Category: Religious Essays

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Ruth: An Exegetical Review
Submitted to Dr. Robert Mack
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
OBST 515-D 03
Fall 2017
Old Testament Orientation I
by
Robert Beanblossom
14 December 2017
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Contents
Introduction ………………………………………..…………………………………………….1
Historical Background …………………………………………………………………..…..…1
Prevailing Conditions …………………………………………………………………………..1
Main Characters …………………………………………………………………………..……2
Major Argument …………………………………………………………………………………3
Purpose ………………………………………………………………………………….……….3
Key Verse …………………………………………………………………………………….…..3
Major Themes ……………………………………………………………..…….………………4
Ruth: An Exegesis ……………………..…………………………………………..……..……..6
Chapter 1:1-18 ……………………………………………………………………..……..……..6
Chapter 1:1-5 ……………………………………………………………..………..……..6
Chapter 1:6-14 ………………………………………………………….….……………..7
Chapter 1:15-18 ……………………………………………………….….……………….9
Chapter 1:19—2:22 …………………………………………………………..….…..…………10
Chapter 1:19-21 ………………………………………………………..………………….10
Chapter 1:22 …………………………………………………………..……….……..….11
Chapter 2:1-7 ………………………………………………………….………..………..11
Chapter 2:8-13 ………………………………………………………….…….……….…12
Chapter 2:14-16 ……………………………………………………….…….………..….13
Chapter 2:17-23 ………………………………………………………….……………….14
Chapter 3:1-18 ………………………………………………………………………………….15
Chapter 3:1-5 …………………………………………………………………………….15
Chapter 3: 6-13 …………………………………………………………………………..17
Chapter 3:14-18 ………………………………………………………………………….20
Chapter 4:1-22 ………………………………………………………………………………….21
Chapter 4:1-6 …………………………………………………………………………….21
Chapter 4:7-12 ………………………………………………………………….………..23
Chapter 4:13-17 ………………………………………………………….………………24
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Chapter 4:18-22 …………………………………………………….……………………26
Applications …………………………………………………………………………………….27
Hesed: Is it a NT Concept? ………………………………………………………………28
Applying the Hesed of Ruth Today ..…………………….………………………………29
Bibliography ……………………………………….………………………….…………..……..36
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Introduction
Historical Background
The era following Moses and Joshua, and preceding King Saul, is known as the “days when the judges ruled” in Israel (Ruth 1:1a).1 It is a loose confederation of rebellious tribes who claim to follow the One God Elohiym YHWH, but often lose sight of Him amid the influence of the indigenous peoples that they live among who worship gods of wood, stone, and metals. Moses had established a socio-political structure in the Wilderness, organizing Israel along tribal lines (cf. Num 2) that would prove as divisive as it was expedient. Joshua, who succeeded him, was not Moses, and those who followed were not Joshua. Without effective leadership the tribes failed their God-mandated effort to exterminate or drive out the sinful inhabitants from the land (cf. Judges 1). YHWH is a jealous God. His judgements follow their sin. Israel repents and He forgives. The cycle repeats. A series of judges are appointed as war lords and civil administrators with mixed results. Ruth is set within this period (1:1) when “there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 21:25). The book is seen by some as designed to “fill the gap between the Book of Judges and the Book of Samuel.”2 Ruth bridges that gap but also stands alone as an inspiring narrative showing the unfailing lovingkindness of God, even when it is unseen.
Prevailing Conditions
There is a famine in Bethlehem, the “Land of Bread” (1:1b).3 Israel has no Joseph to
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1 All Scripture is from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.
2 Irmtraud Fischer, “The Book of Ruth as Exegetical Literature,” European Judaism, 40 no. 2 (Winter 2007), 141.
3 Danna Nolan Fewell, “Space for Moral Agency in the Book of Ruth,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 40.1 (2015), 82.
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provide relief (Gen 41:39-49). Elimelech, an Ephrathite of Bethelem-judah, gathers his family and sets out eastward around the Salt Sea to Moab, beyond the famine (1:2). There he dies, leaving his wife Naomi with two sons, who also die. She returns home after the famine, a bitter widow, accompanied by one widowed daughter-in-law Ruth, seeking comfort in the old familiar scene (1:6, 19). Naomi has land as Elimelech’s heiress, but she is land poor: she has no resources to reap the benefits of that land (4:3). Here the story proper begins.
Main Characters
Three characters dominate the narrative. Naomi (pleasant) is threaded throughout the text as wife (1:1-2), widow (1:3), mother-in-law (1:4, 6), and nurse (4:16); following her husband to Moab (1:1b-3); standing by her sons as they mature and marry foreign wives (1:4); pragmatically taking the reins when all appears lost; and guiding Ruth (and herself) into prosperity by manipulating Ruth and her near kinsman Boaz through Ruth (1-4). In distress over the loss of her men, destitute economically and spiritually, she tells her old friends in Bethlehem to call her Mara (bitter). She is down, but not out: a familiar situation in her generation.
Ruth (friend), the Moabitess, is the focal point. She gives allegiance to Naomi and YHWH (1:16-17); receives the praise of all Bethlehem: for her gracious treatment of her mother-in-law; for providing food for the table (1:11, 15); and for her upright behavior with Boaz, her husband-to-be (2:10). Through it all there is an undercurrent of wily self-preservation (2:5-9).
Boaz (meaning and root are unknown today [1162]), is the wealthy near-kinsman who is not quite near enough; a model of virtue (2:1); gracious to servants and strangers alike (2:4,8); well versed in law and highly effective in court (4:1:12); who is in the lineage of David (4:18-19). Daniel I. Block suggests that: “Boaz spoke with the grace and generosity. . . in him biblical
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hesed (lovingkindness [2617])4 had become flesh and dwelt among humankind.”5
The Covenant God of Israel is the underlying, often unseen, but controlling primary character who exhibits and encourages hesed as exemplified in Boaz’ speech to Ruth: “The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou are come to trust” (Ruth 2:12). He is the God of the individual, not just the nation.
Major Argument
The consummate will of YHWH is the veridical truth of the book as it is of the entire Bible. It advances in spite of man’s obedience or disobedience. Here, His covenantal hesed permeates His relationship with three diverse individuals who, in turn, reflect that hesed in their own relationships. Seen or unseen it is an extension of His being, omnipresent and prevailing.
Purpose
The purpose of Ruth is to show the will of God at work as an expression of His lovingkindness in the lives of three people of widely different backgrounds: Boaz, the rich farmer; Naomi, the aging hometown widow; and Ruth, the young foreigner, also a widow (1-4). Meeting life as it comes they unknowingly fulfill the will of God, forging a link in the chain of the genealogy of David and Jesus, and a link to Judah and Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; (Matt 1:5).
Key Verse
And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God” (1:16).
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4 James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996). All Hebrew word translations and definitions are from Strong’s with standard reference numbers shown in brackets.
5 Daniel I. Block, Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament: Ruth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015), 129.
