A Lineage of Grace (36 page)

She prayed unceasingly for her benefactor. She thought of little else but Boaz while she worked in his field.

And the more she prayed for him and thought about him, the more she saw his goodness.

* * *

Naomi prayed fervently as well. She set her grief aside in favor of her love for Ruth and a desire to see her daughter-in-law settled somewhere better than in this cave. Naomi knew it was time she stopped grieving and started to live again, no matter how painful the effort. It was time to take a good hard look at her own life instead of attending Elimelech’s mistakes. Nothing she supposed would happen had happened. Hadn’t she left Kir-hareseth expecting to travel back to Bethlehem alone? And Ruth had come with her. Hadn’t she expected to be destitute? And Ruth worked in the fields to sustain her. Hadn’t she expected all her friends and family to be dead or gone away? And she’d found half a dozen women she’d known and Boaz, as well as another relative.

Boaz was attracted to Ruth. Anyone who bothered to study the man would know. Naomi also knew him well enough to realize he wouldn’t speak up and make any attempts to win her. The man’s hair would go white and fall out entirely before he allowed his feelings to show openly.

And Ruth would go on dedicating her life to providing for her poor old mother-in-law. She would work until her back was bent and her womb dry. She’d slave away until Naomi had gone the way of her ancestors. Then what would happen to the poor girl? Should Naomi sit by and watch Ruth dedicate her life to gleaning rather than running a household and raising up children for the Lord? Should she do nothing about Ruth’s future? Wasn’t it a mother’s place to stoke the fires a little? Who else but her and God would care about the future of this precious young woman?

So, Lord, what are we going to do about her? How do we shake up that quiet old man and get his blood moving again? If we wait on him, what chance is there?

Supposing she did think up a plan that would turn Boaz’s head. Would Ruth agree to carry it through—whatever it was? Ruth would have to agree!

Naomi spent the next days and nights thinking about Ruth’s future and what a good husband Boaz would make. Toward the end of the wheat harvest, she thought of a plan so bold it was certain to capture Boaz’s attention. Just imagining his reaction made Naomi laugh. But would Ruth trust her judgment? Would her daughter-in-law heed the advice of an old woman who’d made so many mistakes it might seem a way of life?

In the confusion of her feelings, Naomi could not be sure about her motives. She knew only that the Lord could sort it all out and make things right. She loved Ruth as she would a daughter of her own womb and wanted to see her happily settled, but she also wanted a grandson to claim Mahlon’s inheritance and carry on his name. She wanted to make amends to Boaz for the pain she had caused him when she was a young girl. And what better way to do that than by offering him a beautiful young wife with many years of childbearing ahead of her?

Was it right to ask so much of God when she’d spent most of her life walking behind Elimelech?

Ruth and Boaz. Boaz and Ruth. Don’t You think they’re right for each other, Lord? I grant she is much younger than he, but what better blessing to give a righteous man like Boaz than a quiver full of children in his old age? And what children they would have! You would not see their sons and daughters bowing down to baals!

She pleaded their case to the Almighty and longed for an answer. How fortunate Moses had been to hear The Voice from a burning bush. Naomi knew better than to expect God to give her an audible answer, but she couldn’t trust any of her friends with the questions tormenting her. Was this plan right before God? If it wasn’t, what might be the cost to Ruth?

Let the cost be on my head, Lord.

* * *

When the harvest came to an end, Naomi knew the plan had to be put into action now or never. Boaz had been given plenty of time to notice Ruth’s virtues, and Ruth had great respect for him.

“My daughter, it’s time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for. I intend to find a husband for you and get you happily married again.”

Ruth laughed. “And who would marry someone like me?”

“The man I’m thinking of is Boaz.”

“Boaz!”
Ruth spilled some of the grain she was pouring into an earthen container and stared at her. “You can’t be serious!”

“I know he’s old . . .”

“He’s not
old
.”

“Homely, then. Is that why you object?”

“Mother, he’s the most respected man in all Bethlehem! He stands among the elders at the gate! He’s a rich man with land and servants!”

