by John O’Malley
“Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking” (Ruth 3:3).
This evening would be unlike any other previously experienced in their lives. Boaz and Ruth had been in contact with each other daily throughout the harvest. She had eaten meals with Boaz. She had sipped refreshments from his vessels. She had eaten morsels prepared in his kitchen. Their casual, daily contact was always in the context of the harvesting. Yet this contact would not be like any of their previous encounters. This evening’s contact was a planned meeting to bring Ruth’s tender and innocent heart to the righteous lord of the harvest for his consideration for kinsman-redemption.
Naomi’s instructions gave Ruth the precise directions to prepare herself to approach Boaz and to enter his fellowship. The next steps involved directions on how to arrive and present herself to this treasure of God’s grace. Her words are unmistakably clear: “Get thee down to the floor.” Two ideas present themselves in this phrase of instruction to Ruth. The first idea is the reference of going down to the floor. They were in the city of Bethlehem, which resides on the summit of a hill; hence the need to go “down” to Boaz. The other indication in Naomi’s instructions was to go to the floor. Generally, one community would have a floor where its residents could bring their harvest and winnow out the chaff to reveal the grains.
Ruth had worked in the harvest long enough to know its location and purpose. She could have passed it each day on the way to the fields. She would have seen it in the process of gathering the handfuls of purpose left for her. No harvest would be complete without a visit to the threshingfloor. Boaz would be there, as this was the evening he would be finishing his inspection and protection of his harvest.
Ruth’s arrival at the threshing floor would come after she finished some winnowing of her own. You see, Ruth’s preparation to fellowship with Boaz involved a winnowing process. Her cleansing, anointing, and dressing were the removing of the chaff of hopelessness to reveal grains of hope. She winnowed from her heart the hopelessness of widowhood, loneliness, and disappointment. The grain left on the threshing floor of her heart was the hope of redemption and companionship.
There could be no presentation of Ruth for kinsman-redemption unless she would leave home and get to him. There could be no appreciation of Ruth’s effort to present herself to Boaz unless she got there to the floor. There would be no birth of the Messiah without this presentation of a winnowed heart.
Reader, this exciting portion of Scripture brings many thoughts to mind. In your heart today, do you need to do some winnowing of your own? Has the chaff of daily living clouded the grains of promise and hope? Why not today, through prayer of confession and praise to our Eternal Boaz, winnow from your heart the chaff?
Furthermore, there is coming a day at the threshing floor of our Eternal Boaz. It is the Bema Seat Judgment where He will separate from us the chaff of wood, hay, and stubble to reveal gold, silver, and precious stones. Let us commit to being prepared for this threshing floor.