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YHWH’s Mosaic covenant is relational and conditional. His blessings are contingent upon obedience, a suzerain covenant given and administered by God to a subservient people. It is explicit in its expectations and includes rewards and punishments. This generation is familiar with the stories of the patriarchs and the Wilderness. In this time of the judges they have experienced the judgement of God for their failures and undeserved hesed when they cry out for relief. Hesed is conditionally reserved for members of the covenant as a voluntary expression of love, devotion, loyalty, and more. It is action, not a warm-fuzzy feeling, but a practical demonstration. It is reciprocal. It is the often unrecognized backbone of Gods relationship with every man, seen throughout His Word as He tempers wrath and punishment with lovingkindness, fulfilling His promise to preserve this wayward people. Ruth is the exception to the notion that hesed is functional only within the closed covenantal group. In its full meaning, she receives the practical lovingkindness of those with whom she interacts, in turn exemplifying God’s hesed toward His people: her pledge to never leave Naomi while always embracing Naomi’s God (1:16) is demonstrated practically throughout the narrative. The Judges Generation would identify with the trials and successes of these characters as they embody God’s ideal of hesed among His people.
Major Themes
Hesed is the overarching theme of Ruth that is unseen by the actors.6 It is recognized in retrospect below the surface as YHWH preserves and prospers them. Original readers would be comfortable with the extension of the margins of covenantal hesed to Ruth even as they
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6 For example: Naomi accepts Ruth into her family (1:19); Ruth follows Naomi’s leadership in love and devotion (1:16-17); Boaz allows Ruth to glean with perks (2:8-16); Ruth’s relationship with Boaz (4:13); and always, by God to each of them (4:11-13).
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would the legal concantation of the levirate marriage and near kinsman laws.7
Integral with hesed in Ruth is ga’al (to redeem [1350]). Seen as hesed shel emet (a spirit of kindness, charity, and fidelity) among Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz in the first three chapters, it is expressed in Chapter 4 as ge’ulah (redemption [1353]), the frame upon which hesed permeates the action.8 Boaz’ bold integration of the law of levirate marriage (Deut 25:5-10) and land redemption (Lev 25:25-28) into one interlocked transaction, unchallenged in court, results in the ge’ulah of Naomi and her land; and of Ruth as wife of Boaz and as beneficiary of both. This culminating act brings Naomi and Ruth into economic security, elevates their social status (4:5, 9-10) and brings the child Obed and his Moabitess mother into David’s lineage (4:18-22). Naomi, by welcoming Ruth into her Bethlehem household (1:18-19, 22), exhibits hesed by brokering ge’ulah through Boaz, bringing reciprocal hesed to her (4:14-15) as an unexpected but eternal expression that fulfills YHWH’s will (4:17-22).
The reader realizes that hesed is the expression of God’s love, but God’s will is the force majeure, out of sight except in retrospect, but seen from that perspective as guiding and preserving all as fits His purpose. Ruth shows that death (1:3, 5), catastrophes (1:1), and human failure (4:1-6) seem to dominate the situation, yet Messiah will come (Gen 49:10). “By the end of the Ruth narrative, the reader is convinced of YHWH’s power and faithfulness to His covenant promises.”9
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7 Joshua Berman, “Ancient Hermeneutics and the Legal Structure of the Book of Ruth,” Zeitschrifft fur die attestamentliche Wissenchaft, 119 no. 1 (2007), 23.
8 Abraham D. Cohen, “The Eschatological Meaning of the Book of Ruth: ‘Blessed be God: Asher Lo Hisbit Lak Go’El’” Jewish Bible Quarterly (1 July 2012), 167.
9 Reg Grant, “Literary Structure in the Book of Ruth.” Bibliotheca Sacra, 148 no. 592 (October-December 1991), 427.
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Ruth: An Exegesis
Chapter 1:1-18
The famine drives Elimelech and family to Moab. Scripture does not indicate that any others from the area take this same approach. This action does not seem to be blessed by God, although there is no specific statement to that effect, but the death of Elimelech and his sons suggest divine intervention. Neither is there any suggestion that Elimelech worships YHWH in Moab. While there, he dies, his sons take Moabitess wives and, in turn, they die. One young widow, Orpha, remains in Moab, but the other, Ruth, accompanies a bitter and defeated Naomi home to Bethlehem.
Chapter 1:1-5
1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. 5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
Elimelech (God of the king [458]), his wife Naomi (pleasant [5281]), and their sons, Mahlon (sickly [4248]) and Chilion (from killayown [3615], pining, destructive [3630]), cross the Jordan River north of the Salt Sea into the land of Moab (1:1-3). The famine is devastating. In the unsettled days of the judges there was no Joseph to rescue the people (cf. Gen 41-47). Elimelech dies with no fanfare or cause given (1:3). Apparently deciding to remain in Moab, his sons take wives of the Moabites: Orpha (from ‘oreph [6203], nape of the neck [6204]) and Ruth (friend [7327]) (1:4).
Moab, the son of Lot and his incestuous relationship with his daughter, is the progenitor of these people (cf. Gen 19:36-38). Lot exemplified OT men who were less than responsive to
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YHWH’s will.10 Moab has been a thorn in the flesh since Moses led the Exodus and New Generations in the wilderness through Moabite territory (cf. Num 26:35). The Law was given in Moab (Num 36:13) and Moses was buried there (Deut 34:4-6). Moses wrote that it was off-limits since God had given it to Lot’s children (Deut 2:9) yet he later gave it to the tribes who petitioned to remain on the east bank (Joshua 13:31-33). Hebrews were forbidden marry Moabites. Hebrew migrants in Moab would seem to be problematical, yet Naomi and her sons apparently live peaceful and comfortable lives there. Family tragedy strikes again ten years later: Scripture simply relates that “Mahlon and Chilion died also” as Naomi “was left of her two sons and her husband” (1:5). Some commentators ascribe all three deaths to failure to trust YHWH in Bethlehem, compounded by taking prohibited wives.11 This is possible but not attested. These deaths leave the widows destitute. Readers would be those who had “toughed-out” the famine in Bethlehem, undermining to some extent any underdog empathy engendered by the “down and out” theme.
Chapter 1:6-14
6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread. 7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters in law with her; and they went on the way to return unto the land of Judah. 8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the LORD deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with
me. 9 The LORD grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. 11 And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me? are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12 Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; 13 would ye tarry for them till they were grown? would ye stay for them from having husbands? nay, my daughters; for it grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD is gone out against me. 14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.
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10 Eugene H. Merrill, “The Book of Ruth: Narration and Shared Themes,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 142 no. 566 (Apr-Jun 1985), 137-138.
11 Berman, 22.
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Naomi, until now a background figure, becomes the decision maker. She leaves Moab and returns to Bethlehem having heard that the famine was over (1:6). Both daughters-in-law start the trip, but Naomi stops, and in a tearful scene, encourages them to go home and get new husbands; offering encouragement and bestowing her blessing upon them: “the LORD deal kindly (hesed) with you . . .” (cf. 1:8-9) which she enigmatically undermines the with her own self-pity: “the Lord is gone out against me” (1:13). Phyllis Trible observes that Naomi, the pragmatic rationalist, does not recall God’s past hesed to her family but does recall the hesed of her daughters-in-law.12 This suggests Naomi’s ambivalent concept of YHWH according to Amelia Devin Freedman.13 Her god is a cultural figure, someone to blame for failure, rather than a Person with whom she can have a relationship, her blessing but ritual.
