When I started the series of posts on the book of Ruth, I was setting out to address a number of questions that arise while reading Ruth. Let’s take a look at the questions that remain to be answered.

What was going on with Ruth uncovering Boaz’s feet and lying down (3:4, 7-14)?
According to the study notes, the idea was to make Boaz’s feet cold so that he would wake up.

3:4 Ruth was to uncover Boaz’s feet to ensure that he would waken.

Why did Boaz go to the town gate (4:1) to settle this business? Why did he call for "ten leaders from the town ... to sit as witnesses" (4:2)?
The study note on Ruth 4:1 addresses this question:

4:1 Most legal transactions, including property transfers, were carried out at the town gate.

What was the sandal transfer custom (4:7-8) all about?
Here is the study note on Ruth 4:7:

4:7 in those days: The book of Ruth was not written immediately after these events. By the time Ruth was written, most people had forgotten this custom of removing a sandal and what it meant. The transfer of a sandal symbolized transferring a right of purchase to redeem the land. See also Deut 25:9 for a similar (but not identical) custom in relation to levirate marriage; in both cases, the sandal apparently signified the right of redemption.

Why was the birth of Obed, Boaz’s and Ruth’s son, a source of blessing and redemption for Naomi?

4:14 This child replaced the family Naomi had lost when her own two sons died in Moab. The women of the town recognized that this child completed the circle of redemption for Naomi.

4:15 care for you in your old age (literally cause your old age to be full): With the birth of Obed, Naomi’s life was full again (cp. 1:21).

Why did Naomi nurse the baby as her own?
We don’t address this question in the notes of the NLT Study Bible. Naomi was adopting Obed as her own son, to be the heir of Elimelech’s estate.

Why does Ruth end with a genealogy? Kind of a strange way to end the story, isn’t it?

4:18-22 The book of Ruth ends with a genealogy of ten generations, from Perez, the son of Judah (Jacob’s son), to David, the grandson of Obed. Besides being one of the world’s great stories, this tale concerns the family history of David, Israel’s greatest king. That Ruth and Boaz were ancestors of Israel’s greatest king is a major reason for the inclusion of this small book in the OT.

Yes, it's a beautiful story, but what meaning does it have for me?
The “Meaning and Message” section in the book introduction addresses this question:

God usually works in the ordinary events of everyday life. Miracles do happen, but God regularly accomplishes his purposes and blesses his people through routine occurrences. If we learn faithfulness in the everyday, we are equipped to be faithful when crises come.

Ruth contains at least nine spoken blessings. God’s people have the privilege of blessing each other in God’s name. We often help fulfill those blessings, as Naomi and Boaz fulfilled the blessings they gave to Ruth.

Naomi felt abandoned by God; but God had not abandoned Naomi, and by the end of the book Naomi knew that God had restored more to her than she could have dreamed. God is trustworthy in our darkest hours.

Faith in God involves willingness to take risks. The unnamed family redeemer who wanted to preserve his good name through his own heirs lost an opportunity to be generously faithful. Boaz, by contrast, took the risk of faithfulness and generosity, and he was richly rewarded.

The everyday and the ordinary can have breathtaking eternal results. Ruth’s and Boaz’s daily faithfulness in the unremarkable rhythms of farming, marriage, childbirth, and parenthood resulted in eternal blessings that still multiply through King David and his descendant Jesus Christ.