The Book of Ruth

The book of Ruth is a study in faithfulness. It also is a reversal of fortune story. Perhaps, punishment for lack of faith, and reward for faith. It too, in my opinion, was written during or after the exile.

There was a famine in Bethlehem. There a family of four; the father Elimelech and his wife's name was Naomi. Their two young sons are Bill and Joe. Ha ha just kidding. Of course it can't be that easy. Their names are Mahlon which means invalid and Chilion which means pining.

There was a famine in the land at the time of this storty. It does not say this in the text but perhaps Elimelech said to Naomi, "Pack up the kids and my tools and the cow and goats and sheep. We are going to Moab which is southeast of the Dead Sea." "Are you nuts," she responded, "we are supposed to have faith in Elohim, the God of power and mercy who will deliver us from the famine. If we go to Moab it will be a slap in the face to the Almighty and bad things are going to happen". "Woman," Elimelech might have responded, "get the stuff up on the camel. I know what I am doing."

So south to Moab they went, Naomi complaining all the way about how Moab was an enemy to the Jews because they wouldn't let Moses camp on their land while wandering in the desert and this entire thing was a great sin against Elohim and trouble was brewing. Elimelech scoffed. "I scoff at your complaints," he said, and then scoffed. Or maybe it was coughing because trouble was indeed brewing. When they settled in Moab, Elimelech died. His last words were, "Gasp, I tell you I know what I am doing and no I am not going to ask for directions, aggggggg."

The boys grew up and committed further sin by marrying moabite women. Their names are Ruth and Orpah. No relation to Oprah. To marry outside the faith was a sin. It is written somewhere in Leviticus I think. So, naturally the boys died too. When you sin against the Powerful God of Mercy, well, you see what happens. So just watch it.

Anyway, Naomi said she was going to catch a ride with the next caravan back to Bethlehem. She got her ticket to ride when Ruth said that she was going with her mother-in-law. Ruth said, (and not that I am old but I quote here from memory.) I was a camel driver on the caravan

Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die--
there will I be buried.
May the LORD do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

OK, this statement is important because Ruth is giving up her people, her nationality and religion. She is saying, I am now going to be a Jew. This is the beginning of the reversal of fortune and it is brought on by the faithfulness of a non Jew, a Moabitis. Which shows God's grace extends to even those outside the promise or covenant that have faith even if they don't know exactly what they have faith in.

So Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem where their prospects are slim because even though Naomi's husband had land there, women could not own land. Bummer huh? So Naomi sent Ruth to glean from the fields of Boez who was a rich relative. In those times any grain that fell to the ground had to be left on the ground for widows and orphans to pick up. There was a rule too that a border of feet of field could not be cut from the field also for widows, orphans and travelers. So Ruth is out picking up the fallen grain when Boaz rides up on his donkey. It's hard to look tall in the saddle riding a donkey wearing a yamaka. Boaz asked one of the workers who the hottie was picking grain. He was told. Boaz took a shine to Ruth and gave her a bag of oats and rye. Very romantic. To make a long story short, Naomi told Ruth go to the the thrashing room floor where Boaz was sleeping and lay by his feet. Which may have meant in those times, lay with your crotch next to his and see what comes up. Boaz woke up and said something like, "Whoa mama!"

As you can see thus far there were a lot of rules to get around in that society. The next one was that Ruth would have to marry the next kinsman redeemer who was not Boaz. It was probably her husband's cousin or uncle. Maybe Boaz was the second cousin or uncle on Naomi's side. We don't know. So Boaz said to the next kinsman redeemer, "Hey dude you have to marry Ruth because you are the closest relative. We will call this fellow, Jim. We don't know his name so we will call him Jim. Jim says, "Cool, that means I get all the land and assets that belonged to Elimelech. I also get Naomi for a housekeeper or whatever." "Yeah," said Boaz in since you are already married with children you get to split your children's inheritance with whatever son's Ruth has by you, and the son you might have by Ruth will really be considered her dead husband's son." "Hmmmmm, says Jim, "that is the Law of Moses all right. I don't want to split my farm up with Ruth's dead husband's kid that she will have even though it is mine but considered by the Law as his. You can have her Boaz. So Boaz and Ruth became married and Ruth and Naomi went from paupers to wealthy women all because of Ruth's faithfulness which was rewarded by Elohim, the Powerful God of Mercy. Of course Ruth being a cutie didn't hurt. Ruth and Boez had a son name Obed and from Obed came Jessy and Jessy begot David, Israel's greatest king. Of course from the line of David came Jesus the Christ.

"Cest la vie," say the old folks , "you never can tell."