Being the Same Person When No One Is Looking

While Americans disagree on many things, more than three-quarters say they respect individuals with integrity and believe it’s an important personal value, according to a recent Gallup poll. Classical Greek philosophers believed that integrity was key to an individual’s character. And I suspect it’s the reason that a foreigner like Ruth became so loved and accepted in a village as homogeneous as Bethlehem. Simply put, she walked worthy whether or not anyone was looking. 

Scripture tells us Ruth was initially admired for her dedication to her mother-in-law, leaving her biological family and pagan gods behind in Moab when she returned to Bethlehem with Naomi. Ruth 2:11 confirms choosing to glean in the fields to support herself and Naomi earned her a reputation as a humble, hard worker. 

There’s no doubt that Ruth’s good works were on full display for all of Bethlehem throughout the seven-week wheat and barley harvest. Some commentators, however, paint Ruth as promiscuous due her nighttime visit to Boaz at the threshing room floor. When we look at Hebrew practices and cultural contex, though, we see that Ruth strived to show the same character in the dark as she did in the light. We gain a greater understanding of how much faith Ruth placed in God, in Naomi, and in Boaz - as well as the level of integrity she showed to live worthy of all three. 

The wheels in Naomi’s head probably started turning as soon as she heard how kindly Boaz treated Ruth and saw the measure of grain he sent home with her. Boaz was one of her family’s closest kinsman-redeemers - a close male relative charged with the duty and honor to rescue and restore a family member in trouble. In this case, a relative could marry a widow and produce an heir with her to keep the dead relative’s name alive and keep his property in the family. However, in almost two months, he failed to make a move, despite what many scholars interpret as attraction. 

Naomi wasn’t following a cultural script when she sent Ruth to Boaz that night. Rather, she was creating an opportunity and counting on their integrity to do the right thing. Betting that Boaz could be found at the threshing floor was not an unlikely gamble. Israelites processed their grain throughout the harvest season rather than waiting until the end to limit loss from mice, insects, and rot. Landowners and their servants brought their grain to the threshing floor to process soon after it was gathered so it could quickly be stored in protective pits or jars. So the threshing floor was a relatively predictable place to find landowners in the evening at this time of year. 

There was a reason Naomi told Ruth to go to “the” threshing floor rather than “his” threshing floor.  Processing grain was critical to an agrarian society, and required very specific conditions.  The threshing surface needed to be level and made of bedrock or earth packed hard enough that stomping or beating it would separate the grain from the chaff rather than grind it into the soil. Threshing floors were generally 25 to 100 feet long, depending upon the size of the town, and located in an elevated spot where breezes could assist the process of removing the chaff. Spaces checking all these boxes were in short supply; therefore the threshing floor was usually communal. 

The public nature of the threshing floor explains how Ruth could slip in and hide in a busy area roughly the size of a tennis court. Workers often gathered later in the day to thresh the grain they had picked that day or week, since cooler temperatures made the work more comfortable. Gatherings celebrating the day’s bounty were common - among men. A nighttime visit from a woman probably would be seen as scandalous, lending more evidence to the theory that Naomi’s instruction helped Ruth capitalize on opportunity rather than tradition. However, it’s possible that Ruth was able to hide in the shadows using the shawl she later used to take home grain and hide in the shadows. As workers and landowners finished processing their daily yield and had their fill of food and drink, they often slept near their piles to discourage theft. Naomi’s instruction to notice where Boaz lays down makes sense, given that many men would have been there resting and guarding their own grain. 

Once he was asleep, Ruth laid at his feet, assuming the place of a servant rather than a partner by his side. This demonstrates her humility and reinforces her social position -  a woman at his mercy and trusting him to treat her well. When Boaz awoke, Ruth announced herself and asked him to spread his garment over her - a proposal of marriage and reminder of his role as kinsman redeemer. She then asked him what she should do next. Here we see an opportunity for sin - but we also see integrity.  

While Ruth was virtuous, she wasn’t innocent. A young widow who had been married nearly a decade, she could have taken the opportunity to seduce and trap Boaz. After all, most commentators suspect that Boaz was attracted to Ruth from their first meeting. When he asked his foreman, “whose young woman is this?” he was likely asking about her marital status or family of origin. Inviting Ruth to eat and drink with his workers and continue gleaning in his fields, after instructing his workers to drop wheat for her to gather, adds weight to this theory. And even if attraction wasn’t there, kindness was.  

Surprised and pleased that Ruth didn’t chase a younger man, Boaz assures Ruth he will do what she asks. He shows concern for preserving her reputation, telling her to remain nearby until dawn approached, ensuring she is not assaulted on her way home and that no one knew a woman had visited.

Boaz could have taken advantage of Ruth’s vulnerable physical and social position. Opportunity was there. But so was integrity. Boaz would not dishonor a woman he wanted as his wife - or a woman that the closer relative could claim as his own.

Expositor’s Bible Commentary tells us there is no reason to import modern sexual thinking into ancient situations when there’s no evidence -  after all, Biblical authors weren’t shy about letting us know what went down with between Lot and his daughters, between Tamar and Judah, and in Amnon’s rape of his half-sister.

“Biblical writers were not squeamish about describing sexual encounters, but the writer of Ruth has deliberately refrained from saying there was a liaison between Ruth and Boaz. If read carefully and with sensitivity, it becomes clear that he was saying just the opposite. Both Ruth and Boaz acted virtuously in a situation they knew could have turned out otherwise.”

In contrast with its depressing beginnings, the book of Ruth ends on a high note. The elders pronounce a blessing on Boaz and Ruth at the city gate (Ruth 4:11-12). The couple marries and have a son, King David’s grandfather, whom Naomi helps to care for and raise. The women of the village say that Ruth has been better to Naomi than seven sons, and praise the Lord for his provision for all. It’s hard to imagine both the village elders and the women of Bethlehem speaking this way while giving Ruth the side-eye for her evening visit to the threshing floor. And their verdict doesn’t matter, anyway - God saw fit to include Ruth in the lineage of the Messiah.

Few of us probably live in an agricultural society today. There are even fewer places on earth where produce is still processed the way it was in ancient Bethlehem.

But we have modern “threshing floors” where we make choices about who we will be when few others are looking. In our workplace. In our business dealings. In our relationships. In our taxes. Integrity isn’t just for bible characters or Sunday morning moments. It’s the foundation of who we are at our core. 

Our sister Ruth is likely a part of the cloud of witnesses Hebrews 11 mentions - heroes of the Old Testament who went before us, setting an example of active faith for us to emulate. Ruth was the same woman in daylight and darkness. She walked worthy. It’s time for us to do the same.

~Kristin Yarbrough, Worthy Content Creator

1. Where are the modern threshing floors in your life? 

2. Are there any areas where you are currently tempted to compromise? 

3. Who could your decision to set an example of integrity influence?