Naomi employs repetitive language to “underscore her point of view,”14 to encourage her protégés to leave her and return to their homeland.15 Tearfully, both young widows plead to remain with Naomi. They have been in her household for ten years. Finally agreeing, Orpha “kissed her mother in law” goodbye and goes home (1:9b-14a). Naomi’s rhetorical plea that her age and time was prohibitive to her producing new husbands for the widows, even if she had a new husband (1:11b-13), is designed to “impress upon Ruth and Orpha that for them, staying with Naomi would mean abandoning all hopes of remarrying and because she is too old to bear
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12 Phyllis Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Overtures to Biblical Theology, (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 166-199.
13 Amelia Devin Freedman, “Naomi’s Mission: A Commentary on the Book of Ruth,” Proceedings (Grand Rapids) 23 (2003), 29.
14 Matthew Michael, “The Art of Persuasion and the Book of Ruth: Literary Devices in the Persuasive Speeches of Ruth 1:6-18,” Hebrew Studies (1 January 2015), 152.
15 Ibid. (“Go, return” 1:8b; “Turn again” 1:12a); and “go your way” 1:12b).
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more sons,”16 giving the reader a hint of redemption to come through the Levirate law (Deut 25:5- 10) that Boaz would soon concatenate with the Redeemer law (Lev 25:25-28). As the dissenting voice, Ruth “clave (dabaq, cleave to, follow hard, overtake [1692]) unto her” (1:14b).
Chapter 1:15-18
15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. 16 And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 18 When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.
Ruth refuses Naomi’s arguments and the example of her sister in law, imploring Naomi to stop pleading with her (1:15-16). Another insight into Naomi’s relationship with YHWH is seen as she encourages Ruth not only to return to her country, but to her former “gods” (‘elohiym, here used as gods in the ordinary sense rather than as YHWH [430]). This suggests that the family had not been worshipers of the true God in Moab; they were Hebrews by blood but not in spirit. It mirrors the foundering of the nation throughout the time of the Judges, as YHWH was rejected, local idols were adopted or a form of agnosticism was practiced such as we see in Israel today: a Chosen People rejecting the very God who chose them. Trible suggests that Ruth’s soliloquy affirms her devotion to Naomi, her people and, with more fervor than we see in Naomi, to YHWH: all unto death (1:16-17). “Steadfastly minded” (‘amats, physically and mentally determined, even obstinate [553]), Ruth follows Naomi, who, giving in, (“chadal, forsook [2308]; dabar, answer [1696]):” she “forsook answering,” that is, she gave up, gave in, and the pair went on their way, Bethlehem bound.
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16 Michael, 153.
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Chapter 1:19—2-22
Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem during barley harvest and are met by the townspeople. Naomi is still distraught at her losses and calls herself Mara’ (bitter [4755]). She tells Ruth of a near kinsmen and sends her to gather grain dropped by the workers (laqat, glean, gather [3950]) wherever she can find a friendly field, a practice approved even for “strangers” in the land (Lev 19:10b).
Chapter 1:19-21
19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi? 20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the LORD hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
Naomi and Ruth are greeted by Naomi’s old friends (1:20). She has not been forgotten. Naomi complains that she is no longer pleasant, but is now Mara’ “since the Almighty (Shadday [7706])17 hath dealt very bitterly (marar [4843]) with me” (1:20). Naomi is convinced, coming home with nothing after years of comfort and plenty, that the “YHWH hath testified against me . . . and afflicted me (1:21). She fails to see His hesed in their safe trip, food for the gleaning in the fields, a place to live, and friends who welcome her.
Chapter 1:22
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
While Naomi bewails her bad treatment by God, His hesed is evident to readers. The pair
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17 Shadday is used 41 times in the OT, translated “Almighty,” and seven times as El Shadday (God Almighty). It is first used in Gen 17:1 as God introduces Himself to Abraham, and later in Gen 28:3 in Isaac’s blessing of Jacob as he charged his son not to take a wife from among the foreigners, portending a judgement upon Naomi’s husband and sons?
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arrives in Bethlehem in the dry Spring season when temperatures average in the 60s F. The barley harvest has started. Barley in this area is a bit like winter wheat in the Mid-South of the United States that is planted in the fall and harvested in the spring as attested by the Gezer Calendar,18 and by Reg Grant, who states that the “arrival of Naomi and Ruth . . . (at) the barley harvest in April” has significance beyond the hope that Spring brings of fruitful lands, lives and wombs, to include the harvest feasts that would have resonated with the original readers. These include Passover (Israel’s need of a redeemer), Unleavened Bread (Israel’s separation from the old life in Egypt), and Firstfruits (with the wave offering acknowledging the need of divine provision) (Lev 23:4-14).19
Chapter 2:1-7
1 And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.4 And, behold, Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee. 5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6 And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab:7 and she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house.
Naomi tells Ruth of a rich kinsman named Boaz, a close relative of her deceased husband
(2:1): his potential role as kinsman redeemer is left unsaid, but understood by the audience, a “hook” to encourage the reader to sit up and take notice. Ruth has learned about the custom of gleaning, perhaps as they walked by grain fields under harvest on the way up to Jerusalem. Ruth volunteers to glean in whatever field she can find (2:2). Naomi now owns Elimelech’s land but
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18 R. A. Stewart Maclister, The Excavation of Gezer, Vol. 2 (London: John Murray, 1912), 24-28.
19 Grant, 428-429.
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has no resources for seed or workers.20 No mention is made of living accommodations, but the story line resting upon Naomi’s property suggests that they are living on the inherited land in an existing house. Ruth now becomes the primary actor as she says, “let me now go . . .” (2:2b) followed by her determined actions to secure food (and meet the near kinsman?) in 2:2-3 as the law allowed, even for a foreigner (Lev 19:34).21
Opportunely, Ruth selects Boaz’ field (“her hap” miqreh, an accident, a matter of good fortune [4745]) (2:3), the unseen hesed of a righteous God at work. Boaz comes down from Jerusalem to check on his harvest (2:4a). Greeting his workers, he notices Ruth and inquires about her (2:5). His steward, already aware of her from their conversation when she had requested permission to glean the field,21 tells Boaz that she is the Moabitish companion of Naomi, recently returned from Moab (2:6), perhaps as a friendly reminder that Moabite women are off limits as wives. He reports that she has been working diligently (2:6-7). The Judges Generation would understand this hard work as a condition of survival.
Chapter 2:8-13
8 Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: 9 let thine eyes be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them: have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? and when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. 10 Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? 11 And Boaz answered and said unto her, 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. 12 The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. 13 Then she said, Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto one of thine handmaidens.
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20 Fewell, 92.