“All the more reason to consider him.”

Ruth shook her head, half in amusement, half in consternation. “I know you love me, Mother, but your esteem for the widow of your son is beyond bounds. How can you possibly think I would be worthy of Boaz? The idea is ludicrous.”

“You were good enough for my son. You’re good enough for Boaz.”

Ruth went back to pouring grain into the earthen container. “Not even if I threw myself at his feet would the man notice me.”

“You don’t think he’s noticed you? Ha. He noticed you long ago.”

“In kindness.”

“More than in kindness. Have you no eyes in your head? He admires you. From too much a distance, but admire you he does.”

“You’re mistaken. He thinks no more of me than he does any other gleaner in his fields.”

“I’ve made it my business to study the man’s manner around you, Ruth. Shouldn’t I look out for your future? His eyes tell the whole story when he sees you returning from the fields.”

“He greets me in the same manner he does all his maidservants. ‘God be with you,’ he says.”

“Do you think a man in his fifties can court a young widow from Moab without tongues wagging? The women would think you a harlot and him an old fool. And the men . . . well, we won’t talk about what they would think. Boaz won’t show himself under any circumstances other than those called upon by our Law.” Leaning forward, Naomi clasped Ruth’s hands and smiled broadly. “But the Law is on our side.”

Ruth looked confused. “I don’t understand.”

“Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he’s been very kind by letting you gather grain with his workers. He is a compassionate man and would show mercy to anyone in need. But because he is also our close relative, he can be our family redeemer.”

“Family redeemer?”

“God provided a way for widows under His Law. As our family redeemer, Boaz would take you as his wife and give you a son to carry on the name of Mahlon and inherit Elimelech’s portion of the land God promised.”

Ruth’s face flooded with color. “After all he’s done for us already, should we ask him to give me a son to carry on another man’s name? What of his own inheritance?”

“Would it change anything to leave the man be? Boaz has no sons, Ruth. Nor any prospects for begetting them.”

“And you think I should . . .” She stopped, stammered, blushed. “H-he’s one of the elders! Surely he already knows he holds the position of our family redeemer. He hasn’t offered because it isn’t a responsibility he wants.”

“The man is too humble to offer. What would he say to you, my dear? ‘I want to offer my services . . .’? Never in a million years would he say such a thing, nor God allow it. I know Boaz better than you do. I remember him from years past, and I’ve listened to all that my friends have said about him in the years between. He will
never
approach you about this matter.”

“Because I’m not worthy to be the wife of such a man!”

“No. Because he’s more than thirty years older than you. And because, if I know him at all, he’s waiting for a young man, handsome and with a charmed tongue, to offer you marriage instead.” God forbid. Boaz had stood back and allowed Elimelech to claim her because she’d been swayed by physical appearance and charm. Was Boaz standing back again and waiting until the other relative realized Ruth’s worth? Boaz might even make himself a matchmaker! “Boaz wouldn’t put himself forward if his life depended on it.” Which in Naomi’s eyes it did. “The man would not risk embarrassing you with an unwanted proposition.”

Ruth looked away, her brow furrowed. When she looked back at Naomi, her discomfiture was clear.

“Should I help you find a husband, Ruth? Could you be happily married to Boaz?”

Ruth considered for a long moment. “I don’t know.”

“Saying you don’t know is better than saying a flat no,” Naomi said, satisfied. “Will you trust me if I tell you that Boaz could make you happy? He would do everything in his power to make sure of it.” She saw moisture build in Ruth’s eyes. Before her daughter-in-law could protest, Naomi began explaining her plan. “I happen to know that tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. Now do as I tell you—take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don’t let Boaz see you until he has finished his meal. Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do.”

Ruth’s face was white, her eyes wide. “Should I do such a bold thing?”

“Trust me, my daughter. Unless you make it known to the man that you want him for a husband, he’ll live out his life the way he is. Should such a man go down to Sheol without sons of his own?”

“And what of you?”

“Me? What about me?”

“If Boaz does take me for his wife, what will happen to you? Should I leave you alone in this cave?”

