Ruth

This story takes place in the days of the Judges -- a microstory within the framework of Judges. The customs and practices are very foreign to the modern mind. The concept of a redeemer, and taking off a sandal, and having children for one's brother is so strange. But we can concentrate on the things which are timeless and strive to see the message in that which is dated.

Naomi and Ruth are the characters of chapter one whom we know. The forgotten characters, Elimelech, Naomi's husband and the two sons, Mahlon and Kilion become footnotes soon after the story begins. However to Naomi, these three are her whole family, her whole life. Fortunately, her boys married well. Kilion marries Orpah and Mahlon marries Ruth -- each woman a native of Moab. It is not until Boaz's pronouncement of chapter four that we even find out which son married which Moabitess. The boys aren't altogether relevent to the story. It is the story of Naomi and Ruth, and even Orpah of which we are told.

When Naomi hears that things in Bethlehem are better than in Moab, she decides to move home alone. She is a bitter woman -- mad at God for taking her whole family in the ten years she has lived in Moab. But the daughters-in-law want to keep their commitment to Naomi. They intend to be old widows together, it appears. Finally, Naomi suceeds in talking Orpah into staying to find a husband in Moab, but Ruth cannot be swayed. She will gladly take on a new people, a new God, a new life.

Ruth sets about to take care of herself and her mother-in-law by harvesting the grain left behind in the field by the workers. By "chance" she works in a field belonging to Boaz, who shows up from a journey later in the day. He immediately takes an interest in her. When she finds out that Ruth is the woman who came back with his relative Naomi, he takes especially good care of her, even telling the workers to leave some behind specifically for her.

When Naomi tries to provide a new home for Ruth, she sets a plan in motion to get Boaz to redeem Elimelech's property which would include Ruth. I'm not sure what the legal status of that property had been, but the law allowed for a way for it to stay in the family, as well as to keep the family name alive. Naomi sets the wheels in motion by sending Ruth to the threshing floor, where she probably should not have been to sleep at Boaz's feet. Boaz gets the message and is willing to redeem the land and the woman, but there is a closer relative who gets first crack at it all.

Boaz meets this unnamed relative at the Bethlehem town gate. The relative was willing to redeem the land, but said that he "cannot" acquire Ruth in the process. So Boaz then had the next option, which he gladly took. Since Naomi was probably not of child-bearing age, perhaps the law was different for her?

The elders of the town pronouced a blessing upon Boaz and Ruth, invoking the names of Rachel and Leah who provided the ancestral children for Israel's growth and Perez and his parents Judah and Tamar. It is interesting that this is included remembering the scandalous occasion of that birth. But the emphasis is upon a child for Boaz and Ruth. We learn of Obed's birth at the end of the narrative and see that he is the grandfather (or simply ancestor) of King David.

The message of the book is found in God's care over a woman who would not leave the side of her mother-in-law despite conventional wisdom. Ruth was willing to be a lonely widow the rest of her life rather than to stay in Moab as Orpah did. Why she left is a bit of a mystery to us, although it is implied that Ruth is a woman of extreme love and devotion.