21 Block, 116-117. Ruth becomes a woman of action as she takes the lead in the narrative in 2:2-3: “Ruth . . . said” (2a); “she went” (3a); “she came” (3b); and “she gleaned” (3c).
22 Ibid., 127.
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Boaz meets Ruth, perhaps calling her in from the field, urging her to laqat only in his field, staying close to his female workers as instructors (2:8-9). He assures her that she will not be bothered by his (or any other) young men (2:9b). He invites her to drink the water that his workers have drawn for their own use (2:9c). The gleaner is becoming the laqat, being “gathered” by her host.
Overwhelmed by the unwarranted hesed of this rich farmer, she asks, “Why?” (2:10). Boaz admits that Naomi and Ruth have already “fully” come to his attention (2:11). His practical hesed is a gracious act of intervention, apparently with no expectation at that time of reciprocal benefits from the young widow.23 Blessing her, he says, “The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust. YHWH’s hesed is an undercurrent working through a righteous man. Ruth responds graciously, acknowledging her precarious position among the Hebrews as an outsider, always a Moabite. The writer allows Boaz to effectively uses persuasion to influence Ruth to remain in his sights.24 Readers might have considered the possibility that the generous bachelor farmer might have more than a passing interest in this young widow.
Chapter 2:14-16
14 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left. even among the sheaves, and reproach her not: 16 and let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not. 15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean
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23 Block, 50.
24 Michael, 159. These include promise (2:9a); security (9b); exaggeration (11); prayers/wishes (12a); figurative speech (12b); and food (9c, 14).
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Ruth avails herself of lunchroom privileges normally reserved for the paid workers (2:14) as Boaz broadens her field privileges beyond the norm and warns his male workers to give her the freedom of the field and to even “salt” it with “dropped” grain for her to laqat (2:15-16). The hesed of God working through Boaz, is expanding exponentially.
Chapter 2:17-23
17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.18 And she took it up, and went into the city: and her mother in law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she was sufficed. 19 And her mother in law said unto her, Where hast thou gleaned to day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did take knowledge of thee. And she shewed her mother in law with whom she had wrought, and said, The man’s name with whom I wrought to day is Boaz. 20 And Naomi said unto her daughter in law, Blessed be he of
the LORD, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. 21 And Ruth the Moabitess said, He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest. 22 And Naomi said unto Ruth her daughter in law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. 23 So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and dwelt with her mother in law.
Ruth does not take undue advantage of Boaz’ generosity, but works all day, gathering and preparing about an “’eyphah (ephah: a measure of grain [374])25 of barley . . . . after she was sufficed” (2:17-18b). Ruth shares her experiences with Boaz and his workers with Naomi (2:19). Naomi senses that her near kinsman has more than interest in land (2:20).
Naomi is regaining her “pleasant” disposition as her fortune seems about to improve. She again reminds us that Ruth is “the Moabitess,” the outsider who is receiving the rich relative’s hesed (2:21). Seeing her plan coming together, Naomi encourages Ruth to stay close to Boaz’ “maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field” (2:23). Ruth, as an obedient daughter-in- law, or savvy co-conspirator, agrees and spends her time with the young women through the barley and the wheat harvests (2:23). Michael interprets the scene as Naomi warning Ruth to stay
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25 Slightly over a bushel according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, or about 60 lbs. of grain.
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with Boaz’ harvest crew to protect her against “rape or other physical harm.”26 Naomi’s plan is developing around a cancantation of the levirate marriage law (Deut 25:5-10) leveraged by the laws of the redeemer (Deut 25:25-28). If Boaz would agree (and help) the nearest-kinsman could be discouraged and eliminated by a creative adaption of the laws that would be unfavorable to him. Ruth might become a substitute for the kinsman’s wife. Concatenation was not unknown in the ancient mid-East and shows the practical mindset of the day, not a disregard, of the law.27
Chapter 3:1-18
Naomi continues to plot to secure Boaz, who may be her brother-in-law (4:3), as her son-in-law. She has Ruth prepare to meet a serious suitor and sends her out under cover of darkness to the threshing floor where Boaz will spend the night after an evening celebrating the successful harvest. She is to remain unnoticed as she observes where Boaz lies down and, when all are asleep, stealthily enter and lie down at his feet. He awakens at midnight, startled. Ruth calms him, identifies him as her near kinsman, and proposes. Aboveboard in his actions, they spend the night together, but he nevertheless advises her to leave quietly before daybreak so that
no one will know she spent the night with him: this as he “spreads his skirt” over her. “Sleeping” on the situation, he finalizes Naomi’s plan and tells Ruth that he will make arrangements in the
morning to purchase the land and marry her: if he can eliminate a nearer-kinsman.
Chapter 3:1-5
1Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? 2 And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor. 3 Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking. 4 And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where
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26 Berman, 22.
27 Ibid.
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he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do. 5 And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.
Naomi continues her plot to secure Boaz as her son-in-law, Ruth’s husband, and improve their social and economic status (3:1-2). We have no indication that she has ever met him, even before the family left for Moab, but she certainly knows of him and his wealth, and of his reputation of being an upright man: a highly eligible bachelor. No questions are raised about his marital status. Scripture is silent regarding any previous marriage. It simply is not germane from the author’s perspective. From Ruth, Naomi knows that the winnowing will end in a harvest party tonight at the threshing floor. D. C. Hopkins describes the threshing floors as public places, central to several fields or even to several communities,28 similar, perhaps to community grain elevators and cotton gins in America’s agricultural setting. Matthews suggests that crops were also bought and sold on the threshing floor.29 Working the fields is a hot and sweaty job as personal experience attests. Winnowing is normally conducted on hilltops where the wind will
blow the chaff away, providing a bit of cooling breeze offset by an increase in fine dust that coats the body. It is a man’s time: the maidens have gone home.30 Hot and sweaty, dusty bodies streaked by running sweat, the men relax at nightfall. When “done with eating and drinking” (3:3b) they lay on the ground and slept it off. This may help explain the ease with which Ruth enters the floor without being noticed.
Following Naomi’s instructions (3:5), Ruth bathes, perfumes herself, and puts on her
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28 David C. Hopkins, The Highlands of Canaan (Sheffield, England: Almond Press, 1985), 226.
29 Victor H. Matthews, ed., Judges and Ruth: The New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2004), 232.
30 Ibid., 233.
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best clothes (3:3a), dressing like the bride she would soon be.31 Arriving unnoticed, she watches Boaz as the festivities die down, and notes where he lies down as “one of the boys,” for he apparently enjoys no place of position in this working-man’s domain (3:3b). Felwell disagrees, stating that Boaz slept at some distance from his workers.32 The text says “thou shalt mark the
place where he shall lie” (3:4), suggesting that he was within the group, not separate from it.
Chapter 3:6-13
6 And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her. 7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of corn: and she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid her down. 8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. 9 And he said, Who art thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art a near kinsman. 10 And he said, 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. 11 And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. 12 And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I. 13 Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman’s part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth: lie down until the morning.
