What does “uncovering the feet” mean in Ruth 3:7?
There is a lot of debate on what this passage does, and does not say. The term “uncover his feet”
is exactly what it says or is a euphemism pertaining to something else. The commentators are all over the
place on this one.
First off, I do not believer Boaz and Ruth had sex. I do not believe that and the scriptures do not
support that view. The whole of the book of Ruth shows that Boaz was a person of extraordinary virtue,
caution and self-restraint. We also see that Ruth is identified as a virtuous woman in 3:11.
However, something happened and that is the crux of the discussion.
So here are some of the idea’s of the meaning of “uncover his feet.”
Calmet - It is said that women in the East, when going to the bed of their lawful husbands,
through modesty, and in token of subjection, go to the bed's foot, and gently raising the clothes, creep
under them up to their place.
Bible Illustrator - Servants have been accustomed to lay themselves at the feet of their master. In
cold evenings, the servant would claiming the privilege, of drawing over themselves the skirts of the long
mat or cloak of their master.
This act has also been a very prominent part of the marriage ceremony among the Orientals. The
bridegroom would throw the skirt of his robe over his bride. The act of Ruth here described was,
therefore, a significant action, in which she claimed the protection of Boaz and the honorable
acknowledgment of her as his wife.
Ruth’s conduct does not for one moment make him doubt or question her purity.
Gill – to gently lay aside the covering upon his feet, whether a blanket, or rug, or his own long
clothes, with which his feet were wrapped, and then lay herself down at his feet; in order to give him a
hint that there was somebody at his feet. This may seem to us to be strange advice, and not consistent
with the character of pious and virtuous women, which they both bore, and with that modesty they
otherwise seem to be possessed of; to clear this, let it be observed, that this man was, as Naomi thought,
the next kinsman, and so in right of the law in De 25:5, was the husband of Ruth.
Deuteronomy 25:5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the
wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in
unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto
her.
Therefore, Ruth might take such a freedom with him as she did; and it seems by the same law as
if Ruth was making a demand of marriage, which may serve to reconcile the carriage of Ruth to her
character. Besides, what things in one age, and in one nation, are reckoned immodest, are not so
accounted in another age, and in another nation.
Add to this the age and gravity of Boaz, and the well-known virtue of Ruth to Naomi, she might
think herself quite safe in the advice she gave: and yet after all, it must be owned, it is somewhat difficult
to account for her simplicity and wisdom in it; since she could not be sure that sin and folly would not be
committed, considering the infirmity of human nature; or that such a behavior in Ruth would not alienate
the affection of Boaz from her, and cause him to consider her as a light and loose woman, and unfit to be
his wife:
Jamison, Fausset and Brown - Singular as these directions may appear to us, there was no
impropriety in them, according to the simplicity of rural manners in Beth-lehem. In ordinary
circumstances these would have seemed indecorous to the world; but in the case of Ruth, it was a method,
doubtless conformable to prevailing usage, of reminding Boaz of the duty which devolved on him as the
kinsman of her deceased husband. Boaz probably slept upon a mat or skin; Ruth lay crosswise at his feet-a position in which Eastern servants frequently sleep in the same chamber or tent with their master; and if
they want a covering, custom allows them that benefit from part of the covering on their master's bed.
Resting, as the Orientals do at night, in the same clothes they wear during the day, there was no indelicacy
in a stranger, or even a woman, putting the extremity of this cover over her.
Wiersbe - Four times in this chapter there is mention of feet (3:4, 7–8, 14). Ruth had fallen at the
feet of Boaz in response to his gracious words (2:10), but now she was coming to his feet to propose
marriage. She was asking him to obey the law of the kinsman redeemer and take her as his wife.
General thoughts
A literal reading will work fine here. She uncovers his actual feet (and lies down there, in a
humble position), which eventually wakes him. Despite being startled (v8) (perhaps by this) he finds out
what she wants and is very flattered that she has thought more prudently than a young person typically
might.
In this way, Ruth indicates her preference for, love of and willingness to be under the care and
provision of Boaz. The perfuming & dress indicated that she was willing to marry him, not that she was
interested in anything illicit. Boaz, being honorable as well, understood the precarious situation, and also
acted honorably, so as not to bring shame on her, them, or their family.
As I said, I do not see in the context that a sexual encounter took place, it is unlikely that Boaz
would be concerned with preserving her honor.
If we do not take this passage as literal, then we must assume that a euphemism is embedded
within the original text. A good example of this is the use of the word “feet” (often in the dual,
*raglayim*), to stand for the genitals of either sex. This is the case elsewhere: Ezekiel 16:25 (female
"spreads her feet"). Although, to “Cover the feet” is also a euphemism for relieving oneself, but in this
case the feet are literal feet used as part of a euphemistic expression.) In the Hebrew Scriptures 'feet' are
sometimes used as a euphemism for 'genitals'.
Bob Crowder