We have our first book named for a woman – Ruth. O.K., so it’s only 2 ½ pages long, but it’s a start. And wouldn’t ya know it, it’s all about relationships and not war. Go figure.
This is quite a lovely story about love and devotion, but not the kind you might expect. It is a young woman’s caring for her mother-in-law. Imagine that!
In summary, Naomi was married and had two sons. Famine forces them into Moab where the sons marry Moabitesses. Ruth was married to one son. But Naomi’s husband and both sons die. She insists the two young widows, Ruth and Orpah (trivia pause: Oprah Winfrey’s intended name that got misspelled on birth certificate) return to their home families for better security. After all, she says, she (now bankrupt) will never be able to provide them with a new husband substitute. Orpah eventually leaves, but Ruth refuses to leave her now-family, Naomi.
“Where you go I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God, my God.”
They return to Naomi’s home and struggle economically; Ruth works very very hard in the field of Boaz, a cousin of Naomi’s. Naomi identifies Boaz as a “kinsman-redeemer.”
Now, this concept is very important and goes back to Leviticus days and its laws. It has to do with pecking order relating to property rights (of which women were included as such).
After some time, Naomi tells Ruth to clean up, put on best clothes and perfume, and after Boaz is finished eating and drinking (wink) “lie down next to him and he will tell you what to do.” Hmmm In the middle of the night, he suddenly discovers this woman lying next to him! “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer.” Old Boaz is so touched that she went for him over younger men and he pledges commitment to her.
Boaz has some “kinsman-redeemer” rights to Ruth, but only after another man (unnamed). He goes to him and basically the other guy says he may have her. So Boaz marries Ruth. Ruth bears a son, Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David. So the groundwork for Jesus’s lineage is established.
Biblical scholars will draw a metaphorical analogy here to Jesus later, in that Jesus redeems us in the same fashion, and that that is the point of this very, very short book named for the virtuous Ruth.
But I see clues to a different emphasis. It lies in Ruth and her devotion to her mother-in-law. The daughter/mother-in-law relationship is often contentious, competitive, even turbulent. And even when relations are good, I doubt many women would demonstrate such an unselfish commitment as Ruth’s to her mother-in-law. How easy and understandable it would have been to return to her own family and home. But her words to Naomi echo one to one’s lover. She chooses to remain with this woman who has lost every one else in her life. It is very touching and therein lies her true virtue.
Confession #76: I had an Aunt Ruth, who always called me Sarah (she liked the name and had no children of her own). An interesting pairing of two Biblical names, which I never thought much about before.
