NOVEL THINKING

Naomi loved Ruth, but she was willing to let her go back to her family. I thought according to the Hebrew the phase “uncovered his feet meant something more salacious. It is the women, often despite their husbands, who ensure the birth of the next generation and who direct the proper line of inheritance. Great insight in the sacred scripture. The Names of Jesus: Who is Jesus According to the Scriptures? When God Says No: How to Handle Unanswered Prayers in Your Life, Applying the Parable of the Good Samaritan to Our Lives Today. I see this so called Church down on its luck do to its worship of a failed messiah who had nothing left to lose but to glaum on to the one nation that still had the grace of God on it. Naomi stands on the road to Judah as her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, beg to accompany her to her native land in this watercolor by Salvador Dali. Technically Ruth cannot return to Bethlehem, since the Moabite woman has never been there. In Christian Bibles it is slipped in between Judges and Samuel, among the historical books. And this was in a time when women weren’t ordinarily included in genealogies. Their sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. And there are other parallels which can be pointed out. In fact, Naomi encourages both girls to go back to their parents and find husbands who can take care of them. First, Ruth establishes a physical connection with her newly adopted land as she gleans in Boaz’s field. The Book of Ruth is one of the Bible's shortest books, telling its story in just four chapters. Ruth vows, “Your people will be my people and your God my God,” a declaration of love and loyalty cemented when Ruth marries Elimelech’s wealthy kinsman, Boaz. Rahab was a prostitute whose faith saved her from the crashing walls of Jericho. Bathsheba (referred to as Uriah’s wife in the genealogy of Jesus) only became David’s wife after David took her for himself and killed her husband. Second, and more complicated, Naomi offers for sale or redemption a parcel of land that once belonged to her husband, Elimelech. Ruth’s response is extraordinary, for she is under no obligation to care for Naomi, just as Naomi, with her own extraordinary response, is under no obligation to provide for Ruth. Leah and Rachel’s eagerness to bear children for Jacob is again emphasized when they argue over who shall use the aphrodisiac mandrakes found by Leah’s son (Genesis 30:14–16). She was free to go back to her gods and free to search for a new husband to take care of her. Ruth was a poor, hurting, outcast, widow. In fact, it often takes great sacrifice. She has authored a number of books on faith and religion. I too am a widow and have read over the book of Ruth many times but never to this degree. Bloodlines are second to faith (a hallmark of the Torah, where second sons repeatedly win the birthrights that should pass to their elder brothers). Both Ruth and Naomi mention Boaz as a “kinsman.” In Hebrew, the word used is “goel,” which refers to a kinsman who has the “right to redeem” or a “redeemer.”, Throughout the Bible, we see that same Hebrew word used several times. Adapted from Reading Ruth, edited by Judith Kates and Gail Reimer (©1994), Ballantine Books, a division of Random House. Ruth’s explicit link to Rachel and Leah occurs in the blessing of the townspeople as they witness Boaz’s redemption of Ruth and of the land of Elimelech and Mahlon: “May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built up the House of Israel” (Ruth 4:11). By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. But wherever it appears in your Bible, you will want to find it and study it again after you read “Ruth—Big Theme, Little Book,” originally published in the August 1996 issue of Bible Review. Tamar resorted to trickery to bear a son. These previews of Christ are a bit of a “foreshadowing” that falls across Old Testament pages, fully coming to reality in the New Testament with the birth of Jesus. Used by permission. Before that Yaweh was probably part of Ruths ovreall Pantheon of Gods, a Trinity or more of Gods. Dig into the illuminating world of the Bible with a BAS All-Access membership. Thanks to Ruth, the family of Naomi (strangely, the text does not put it in terms of Elimelech or Mahlon) survives. LOL. Their relationship offers a beautiful model of a good relationship – a stunning look at a blending of lives. The Biblical book of Ruth is a love story. A further interesting point to the story it that Ruth, as a Moabitess, belonged the people founded by Moab: the son of Lot’s eldest daughter by her father (Gen 19:37). Meanwhile, in seeking to find a husband for Ruth, Naomi advises her to go to the threshing floor on the night Boaz winnows barley, to wash and prepare herself, and to uncover Boaz’s feet and lie next to them while he sleeps. The story of Naomi and Ruth are woven together closely that their stories are nearly inseparable. Their sons' names are metaphors for their misery ("Mahlon" means "sickness" and "Chilion" means "wasting" in Hebrew). When these two women arrive back in Naomi’s home town, they are destitute, devastated, and broken. In this article, Adele Berlin argues that Ruth illuminates the main theme of the Hebrew Bible: the continuity of God’s people in their land.