Naomi’s heart softened. Precious girl! Ruth was a jewel with many facets. Naomi was all the more determined to see her in the proper setting. “Boaz gave you a double portion the first day he met you. Do you think he would leave me out in the cold to fend for myself?” She shook her head and smiled. “If all goes as I’ve prayed, we will all have a future and a hope, Ruth. If the plan succeeds, it will be because God makes it so and not because an old widow has done a bit of matchmaking.”

Ruth let out her breath slowly. “All right,” she said slowly and inclined her head. “I will do everything you say.”

Lowering her head, Naomi was silent a moment, disturbed by Ruth’s solemnity. Ruth was in the springtime of her life; Boaz, autumn. Naomi could understand Ruth’s hesitation, but she was certain Boaz could make her daughter-in-law happy. Still, she pondered. Would this please God, or was she making plans of her own as she had done before?

What am I to do, Lord? Many are the plans of women, but Your will prevails.

Be merciful, Jehovah-rapha. Let us all be healed of our grief and know love again. Let the homeless have a home again, a home where You are master. Boaz will teach my daughter the way of life and uphold her on her journey. I see the loneliness in the man’s eyes, Jehovah-jireh. I see the love there, too. If it be Your will, soften his heart toward Ruth and her heart toward him. If they come together only out of mutual respect and duty, if it please You, Lord, let those feelings grow into love. Build a fire in each of them that will warm them for a lifetime.

* * *

Boaz had the sheaves of barley loaded onto donkeys and carried to the high place near Bethlehem that he’d turned into a threshing floor. Shamash and the young men broke the bundles open and cast the stalks onto the hard-packed earth, where a pair of oxen were driven in a circle, dragging behind them a heavy wooden sledge. The stones fastened to the underside of the sledge crushed the stalks and loosened the grain. Girding his loins, Boaz joined his servants in the work. The air filled with the scents of crushed stalks, oxen, and the hot sun and earth. When the floor was heavy with broken stalks of barley, the oxen were led away and the men took up their winnowing forks.

Boaz pitched grain into the air. The afternoon breeze caught the straw and chaff and whiffed it away while the heavier kernels of barley dropped back to the threshing floor. It was hot, hard work. Over and over, he dug his fork into the piles of threshed grain. Sweat soaked through his tunic and beaded on his forehead. He paused and tied a cloth around his head to keep the perspiration from dripping into his eyes. Bending to his labor, he raised a song of celebration and his servants joined in.

As the threshing progressed, he set workers to gather the straw into piles to be stored and used through the year to fire stoves and feed his animals. When the bits of straw and chaff were too small to be pitched by fork, the men set aside their winnowing forks and used shovels instead. They paused to eat and drink and then returned to work. When the breeze died down, some of the servants waved woven mats to blow the chaff from the barley. Other workers began to purify the grain by sifting. As the grain passed through, bits of rubbish were caught in the sieves and thrown away. The darnel grains were removed, for if these weed and tare seeds were left, they would be eaten and cause dizziness and sickness.

The harvest was so plentiful, the work would last for several days. “Enough for today, men!” Boaz called out. His cooks were ready with savory dishes of bean and lentil stew. Trays of fruit were set out, along with plenty of bread and wine. The men relaxed, talked, sang, and laughed as the stars came out.

No lanterns were lit, for the risk of fire was too great.

* * *

Ruth sat some distance from the threshing floor and watched Boaz sing, laugh, and drink with his servants. When the stars came out, she moved closer as the celebrating slowed. When Boaz rose, the gathering broke up. His servants spread out and found places to cover themselves with their mantles for sleep. Work would begin again early in the morning. Ruth watched Boaz lie down beside the pile of grain.

She remained concealed in an outcropping of rocks for another hour. She wanted to be certain all of Boaz’s servants had settled down for the night and were asleep before she came out of her hiding place. She couldn’t risk being seen here. Gossip would spread through Bethlehem like a fire, burning up her reputation. That thought tortured her as she moved slowly, cautiously, toward the place where Boaz slept. Her heart thumped until she felt sick with tension.