Now comes the part of the story that we all love.  Naomi said, "Tonight, my daughter, Boaz and his workers will be winnowing barley in the threshing floor.  All that grain has to be tended to.  Bathe yourself; anoint yourself with oils.  Put on your finest clothes and go there--but softly, quietly--don't let him know you are there.  After he has finished eating and drinking, mark the place where he lies down on the floor, so that that you will know which bed is his.  Then slip in, uncover his feet and lie down there.  He will tell you what to do."

Ruth trusted Naomi completely.  If she had told Ruth to jump off a cliff I think Ruth would have done it.  "I will do all that you say to me," Ruth told her.  I wonder if she worried about what Boaz would think when he woke up--what would happen on that threshing floor.  It didn't seem proper.  But Ruth trusted Naomi's judgment.  She was ready to do whatever Naomi told her to do.

Ruth probably didn't know about the rules of inheritance in Israel.  Naomi couldn't claim her husband's property--it had to go to her sons, who were dead.  Only a kinsman could claim it, and there was a strict line of inheritance.  And to claim it, you had to marry the widow of the heir--which would be Ruth.  You couldn't just buy the property.  It had to stay in the family.

When Boaz woke, he was frightened and said, "Who are you."  She said, "I am Ruth.  Spread your skirt (protection) over me for you are a kinsman (who can inherit).  He said to her, "All the city knows that you are a virtuous woman.  You have not chased after the young men of our town--either the rich young men, or the poor.  It is true what you say about my role as a kinsman, but I am not next in line to claim you.  There is a another nearer than I.  Let me see if he wants to take the part of a kinsman--which is his right.  And if he does not, I will.  Lie here till morning.  I will take care of it then."  So Ruth lay at his feet till morning, and then rose to leave before the others woke.

Then, trying to protect her from gossip, he told her, "Don't let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor."  He had her get her vail and filled it with six measures of barley and said, "Don't go home empty to your mother-in-law."  I'm sure Naomi was on pins and needles waiting to hear what had happened.  I know that I would have been.