Why did Ruth uncover Boaz’s feet?<\/p>\n\t
In the story of Ruth, Ruth worked in the fields as a charity case to supply food for her mother-in-law and herself. Ruth didn’t realize it, but the field she selected was owned by a relative of her deceased father-in-law. Boaz spoke to her, realized she was related and made sure that she was protected (Ruth 2:8-13). He even asked her to join him for lunch (Ruth 2:14). Nothing more might have happened, but Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, told Ruth that at the celebration at the end of harvest to dress up. “Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do<\/em>” (Ruth 3:3-4).<\/p>\n Many scholars conjecture as to what this symbolic action represented, but the most sensible is that Ruth was indicating that she was willing to serve Boaz (willing to be under his feet). Boaz wouldn’t hear of Ruth becoming a servant in his house. He was impressed that she had not chased after men as other women did (Ruth 3:10) and he realized that she had an excellent character (Ruth 3:11). Thus, Boaz realized that he wanted Ruth as a wife, not as a servant. Yet, Ruth had to give him a small push to make him realize that she was available and worthy to be his wife by offering to be his servant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Why did Ruth uncover Boaz’s feet? Answer: In the story of Ruth, Ruth worked in the fields as a charity case to supply food for her mother-in-law and herself. Ruth didn’t realize it, but the field she selected was owned by a relative of her deceased father-in-law. Boaz spoke to her, realized she was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[925,245],"class_list":["post-9343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-customs","tag-ruth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-the-man-always-make-the-first-move-in-a-relationship\/","url_meta":{"origin":9343,"position":0},"title":"Should the man always make the first move in a relationship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am now in a community where most men at my age are married; only one is single. I think he is a very good person, I don\u2019t dress immodestly like I used to. I think physical attraction would not be important for a man seeing a good woman,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14211,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-help-break-an-impasse-between-two-young-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":9343,"position":1},"title":"How can I help break an impasse between two young people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I\u00a0would, please,\u00a0like\u00a0to\u00a0know your\u00a0thoughts about a particular courting problem with which I am involved. The problem\u00a0is concerning two young friends of mine, a young lady and a young man. They're both serious disciples of Jesus, as are their respective families. They and their\u00a0respective families each\u00a0attend a different congregation.\u00a0Up to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1034,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-lessons-can-we-learn-from-boaz\/","url_meta":{"origin":9343,"position":2},"title":"What lessons can we learn from Boaz?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The relationship between Boaz and his workers was enviable. Is it possible today? Why or why not? Answer: The story of Boaz is found in the book of Ruth. While you appear to think highly of Boaz's relationship with his servants, there is actually little material to draw upon.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-naomi-related-to-obed-in-any-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":9343,"position":3},"title":"Was Naomi related to Obed in any way?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Naomi Obed's grandmother or even related to him in any way? Answer: Obed was the son born to Boaz and Ruth. Ruth was Naomi's widowed daughter-in-law. She had married Naomi's son who had died. Boaz married Ruth in part because he was a near kinsman to Ruth's husband.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32597,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-did-ruth-convert-to-judaism\/","url_meta":{"origin":9343,"position":4},"title":"When did Ruth convert to Judaism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was Ruth converted to Judaism in the Book of Ruth? If yes, when did it happen? By the time she marries Mahlon, or by the time she follows Naomi to Bethlehem, or by the time she marries Boaz or none of the above? Answer: Ruth's decision to follow the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-wasnt-naomi-concerned-that-her-daughters-in-law-might-marry-ungodly-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":9343,"position":5},"title":"Why wasn’t Naomi concerned that her daughters-in-law might marry ungodly men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm preparing to teach the book of Ruth for the first time.\u00a0 In fact, to even study it!\u00a0 I'm a bit confused as to why Naomi insisted that her daughters-in-law not go with her to her homeland in Judah when Moab was a land full of idolatry.\u00a0 If her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}