Ruth and Boaz

[NerdGirl]

I had a Sunday school teacher in junior high who told us that what Ruth did was just the normal, every day way of proposing marriage in that culture. She said that it was always the woman who proposed, never the man, and the woman always had to propose by going and sleeping at the feet of the man. I'm pretty sure she just completely made that up, since I've never heard it anywhere else.

[vorpal blade]

I had a Sunday school teacher in junior high who told us that what Ruth did was just the normal, every day way of proposing marriage in that culture. She said that it was always the woman who proposed, never the man, and the woman always had to propose by going and sleeping at the feet of the man. I'm pretty sure she just completely made that up, since I've never heard it anywhere else.

You might consider what the LDS Institute manual says:

(23-19) Ruth 3:6–9. How Did Ruth Make Her
Proposal to Boaz? “When Boaz awoke from his sleep by the pile
of grain, which he was guarding as was the custom
during harvest time, he was startled by Ruth’s
presence. She was direct in her proposal. The word
rendered ‘skirt’ also means ‘wing,’ and her request
is not unlike our idiom ‘take me under your wing.’
Gesenius, the famous Hebraist, says it was a proper
proposal of marriage—even though the girl was
doing the proposing!” (Rasmussen, Introduction to
the Old Testament, 1:157.)
The idiom means “protect me,” or, in other words,
“be my protector or husband.”
“According to our customs, indeed, this act of
Naomi and Ruth appears a very objectionable one
from a moral point of view, but it was not so when
judged by the customs of the people of Israel at
that time. Boaz, who was an honourable man, and,
according to [Ruth 3:10], no doubt somewhat advanced
in years, praised Ruth for having taken refuge with
him, and promised to fulfil her wishes when he had
satisfied himself that the nearer redeemer would
renounce his right and duty [see vv. 10–11]. As he
acknowledged by this very declaration, that under
certain circumstances it would be his duty as
redeemer to marry Ruth, he took no offence at
the manner in which she had approached him and
proposed to become his wife. On the contrary, he
regarded it as a proof of feminine virtue and modesty,
that she had not gone after young men, but offered
herself as a wife to an old man like him. This conduct
on the part of Boaz is a sufficient proof that women
might have confidence in him that he would do
nothing unseemly. And he justified such confidence.”
(Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary, 2:1:483.)

http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/full ... 89_eng.pdf