In the story of Ruth, we have some interesting temple imagery relating to covenants. Boaz seems to take an interest in Ruth as she gleans the barley fields. He commands his servants to let her glean in the sheaves and to let some of the barley fall to the ground so she can easily gather it. Ruth asks, “Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger?” Boaz answered by saying, “It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust” (Ruth 2:10-12).
The “wings” are not only a source of power (see D&C 77:4), but they foreshadow her future marriage to Boaz in the New and Everlasting Covenant. The Savior comes through this legal lineage of Boaz and Ruth. Some of the barley harvest was used to stock mangers in Bethlehem as feeding troughs for the animals. I like to imagine that maybe Ruth got to prepare a manger like the one Jesus was born in.
The verse above directs the reader to contemplate on how Ruth came to trust in the Savior’s protective wings. Wing is translated from the Hebrew word kanaph. The definition is “wing, extremity, edge, winged, border, corner, shirt, skirt, corner (of garment).” I am attaching the Strong’s Bible Concordance entry below. The same word comes into play in the next chapter.
Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, reveals to her that Boaz is a kinsman-redeemer, and thus, he is a type of Christ as a redeemer. Naomi said to Ruth, “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” (Ruth 3:2-4).
We have here a symbolic washing, anointing, and clothing ordinance. The threshing floor also has temple connections, which I will discuss in a later post. Ruth obeyed Naomi and uncovered his feet and laid herself down. Boaz asks the identifying question: “Who art thou?” She answers, “I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman.” (Ruth 3:9).
The word skirt here is kanaph, the same Hebrew word as wing. In other passages, kanaph denotes covenant language. In Numbers 15:38-39, it’s a reminder of Israel’s covenant with the Lord:
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders (kanaph) of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders (kanaph) a ribband of blue:
“And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring.”
In Exodus 19:4, it’s a reminder of how the Lord brought them out of Egyptian bondage and bare them on eagles’ wings and brought them unto Himself. The wings covered the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. In the Book of Mormon, the Savior invites us to come unto Him as He said, “O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart” (3 Nephi 10:6).
The Bible Dictionary explains the “hem of the garment” touched by the woman with the issue of blood as the “wing” or border of the Savior’s garment:
“An important part of an Israelite’s dress, owing to the regulation in Num. 15:38–39. It was really a tassel at each ‘wing’ or corner of the tallith or mantle (Matt. 14:36). The law required that it should be bound with a thread of blue, the color of heaven. The strict Jews to this day wear these tassels, though they are usually concealed. The Pharisees made them conspicuously large (Matt. 23:5). It would be the tassel that hung over the shoulder at the back that the woman with the issue of blood came and touched (Luke 8:44; also Ex. 28:33–34).”
As Ruth asks Boaz to “spread his skirt over her,” she is asking to enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant with him. The wing, skirt, and border of the garment all become symbols of the covenant and are tied to sacred clothing. It invites the Savior’s power and protection into our lives.
