The threshing floors of Scripture are a great study, where we learn to separate chaff from wheat.
What a man this Boaz is! He is like the Mighty Man of Matthew, the Working Man of Mark, the Kinsman of Luke, and the Loving Man of John. When Ruth requests, “Take your maidservant under your wing” (Ruth 3:9), he responds, “Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning” (v 10). What does this mean? He had already commended her for caring for her Jewish mother-in-law at the beginning (see 2:11), but now she is endeavoring to raise up the name of the dead by seeking the help of Boaz. There’s a lot more at stake here than first meets the eye. Your salvation, for example! That will be made clear at the end of the story. On the grand scale, we have a Gentile seeking a Jewish Redeemer. Instead of the blessing coming through Naomi to Ruth—Naomi tells Ruth in Moab that there’s nothing for her in Bethlehem—the blessing will come through the Gentile to the Jew. Notice that Boaz recognizes Ruth’s choice of him above all others. Some ask, “Did you choose Christ or did He choose you?” The answer is, Yes! We see divine sovereignty clearly at work, but human choice as well. There’s no contradiction here. Now Boaz, for virtue’s sake, instructs Ruth to head back to town “before one could recognize another” (v 14). But Ruth couldn’t hide the news she had to share with Naomi, since every time she visited Boaz he enriched her. He gave her six measures, not ephahs (six bushels would be impossible to carry), but the number suggests a week’s worth of labor, so she can now rest. But what about the nearer kinsman? Yes, the Law’s prior claims must be satisfied before any new covenant could be established. And so Boaz gets to work!