Summer Reading: Ruth

The book of Ruth is a lovely short story which sits in sharp contrast to Judges, which is situated at the same time in history. Judges portrays ruthless violence during the time of the Judges, before a monarchy was established; indeed, the last line of the book is “In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes”, and the preceding 21 chapters have shown us they were not getting it right. By contrast, the characters in Ruth organize their relationships around generosity, kindness, loyalty, and faithfulness to family, community, and God, no matter how dire the circumstances. Ruth shows us that hardship can bring out the best in people, not necessarily the worst.

The story is easy to follow, so I just highlight some interesting background details:

The story happens in Bethlehem—yes, the city of David (who isn’t born yet) where Jesus will be born; and in Moab, to the east of the Dead Sea (modern day Jordan). Tradition traces the Moabite people back to Lot, Abraham’s nephew who survived the destruction of Sodom (Gen. 18). They are consistently enemies of Israel in Hebrew scripture—except here in Ruth, where a Moabite woman is the hero, exhibiting kindness, loyalty, and faithfulness.

Names are important in this story:

Ruth  Sprinkle or Dewy (signifying fertility)

Naomi, Pleasant One

Husband Elimelech, My God is King

Sons Mahlon, Disease, and Killion, Destruction

Sister in law Orpah, Back of the Neck

Boaz, He who has Might

Bethlehem, House of Bread (though there’s a famine in the story)

Jewish Biblical scholar Tikva Frymer-Kensky paraphrases the story this way, with names translated, to show the significance of the characters:

Once, many years ago, famine drove My-God-is-King and Pleasant-One from Bethlehem in the land of Judah to the land of Moab. There My-God-is-King died. His two sons Disease and Destruction married local women, but after a while, they too, died, leaving only Pleasant-One and her two daughters-in-law. When they heard that there was food in Bethlehem, they set out to return. On the way, Pleasant-One released her two daughters-in-law and sent them back to begin new lives. Back of Neck tearfully turned and left, but Dewy stayed with her mother-in-law, now no longer Pleasant-One but Bitter-Woman, for God had killed her men. In Bethlehem, they turned to their kinsman He-who-has-Might. First God, then Pleasant-Woman, then Dewy, and then He-who-has-Might planned to bring them together, and finally He-who-has-Might married Dewy and from this union came He-who-serves[Obed], the grandfather of Beloved [David].¹

You will also notice themes present from other sacred stories: people migrate to foreign lands, even enemy territories, because of famine (as did Jacob’s sons from Canaan to Egypt); the community cares for immigrants, widows, and orphans (Ruth and Naomi) by allowing them to glean grain from the fields, according to Levitical law; women are orchestrating behind the scenes what they believe God has guided them to do, despite men’s opinions, propriety, or the law (as Rebekah did in protecting Jacob); the Israelite woman Naomi is brought back home from “exile” to Bethlehem.

Some questions:

What does this story tell us about God?

About what faithfulness looks like for God’s people, whether in time of plenty or of need?

What is that scene on the threshing floor all about?

1. Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible (NY: Schocken, 2002), 254.