Displaying no trepidation, Ruth follows Naomi’s instructions explicitly. Perhaps demure, but bold nevertheless, she remains unseen, observing (3:6). When the men are asleep Ruth treads quietly, stepping around bodies, one lovely bride-to-be among a sea of sweaty, grimy bodies, exhausted by a hard day’s work, satiated by food and drink: sleeping on the beaten ground of the
threshing floor. She comes to where he sleeps, “uncovers” (gelah, denudes, discovers, reveals [1540]) his feet, and lays down, waiting for him to awaken (3:7). Gelah has a biblically historic context that suggests more than pulling a cover back. Noah, drunk from the wine of his own vineyard, was gelah in his tent by Ham who saw his nakedness, resulting in the curse upon Canaan (Gen 9:20-26). Levitical law explains this in some detail as a technical term for
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31 Matthews, 233.
32 Felwell, 91.
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sexual relations (cf. Lev 18:6-9; 18:6-19; 20:11, 17-21). While Levitical examples cite the “nakedness (‘ervah [6172]) of the subject, Deuteronomy is more explicit: “he that lieth (shakab, has sexual relations [7901]) with . . . because he gelah his father’s skirt” (Deut 27:20). King David’s narrator gives us two interesting if different views of this issue. Michal, daughter of King Saul and wife of David cynically upbraided David after he boisterously celebrated among the people when the ark came home: “How glorious was the king of Israel today, who gelah himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants” (cf. 2 Sam 6:17-21). Although some scholars contend that David was naked except for an apron, Scripture is clear that he was clothed. He did not uncover his body,33 but his soul, as he boisterously celebrated his God. However, as David tried to hide his all too fruitful relationship with Bathsheba, he tells Uriah to “Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet” (2 Sam 11:8), that is, enjoy sexual relations with his wife, according to Victor P. Hamilton.34 With these options, we hold that “gelah” is used here in its literal meaning rather than as a technical term: Ruth simply draws back the skirt that was covering his bare feet and slipped under the cover as Naomi had instructed (3:4) Scripture does not suggest that any impropriety occurred during the overnight “courtship” of Ruth and Boaz. Robert Russell Mack, extends the simple act to a legal action consistent with the context, observes that “Ezekiel 16:8f use(s) similar language to describe YHWH’s entering into (a) covenant with Israel. It would appear that this was a form of marriage proposal understood by
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33 Examples of gelah used as other than physical nudity include 2 Samuel 6:14 where David was covered at least minimally by an “ephod of linen,” a priestly apron; but expanded in 1 Chronicles 15:27 that describes the “robe of fine linen” he was also wearing at that time. 2 Samuel does not explicitly rule out the robe.
34 Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook in the Historical Books (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 328.
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the people of the day, but whose significance has been lost to modern readers.”35 In the context of the entire story, we must hold with Mack, that the author intended us to understand that Ruth initiated her proposal for marriage by uncovering his feet as Boaz in turn accepted her proposal by covering them both, a symbolic uniting of the two. The plain reading of the dialogue supports this position.
Boaz awakens at midnight, startled (3:8). Ruth presents her carefully prepared argument, her proposal: spread your skirt over me because you are my kinsman/redeemer. Utilizing a mature understanding of Levitical law, she suggests a concantation that stretches the boundaries and melds the fabric of the levirate marriage law (Deut 25:5-10) and the near-kinsman redeemer (Lev 25:25-28), adapting this amalgamation to herself as a foreign widow whose husband’s father was the property owner and whose wife Naomi is the true beneficiary. Boaz, admitting an interest in more than the land, says, “Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter (3:10a),” followed by praise of the hesed displayed to her mother-in-law. He is encouraged by Ruth’s interest in and affection for him rather than the young men, rich or poor (3:10b). Boaz’ reply suggests that he has considered the possibility of stepping into the role of the levirate. Lauding her as a virtuous woman, he accepts her proposal (3:11). He has a plan (already?) that he will implement in the morning. There is a problem with a nearer kinsman, but Boaz will take care of that. Remain unnoticed, he says, and leave before daybreak without being noticed (3:13). Matthews says he simply agreed to “act on Ruth’s behalf to protect the legal rights of her household.”36 His direct and comprehensive actions at court that same day as he purchases
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35 Robert Russell Mack, “Ruth Ch 3-4 Submit 171130, Instructor’s Comments,” OBST 510-D 03 LUO (November 2017), 18.
36 Matthews, 234.
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the land and announces his marriage contradict that argument.
Chapter 3:14-18
14 And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor. 15 Also he said, Bring the vail that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city. 16 And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And he told her all that the man had done to her. 17 And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto thy mother in law. 18 Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.
The conspiring duo awaken before daybreak—if they slept at all (3:14). He cautions her to maintain secrecy (3:14). Boaz has Ruth remove her vail and fills it with grain for Naomi, getting perhaps his first look at the woman who will this day become his wife if all goes well (3:15). It has been suggested that the use of Ruth’s vail as a vessel for this grain has a twofold significance: 1) removing her vail is the reciprocal to Boaz covering her with his cloak: it is a legal act of assuming responsibility for her welfare; and 2) the grain is a bride price paid in this case to Naomi, her guardian, legitimizing his legal position at court.37 Returning home, Ruth describes her over-nighter on the threshing floor with Boaz. She recounts all that the “man had done to her” (3:16, emphasis author’s). Textus Receptus reads: ‘asah (was accomplished [6213]) which can be rendered “all that was done,” as in Esther 4:1, or as “all that he did,” as in many places such as 1 Kings 11:41; 14:29; 15:7, 23, 31; 16:14; 22:39, etc., where the writer is recounting events that have taken place rather than acts done to others. Either rendering removes any connotation of acts upon her person, while still allowing Naomi to convey the details. Naomi cautions that the outcome is not certain, but intimates that Boaz is a determined suitor who “will not be in rest, until he has finished the thing this day” (3:18). ____________________
37 Matthews, 235.
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Chapter 4:1-22
Boaz keeps his word. The nearer-kinsman (possibly an older brother?) (4:3) joins the gathered men, and would buy the land, but refuses the land plus wife deal that Boaz proposes, disappearing from history. Boaz completes the transaction acquiring a foreign wife, Elimelech’s land, and Naomi. Ruth and Boaz consummate their marriage and are blessed with their first son, Obed, who joins Boaz and his mother in the lineage of King David and the Messiah.
Chapter 4:1-6 1Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down. 3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s: 4 and I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. 5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. 6 And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it.
Boaz takes his claim to court at the city gate (4:1). The translators of KJV reached a bit to translate a single Hebrew word into a coherent English thought: “there: and, behold, the kinsman,” is but the single Hebrew word, ga’al (to redeem [1350]). This eliminates any question of “behold” suggesting a “once upon a time” unexpected or magical appearance of this eternally unnamed closer kinsman. He was simply passing by or had come to join all the other men “hanging out” at the prime place of commerce, law, and gossip of the city; the “courthouse steps” of an earlier day in America. This is not to minimize the hand of God in all that is transpiring.
