourself, rub on some perfumed oil , and get dressed up . Then go down to the threshing floor . But don’t let the man know you’re there until he finishes his meal . 3:4 When he gets ready to go to sleep , take careful notice of the place where he lies down . Then go , uncover his legs , and lie down beside him. He will tell you what you should do .” 3:5 Ruth replied to Naomi, “I will do everything you have told me to do .”
Ruth Visits Boaz
3:6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had instructed her to do.

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The Book of Ruth is one of the most fascinating and important short stories that anyone has ever written. As a piece of literature it is almost perfect. The German poet Goethe called it "the loveliest complete work on a small...
  • I. Naomi's predicament ch. 1A. The deaths of Naomi's husband and sons 1:1-5B. Naomi's inability to provide husbands for Ruth and Orpah 1:6-14C. Ruth's profession of faith in Yahweh 1:15-18D. Naomi's weak faith 1:19-21E. Hope ...
  • As is often true in literature, the structure of the piece sometimes reveals the purpose of the writer. This is certainly the case in the Book of Ruth. The writer constructed the whole book with a chiastic (crossing) structur...
  • Chapter 1 in a sense prepares for chapters 2-4 that constitute the heart of the book. Chapter 1 presents a problem, but chapters 2-4 provide the solution. The key to the solution on the human level was the planning of Naomi a...
  • Having obtained food and safety the two women could look beyond their immediate physical needs to their greater need. Whereas Ruth took the initiative in proposing a plan to obtain food (2:2), Naomi now suggested a plan to ge...
  • Naomi had expressed a desire back in Moab that each of her daughters-in-law might find "rest"(1:9). The Hebrew word reads "security"in the NASB and "a home"in the NIV, but its meaning in other parts of the Old Testament is a ...
  • Ruth carried out Naomi's instructions exactly, further demonstrating her loyal love to her mother-in-law, and encouraged Boaz to pursue the possibility of marriage (vv. 6-9)."Note that the threshingfloor was a public place an...
  • Ruth had risked danger by sleeping on the threshing floor (v. 14). Other people might have seen her and assumed that something bad was taking place. Evidently some of Boaz's reapers were aware of her presence, but Boaz told t...
  • The climax of this fascinating story and the resolution of the problem laying in the way of Ruth's union with Boaz and realization of rest become clear in this chapter. Naomi and Ruth's plan (3:1-5) comes to a successful comp...
  • Probably the practice of standing on land one possessed led to the custom of using the sandal as a symbol of possession in land transactions (v. 7; cf. Gen. 13:17; Deut. 1:36; 11:24; Josh. 1:3; 14:9).80Most scholars believe t...
  • Verse 13 is a key verse in the book because it records the fulfillment of Naomi and Ruth's plans to obtain rest (2:2; 3:1-5).82A son was indispensable to the continuation of the line of Boaz as well as that of Mahlon and Elim...
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