# When Can’t Means Won’t—Part 2

- Link: https://fontlife.com/cant-means-wontpart-2/
- Published: 2013-10-17T08:00:49-04:00
- Author: Victor Font

[⌊When Can't Means Won't—Part 2⌉⌊When Can't Means Won't—Part 2⌉[

Image Courtesy of [Andreas Krappweis](http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Krappweis)

When Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehemjudah, they were literally two of the poorest
people in the area. They depended on charitable gifts of food to survive. But these
weren’t just handouts, they had to work for them. The idea of allowing the poor 
to work to receive food as charity is written into the Mosaic Law:

> And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners
> of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou
> shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard;
> thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.—Leviticus
> 19:9–10

In this context the word “glean” means, “to gather grain or other material that 
is left after the main crop has been gathered.” Harvest time is a time of rejoicing
amongst the Israelites. During the harvest, rich landowners shared their crops with
the poor, orphans, and strangers. Landlords harvested the central portion of their
fields and left the outer edges and corners to be gleaned by the poor. This custom
derives from Leviticus 19:9–10. This is also how Ruth and Naomi survived. Ruth gleaned
the fields of a rich man named Boaz who just happened to be a relative, or kinsman,
of Naomi’s late husband Elimelech.

We’ve already talked about the “husband’s brother” or levirate law in [part 1](https://fontlife.com/blog/cant-means-wontpart-1/).
In practice, this law extends much further than just a husband’s brother, it also
includes the nearest of kin to the deceased. Ruth Chapter 3 begins with Naomi initiating
the idea that Boaz should fulfill the levirate law with Ruth.

> Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest
> for thee, that it may be well with thee? And now _is_ not Boaz of our kindred,
> with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.
> 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. And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou 
> shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his
> feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do. And she said
> unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.—Ruth 3:1–5

It’s important to note that Naomi is absolutely not telling Ruth to do anything 
unseemly as some may suggest. We need to understand the customs of the day to fully
grasp the solemnity of these actions. As the story continues, we see that Ruth obeys
Naomi’s instructions:

> And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in 
> law bade her. And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went
> to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered
> his feet, and laid her down.—Ruth 3:6–7

Many commentators infer that the phrase “his heart was merry” in verse 7 means that
Boaz was drunk. This is not true at all. The Hebrew word rendered “was merry,” literally
means “was good.” After an exhaustively hard day at work, doesn’t it feel good to
you to come home, eat a nice meal, and retire for the evening? Boaz is no different.
After the labors of his day, Boaz relished his simple meal. It was good to him and
he supped to his heart’s content, enjoying the bounties of a gracious God with a
grateful spirit. After he had eaten his full, he went to bed.

> And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: 
> and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. And he said, Who _art_ thou? And she answered,
> I _am_ Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for
> thou art a near kinsman.—Ruth 3:8–9

Ruth observed Naomi’s orders, went and laid herself down, not by his side, but across
his bed’s feet, fully clothed. She kept awake, waiting for an opportunity to tell
her errand. When he awakened in the night, and perceived there was somebody at his
feet, he asked who it was. She told him her name and then her errand, that she came
to put herself under his protection,

Ruth’s modesty led her to account for her position by a reference to the law of 
kinship. She had rights, and she stood upon them. She knew that Boaz had correlative
duties to discharge; but we may be sure that she would have never made the least
reference to her rights, or to the correlative duties, had she not known that his
heart was already hers.

<= [When Can’t Means Won’t—Part 1](https://fontlife.com/blog/cant-means-wontpart-1/)