Israel in the time of judges cycled between prosperity and famine, peace and war. Baal and other dead gods created by man too often replaced the living God YHWH (Matt 22:32). “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The time of Ruth
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and Boaz is sometime within this period (1:1). Other than the coming and going of famine, the narrative indicates that this was one of those times of peace, at least in the area of Bethlehem. The Levitical law was generally administered in the city gates by local rulers who were not necessarily trained in law or interested in the “letter” of the law, as long as peace was maintained. Boaz brought what appears from this distance in time to be a novel solution to the court: concatenate the levirate marriage law (Deut 25:5-10) and the laws of the redeemer (Lev 25:25-28) to discourage his competition and secure wife and land. There is no objection from the court or the nearer-kinsman, who declines the all-or-nothing opportunity.
This cancantation of the law perplexes some scholars who seek to explain Boaz’ legal maneuverings from a distance of millennia rather than accept them as others have for these many years and learn from them. Michael Goulder writes that the selection of laws from the “relatively narrow” portion of Deuteronomy 22:30 through 25:10 suggests that “either the author wished to display learned artfulness or that the Book of Ruth is the work of a preacher called upon to expound upon Deuteronomy 22-25 and had the genius to do so in narrative form.”38 B. A. Levine says that Ruth is not a statement of the legal practices current at the time, but that the author is an “artful manipulator of legalities who transposes laws into legal themes.”39 Joshua Berman, citing Michael Fishbane, argues that this aggadic use of legal material in ancient Israel was not a matter of “reinterpreting the law or even portraying their normative application as part of a corpus juris,” but “exists solely for its own rhetorical sake . . . extracted from its original focus,”
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38 Michael D. Goulder, “Ruth: A Homily on Deuteronomy 22-25?” ed. Heather A. McKay and David J. A. Clines. “Of Prophets” Visions and the Wisdom of the Sages: Essays in Honor of R. Norman Whybray on his Seventieth Birthday, JSOT, 162 (1993), 318.
39 B. A. Levine, “In Praise of the Israelite Mispaha: Legal Themes in the Book of Ruth. Ed. H. B. Huffmon, et. al. “The Quest for the Kingdom of God: Studies in Honor of George E. Mendenhall (1983), 98.
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emerging within a “new configuration of meaning.”40 An alternative approach is to assume that it is a story about three people whose lives converge in an expression of individual and corporate hesed, describing real events, and selectively using verbal props (such as the death of loved ones, harvest time, the law as a vehicle) to tell a story with a purpose: here, showing his audience God’s hesed in the lives of everyday folks like them, even as He fulfills His master plan through them. The author, like all authors within the narrative tradition, does not painstakingly include a moment-by-moment chronology, but weaves selected events into a cohesive story to illustrate a point. In scholastic zeal we sometimes fail to allow the ancient author to select characters, events, and props to build the story line, even as we take that liberty in our own evaluation.
Chapter 4:7-12
7 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. 8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. 9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. 11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem: 12 and let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
The transaction was consummated by the traditional removal of the shoe: Boaz was declared the winning bidder for wife and land belonging to Elimelech and passed down to his sons Chilion and Mahlon and post mortem to Naomi (4:9). The purchase price of the land was Naomi’s by inheritance. The next question is problematical for those who see the book as an ancient tome promoting a feminist agenda. The narrator tells us that Boaz purchased (qanah, to
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40 Berman, 22. (Where aggadic adaptation is of laws other than direct commandments, therefore conditionally applicable in this situation, apparently subject here to the ruling of the court).
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procure, especially by purchase [7069]) Ruth to be his wife as an extended levirate marriage to “raise up the names of the dead,” shrewdly adding, “upon his inheritance,” tying the proposal concatenation to the purchase (4:10). It would be easy to say that here qanah is used as a payment of a dowry (4:11). However, being sensitive to context, qanah in 4:9 appears to be an outright purchase. Nehemiah might offer an alternative as he says, we “have redeemed (qanah) our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen” (Neh 5:8). In each case a cost was incurred, but the distinction is between purchase and redemption. It has been observed that the Levitical law did not prohibit the purchase of foreigners, but the thematic current of hesed makes this reading improbable.
At this point we wonder if the day was one of normal commerce, or if Boaz has issued a press release. Upon sealing the deal, the elders, the average man at the gate, and the women gathered around and joined in a prophetic chorus:
We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem: 12 and let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman (4:11-12).
Continuing the narrative without comment on the overt prophetic nature of the affirmation (or was it simply a standard ritual expression?), the narrator inserts this link into the chain of the Messiah. Sensing something special in Ruth and Boaz’ relationship, the crowd compares her with Rachel and her sister Leah, who through Jacob/Israel became matriarchs of the nation and through Tamar, widow of Lot’s son Er.
Chapter 4:13-17
13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son. 14 And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 15 And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath born him. 16 And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. 17 And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
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Boaz fathers a male child through Ruth (4:13). Continuing the theme of the crowd at the gate (4:11-12), townswomen consider the child a gift of YHWH, giving rise again to the names of her husband and sons, but above that, one who will be “famous (qara’, one who is called, who cries out [7121]) in Israel” (4:14). In retrospect, the child who would be named Obed, although an essential link, has been all but lost in the shadows of Ruth and Boaz, a name in a genealogy rather than one remembered for his deeds, good or bad. He did become a “restorer (shuwb, turn, retreat, but also restore [7725]) of life worth living for Naomi, who became his nurse (4:15, 16), and in the minds of her peers, her own child (4:17b). The restoration was made possible by the marriage, but was accomplished through the baby: “The future is written in the birth of every child.”41 True-to-life, this future has manifold facets: Naomi is restored, again useful and appreciated for what she does; Boaz and Ruth become one as a prominent family in their community; Obed grows and becomes a productive member of society, a family man who is father of Jesse; who in turn becomes a productive member of his generation and the father of King David; and on it goes. The celebratory song of the women to Ruth (4:14-15) praising “YHWH’s role as the covenantal provider of land and children” again reminds the reader that God is a personal God whose hesed is present in times of despair and of joy (1:19:21).42
Ruth appoints her mother-in-law as nurse to the child with an extended family of all of Bethlehem. The women name him Obed (‘Owbed, serving [5744]). Mara is transformed once again to Naomi as she accepts the hesed of God in her life and the life of her growing and prospering family even we do not see her becoming any more God-centric. Ruth is a mirror of the lovingkindness God showed Job as He restored and increased him at the end of the trial (Job
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41 Matthews, 243.
42 Tod Linafelt and Timothy K. Beal, Ruth and Esther (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1999), 241.
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42:10). There, too, God was hidden from view but never absent, accessible always through faith, especially the faith-in-action of hesed. His intent is always ga’al for those who love Him, even if obedience is not absolute and faith waxes and wanes. Abraham D. Cohen summarizes ga’al as more than just a technical term about reclaiming ancestral property: it has a far deeper implication that includes sustaining and restoring “abundant life, both physical and spiritual.”43 Here it is both: poverty is replaced with plenty; desperate aloneness is replaced with the warmth and love of family; egocentricity is replaced with hesed, still familial in Naomi if not Godward. Obed, in his time, becomes the father of Jesse, the father of David, a member of the lineage of the Christ.
