Ruth 3:14-18
Six Measures of Barley
14So she lay down at his feet until morning, but she got up before anyone else could recognize her. Then Boaz said, “Do not let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.”
15And he told her, “Bring the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured in six measures of barley and placed it on her. Then he went into the city.
16When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked her, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then Ruth told her all that Boaz had done for her.
17And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
18“Wait, my daughter,” said Naomi, “until you find out how things go, for he will not rest unless he has resolved the matter today.”
Berean Standard Bible
Ruth lies at his feet until morning and is up before anyone else can recognize her. He does not want it known that a woman came to the threshing floor. The passage does not say whether he is protecting Ruth, himself, or both. The person more exposed there is not himself: he is a respected man in Bethlehem and would come through the talk, while she is a foreign widow, and in a town that size a story like that follows a person around for good.
Before she goes he stops her. He tells her to hold out the shawl she is wearing, pours six measures of barley into it, and lifts it onto her. Then he walks into the city to deal with the rest of it.
She does not arrive home with nothing to show, and Naomi wants to hear all of it. How did it go, my daughter. So Ruth tells her everything Boaz did, and then she repeats the reason he gave for the grain.
He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.
Empty. Standing in the street on the day she came home, Naomi had told the whole town that she went away full and the LORD had brought her back empty. Now a shawl of barley turns up at her door with a message attached, and the message uses her word.
The book does not tell us that Boaz had heard what she said that day. It does not join the two sentences up for us. It hands the same word to a man loading a shawl at dawn and leaves it sitting there.
Naomi's answer is to sit still.
Wait, my daughter, said Naomi, until you find out how things go, for he will not rest unless he has resolved the matter today.
And there the chapter leaves them: two women in a house with nothing to do but wait, and a man walking into town to settle it. Naomi's last line is a judgment about his character, and she states it as a certainty. He will not rest until it is done, and it will be done today. She has been reading this man since the afternoon Ruth came home with too much barley, and she has him right.
How We Know
The word in verse 17 is the word Naomi used about herself, and the book never points at it. The repetition supports a book working its own vocabulary, and nothing says Boaz chose the word.
In 1:21 Naomi told the women of Bethlehem that she went away full and the LORD had brought her back empty. In 3:17 Ruth repeats the reason Boaz gave for the grain: do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.
The text does not say Boaz knew what she had said that day. It gives the same word to a man loading a shawl at dawn and leaves the reader to hear it.
Naomi's closing judgment rests on what the book has already shown: he fed Ruth at his table, ordered his men to protect her, kept her employed through two harvests, and refused to step ahead of the nearer redeemer with nobody watching. She says he will settle it today, and chapter 4 opens with him at the gate.
Questions
1 Think of a time somebody protected your reputation when they did not have to. Boaz does that here. What does he do, and who was at risk?
AnswerShe gets up before anyone else can recognize her, and he tells her not to let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor. He would come through the talk himself. She is a foreign widow, and in a town that size a story like that would follow her for good.
2 What does Boaz put in her shawl, and what does he send with it?
AnswerSix measures of barley, and word that she is not to go back to her mother-in-law empty-handed. He loads her up before she leaves and gives her the reason to carry home along with the grain.
3 Naomi told the whole town she had come home empty. What turns up at her door here?
AnswerA shawl full of barley, with a reason attached that hands her own word back to her: not empty-handed. The book never says Boaz had heard what she said that day. It puts the same word in both mouths and leaves it there.
4 Naomi says Boaz will not rest until the matter is settled, and settled today. What is she basing that on?
AnswerOn his character, which she has been reading since the afternoon Ruth came home with too much barley. He fed her, protected her, and kept her working through the harvest. Naomi turns out to be right, and chapter 4 opens with Boaz sitting at the gate.
What This Means for Us
What Ruth carries home is a promise sworn by the living LORD, and six measures of barley. Boaz had already committed himself under oath. The grain adds nothing to the commitment.
He sends it anyway, because Naomi and Ruth have to get through a day of waiting, and something in the hands helps. The barley is not the security. The oath is. The barley is a kindness laid on top of a promise that was already good.
So think of one person waiting on you for something you cannot finish today. Send them something small today anyway, and be clear with yourself about which part is the promise and which part is the parcel.
Prayer
Father, waiting is hard and we make people do a lot of it. Thank you for a man who sent a widow home with grain in her arms because a promise is difficult to carry. Give us the patience of two women in a house, and the kindness that fills somebody's hands while they wait. Amen.