—Ed. Everything that she did showed her character, and because of that character, she was honored by God. Yet she showed incredible character. Sarah, at first barren, provides a surrogate mother (Hagar) for Abraham, and later, when she bears her own son, Isaac, sees to it, with God’s approval, that he—not Ishmael—is the designated heir. David represents both the United Monarchy at its height and the promise of its eternal existence. Midrashic interpretation departs from the plain sense or context of a Bible passage in order to fill in gaps, forge links with other parts of the Bible, or teach ethical and religious values. Like Abraham, and like the family of Jacob (see the story of Joseph), the family of Elimelech was forced by famine to leave its home in the land of Israel and to preserve itself in a foreign land. When the famine abates, Naomi returns to Bethlehem. See Jennifer Knust Unprotected Texts, p.36. When life brings devastation, it’s not easy to hope. Combine a one-year tablet and print subscription to BAR with membership in the BAS Library to start your journey into the ancient past today! The whole theme is that of the need of redemption of those unable to rescue themselves by a kinsman redeemer. Ruth’s story is ordinary. I propose a much more fundamental and far-reaching link between Ruth and the Torah—indeed, with the entire Bible—a link that goes to the very heart of the overarching theme of the Bible. Ruth is just a widow – one from an enemy nation, at that. Sign up to receive our email newsletter and never miss an update. When Ruth asked why she, a foreigner, should receive such kindness, Boaz replied that he had learned of Ruth's faithfulness to her mother-in-law, and he prayed that the God of Israel would bless Ruth for her loyalty. Seen against this background, the references to land in the Book of Ruth not only provide the setting for a pastoral romance, they also link the story to the covenant theme of land—whether private or national. Even Boaz makes mention of her character: …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…Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter; for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. Rahab was a prostitute whose … The story of Ruth provides for David the same pattern that produced the patriarchal line and the line of Judah—namely, the perpetuation of the family through the deeds of women—and it thereby joins the covenant with David to the covenant with Abraham. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Even though Naomi knew that a new marriage for Ruth would change their relationship, she still played an important part in arranging the marriage of Boaz and Ruth. However, the family and people part of the covenant theme is more prominent than the land part in the Book of Ruth. So, Ruth and Naomi both return to Bethlehem. At first it would seem that the ties that bind Naomi, Ruth and Orpah after the deaths of their husbands do not make them a family in any customary sense. The story is told in an odd place, interrupting the grand sweep of history found in the books around it. Isaac’s wife Rebekah also guides the line of descent away from Esau and toward Jacob, as God had wanted. Ruth reminds us that no matter what lies in our past, and no matter how difficult our circumstances may be, a little bit of faith makes a huge difference. A Moabite was always a Moabite, wherever he or she lived. In that instant, she decided, “…Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”. We often feel like we need to keep our questions and thoughts about God to ourselves within a relationship. Far from being peripheral to the main narrative sequence of the Bible, Ruth dramatizes its principal theme: the continuity of this people in their land. She doesn’t have great riches or great position. Elimelech’s family recovers its land through this marriage and, when Ruth and Boaz have a son, Obed, the family also gains a future. And even in our obscurity, and in the mess of what may be our lives, God finds a way to use the most unlikely people in ways that we could never imagine. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc It’s crushing to lose a spouse. The story of Tamar and Judah is also a story of family continuity achieved by the determination of a woman. Bundled together like sheaves of grain, Boaz and Ruth share a blanket, symbolic of espousal, in this 14th-century illustration from the Wenzel Bible. Perhaps that’s what makes it so compelling. One genealogy begins with Obed, son of Boaz and Ruth, and culminates three generations later in David; the second goes back to Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar, then leads to Salmon, father of Boaz, and after ten generations also culminates in David. Loved it so much. But the Bible says Ruth clung to Naomi and uttered her now-famous words: "Where you go I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16). But both of them had faith that somehow things would work out. Praised The Lord! David was Israel's greatest hero, a messiah (God-sent leader) in his own right. The story of Ruth provides for David the same pattern that produced the patriarchal line and the line of Judah—namely, the perpetuation of the family through the deeds of women—and it thereby joins the covenant with David to the covenant with Abraham. However, from a Christian perspective, the story can also be seen as a type whose anti-type is the story of redemption of humanity through the Messiah. At the end of the Book of Ruth, the themes of land and family come together. Boaz even ordered his workers to drop extra barley so Ruth could have more for herself. In the Hebrew Bible it’s in an entirely different place, in the third section, known as the Writings. She doesn’t come from a famous family. A faithful family is driven by famine from Judah to the non-Jewish land of Moab.

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