Chapter 4:18-22
18 Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron, 19 and Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, 20 and Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, 21 and Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed, 22 and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.
The genealogy of Verse 18 expands the the previous verse: the ten-name genealogy begins with Pharez, one of twins delivered to Tamar from her deceitful use of Judah mentioned above, and ends with David, the king after God’s own heart. Ruth (1:5) was memorialized in
Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (Matt 1:1-16) with only four other women: Tamar (1:3), Rahab (1:5), Bathsheba (though not by name) (1:6), and Mary the mother of Jesus (1:16).
Jacob called his sons together to tell them “what shall befall you in the last days” (Gen 49:1). His messianic message was that: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come” (Gen 49:10). That scepter runs directly through Boaz and Ruth, their son Obed, on to David the King, and is consummated in Jesus. Throughout the
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43 Cohen, 166.
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path of that scepter God’s hesed is visible as His eternal racham (compassionate love and mercy [7355]) for Judah (Hos 1:7).
Applications
This section is necessary because we are far removed in language, culture, and circumstance from the original audience that the author of Ruth addressed. Contemporary biblical scholars disagree agreeably over fine points (and sometimes not so fine points) of translation and nuance. This, of course, affects both the translation and the derivation of correct applications for today’s Christian. Beyond the specific we must consider Ruth as one book of the canon, an integral part of the whole but nonetheless, only one part. J. Daniel Hays has developed a five-step approach to interpreting and developing contemporary applications of OT law that will be adapted to narrative, and used here to derive applications. As adapted, the approach is: 1) identify what the narrative meant to the initial audience; 2) determine the differences between the original audience and believers today; 3) develop universal principles from the text; 4) correlate the principle with NT teaching; and, 5) apply the modified universal principle to life today.44
Our culture provides safety nets for the impoverished, access to courts for legal petitions,
and stable laws for inheritance. Unlike the Jews in the time of the Judges, we don’t find ourselves in and out of captivity by foreign enemies who besiege our cities, nor face famine in the land. Our points of contact are a growing secularism and agnosticism, but more importantly, like Ruth, it is also the often unseen (except, perhaps, in retrospect) hesed/charis of God.
Ruth is a story with a message as intended by the author, and even more importantly, by
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44 Hays, 31-33. (As adapted by the author to the narrative genre).
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God the divine author. While considered in a general perspective as a story with a purpose, the astute incisiveness of scholarship that addresses the specific is not disregarded but is built upon. The understanding of the original text to the original audience is essential to derive proper applications today, but the jots and tittles of scholarly classification and evaluation are not that message. An attentive reading of the story impresses the one with the depth of the characters. They are not two-dimensional cartoon characters but have lives that reflect the real world of actions that beget reactions, blended with complex motives and thoughts on multiple levels. Effective applications must reflect this real-world complexity. Actions are objective and emperical, while motives are subjective, interpreted by necessity through the distorted lens of our own experience.
Hesed: Is it a NT Concept?
Before we move to an application of hesed for Christians in the 21st Century, we must briefly explore the concept in the context of the NT church. Lovingkindness is only an OT word in KJV. We need a link to NT language to proceed. Using the LXX as a steppingstone to bridge the ancient Hebrew with biblical Greek, John R. Neal finds that hesed is translated “mercy” (e/leoj and its derivatives) “some thirty-four times” in Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.45 The Vulgate, he says, “renders hesed as the Latin misericordia, translated in English as “mercy” or “grace.”46
NT Greek is charis [5485]. Neal argues that covenant or other relationship is required for hesed: in Jesus we have both: He is both the New Covenant that replaces the old (Heb 8:13) and the mediator of that covenant (Heb 12:24) that extends relationally to all people.47 Superior to the
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45 John R. Neal, “Hesed: Loyalty or Lovingkindness,” Amridge University, Turner School of Theology, Biblical Etymology & Exegesis (FD 9353) for Dr. Rodney Cloud (Undated), 7.
46 Ibid, 8.
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old covenants, through Jesus we are saved by the sacrificial charis of the cross (Acts 15:11).
Applying the Hesed of Ruth Today
Our world runs on opinion. Politicians, the corporate world, even us, the users of social media, all seem to rely upon the opinions of others to shape our fluid worldviews. “Truth” that mimes the most current poll is relative and relationships are as superficial and fleeting as opinion. The hesed, the charis, shown by Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz are outdated. Big government, insurance, or the love of our live de jour will take care of our needs. God is ignored or compartmentalized, self is elevated and exhibited as atheism or agnosticism. The problem with all of this is that it is false. It is unreal. Truth is emperical and unchanging and real relationships are based upon commitment, not feelings and opinions. Salvation is on His terms, not ours (2 Tim 1:8-10)
Contemporary applications begin with a biblical worldview. This is indispensable. Jesus said that as we accept Him as our Savior, we take upon ourselves His “yoke” as we accept His direction and learn of Him so that we “shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt 11:29). Here are some applications:
–God is real and relational. He has created all (Gen 1:1) yet sustains (Psalm 3:5) and communicates with the individual (John 15:26). His holiness (which he requires us to mirror in
our obedience to Him) (1 Cor 3:17), as part of his infinitude (Ps 147:5), is uncompromising (2 Thes 1:8) yet He has since the fall of Adam made provision for man to re-enter into fellowship with Him (John 1:12). Throughout Ruth we see His omnipresent observation and guidance. Our first application is the most important, for it has eternal consequences for every person: we must
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47 Neal, 8.
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acknowledge that we are sinners (Rom 3:23), eternally lost and unable to become otherwise; we must accept Him as our personal Savior (Matt 17:8). This is His hesed/charis (Matt 9:13).
— God is present. Always (Prov 15:3). In this presence He knows the hearts of man (Luke 16:15). He has set the stage for His will to be accomplished and guides both the willing and unwilling, the knowing and the unknowing, to accomplish that will. Ruth experienced this (“and her hap was” (2:3)). His presence in the Christian in the Person of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) is beyond our capacity to even imagine (1 Cor 2:9). He cannot be compartmentalized. Subdividing our busy lives into work time, play time, family quality time, sleep time, God time, is not consistent with the mandate to follow and serve our Christ: “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor” (John 12:26). Throughout Ruth we see His hesed present in every step. Our application is to acknowledge Him and submit to His will in our lives (Prov 3:6).
–God is a god of hesed and charis. The confusion and condemnation of the law has been replaced in the NT with those aspects made manifest through Jesus Christ (John 1:17) as the old covenant of the Law has been replaced by His new covenant promised in the OT (Jer 31:31) and delivered by the Messiah (cf. Heb 8:13; 2:24). Hesed is evident in the lives of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz as they walk uprightly in a real world and are preserved and prospered by Him. Our application is to live a lifestyle of hesed/charis toward others in the OT sense of love at work rather than the passive spectatorship common today.
