uncover his feet.
Alternately, the Hebrew noun could mean “the place of his feet.” In any case,
it is an odd detail. Since the verb of uncovering is the one used in biblical
prohibitions of uncovering the nakedness of someone— that is, engaging in
sexual intercourse—the erotic tease of the narrative is again manifested. (But
the proposal of some interpreters that “feet” is a euphemism for the penis is
highly dubious.) Ruth lies down not alongside Boaz but at his feet, an
expression of her lower social status and of the subservient role of wives in
relation to their husbands in biblical society. The uncovering may simply be an
act to show that someone is present, and so when Boaz awakens in the middle of
the night, perhaps what first startles him—though it is unreported—is his
exposed feet, after which he realizes that a woman is present. (Robert Alter, The
Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019], 3:632)