–Unlike Naomi seemed to think during her Mari phase, the world does not revolve around us, but exists for the pleasure of God (Rev 4:11), who is the absolute sovereign (Ps 46:10). His creation is both ordered and hierarchical. Ruth came to Boaz seeking his will and approval (3:8-9), as he in turn sought the will and approval of the nearer kinsman and the court
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(4:1-12). His will is certain to be accomplished, either with us or only through us (Matt 26:42). We have two options: 1) accept His salvation and develop a growing relationship with Him and prosper on an eternal scale (John 15:7-8); or, 2) reject His leadership and face His condemnation (John 3:18-19). Our application is to seek His will for our lives through the study of His Word (1 Thes 4:11), through prayer that brings submission (Matt 6:10), and the benefits will be forthcoming (Prov 3:5-6).
–God is concerned about individuals. While providing an essential link in the lineage of David and the Christ through Ruth and Boaz (4:18-22), YHWH continually allowed Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz to mirror His OT hesed and NT charis in their relationships with each other. This concern is not tied to national origins, race, sex, social status, or any other parameter important to man, but to each individual (Matt 11:28). He did this in unique ways for each person. Our application, our challenge, is to incorporate the divine hesed/charis into every relationship in our lives. We are equipped for it (cf. John 1:14, 16). It remains for us to “testify the gospel of the charis of God” (Acts 20:24b).
–Men and women are equally important to God. This book shows Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz as leading characters, each receiving benefits and obligations specific to them as responsible individuals. God accepted the bold plan of Naomi and Ruth to achieve a secure future in the household of Boaz as he formalized the plan and carried it forward to its conclusion. Neither man nor woman was exalted above the other nor denigrated as subservient to the other in this OT story. Our application is to accept our roles and responsibilities as individuals, not as some non-Scriptural we-they divisions. Sin is universal (Rom 3:23). The offer of salvation is universal (John 3:16). The acceptance into that salvation is universal (Acts 5:14). Subsequent service is to Him alone, not to factions, divisions, and special interests (cf. Matt 4:10; 6:24).
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–Every detail is important to God. Naomi’s husband and sons perished in Moab, far from home where their names could be carried on through a levirate marriage. Yet, Naomi, returning to the YHWH, and Ruth turning to Him, provided not only relief but victory through the concantation of laws that brought Boaz and Ruth into the unity of marriage and parenthood. Today we would do well to avoid “stalling” in self-pity and move forward continually knowing that He is sovereign, that His will is going to be accomplished, that He cares for each of us regardless of our nationality, sex, or position, and that every detail of our lives is important to Him. Our application, our duty, is to seek the power of the Holy Spirit in our individual lives through studying His Word (2 Tim 2:15), rejoicing in Him as we pray (1 Thes 5:16-18), and accepting the leadership of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) as we, like Paul, become willing “prisoners of the Lord” who “walk worthy of the vocation” to which we are called (Eph 4:1).
–The story of Ruth and her compatriots is a story of incremental actions that completed a divine plan even as through His charis their own lives benefited. Through their obedience His strength was magnified in their weakness as He will do for us (2 Cor 12:9). Our application is to continue to move forward in Him in the face of feast or famine as Ruth did, in hesed with Naomi as they relocated from Moab to Bethlehem (1:16-17), in productivity as she spent hard hours in the fields gleaning grain for their food (2:2-3), and relationally as she entered the marriage relationship with Boaz (4:9). Each of these incremental steps was taken to meet the moment’s needs even as it helped to secure their future. Our application is to know that He is present and working in us through the Holy Spirit, that we are “agents” of the Most High God (Is 48:17).
–The book of Ruth is not “religious” in the sense that we see priests, sacrifices, and worship of YHWH as major themes. In fact, they are missing altogether. Yet, as we read the four chapters we can see a clear precursor to NT teaching:
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10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Rom 10:12-13).
Each key player depended upon the Lord, overtly seeking the protection of the Law, and internally as they mirrored His hesed. The book of Ruth, however, is not un-religious. We see a glimpse of the future church as Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz represent that coming “generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (family)” called out of darkness into His light (1 Peter 2:9). None was perfect as He measures perfection; each was unique. His lovingkindness is broad and deep enough for all of us. Our application is to understand that we are God’s creatures; that the Sabbath was created by Him as a day of rest, not as the compartment into which we cram our God-time. He created every day and time itself, every man and woman, all for His pleasure (Rev 4:11). He wants to give each of us a fulness of life, joy, and eternal pleasures (Ps 16:11), all of which are the result (only) of fellowship with Him (Luke 18:1).
–Hard work is rewarded. Ruth never wavered from doing that which was necessary to assure the survival of Naomi and herself. Both the OT (Deut 14:29) and NT (cf. 1Tim:5) provide for “widows and orphans,” that is, those truly in need; both require that we carry our own load: “this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thes 3:10). Our application is to resist the temptation to shirk our load, to produce minimally to “get by” expecting others to carry our load, including our government. This includes our God-give-me prayers where we lean on the promise without adhering to the always-present conditions. We must resist the woe-is-me attitude of Mari and maintain the Naomi attitude, knowing that God cares about each of us, all of the time. The obverse of this is that we are called to help and support those in need (James 1:27).
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–God’s people have a social duty as well as a spiritual one: Naomi and Ruth survived through provisions of the Mosaic law (Lev 23:22) as Boaz, representing those who prospered, shared with those who had none. Yet, we must remember Jesus’ warnings to maintain an essential balance. He told His followers that there was a time to take care of the poor, but that their relationship with Him came first: the repetition in the Gospels show the importance of this message (cf. Matt 26:11; Mark 14:7; John 12:8). Remembering this balance, we see that Naomi took care of Ruth, Boaz took care of both, and the town ladies took care of the family and child. The spirit of hesed is one of “care on wheels,” as it is love implemented. This is our application as we seek out the lonely, the shut-in, the helpless to provide relief and fellowship in His name and with His guidance, beginning with our own families (1 Tim 5:16). John said it this way: My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed in truth” (1 John 3:18).
–Both Naomi and Ruth demonstrated patience as they developed a solution to their problem: the acted incrementally to develop a relationship with the kinsman redeemer who would purchase Naomi’s land, marry Ruth, and build a stable extended family. An application concerns our witness as we seek to bring lost souls to Christ or to bring the saved into a closer relationship with Him. Patience, prayer, and trust are often required as we present the Gospel to these folks, remembering that it is our calling to present the Word as we have received it, as witnesses to an event and an experience (Acts 1:8), which we do in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:32), that the Holy Spirit may work in their lives as in ours (Titus 3:5). The result is that “both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together” (John 4:36b). Our “better ideas” are, in retrospect, always paled by His effected plan. The writer of Hebrews said, “For ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Heb 10:36).
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–God does what He says He will do, and by extension He expects each of us to do the same: as He is holy we are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:15). Ruth promised Naomi that she would live and die with her, making her promise before God, a covenant (1:16-17). She kept her promise. Paul, being questioned by Festus, said that he spoke only “words of truth and soberness” (Acts 26:25). John told us that the “Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Our application is to not give our word without due consideration as did Jephthah (Judges 10:15), but once given, to keep it at all costs, renouncing the “hidden things of dishonesty . . . by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor 4:2).
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