The scarlet thread: Ruth

Ruth

Ruth, like so many of the heroes of God’s story, is a very ordinary person. She is from Moab, a small country in the area of present day Jordan near Lake Galilee. Her parents had presented her in marriage to the Jewish settler Mahlon, and it seems that her marriage and family life were very happy. She had a close and loving relationship with her Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, and chose to follow the Hebrew God rather than her own local god. She enjoyed ten years of marriage to Mahlon before she too became a widow.

Good sense suggested that Ruth should return to her birth family who would keep her and perhaps arrange a second marriage. Ruth’s sister-in-law Orpah took this option, though her initial reluctance to do so tells something of the nature of Naomi’s attractive character. Ruth’s decision to risk poverty and homelessness by staying with Naomi was a tribute to two relationships that had become indispensable to her: her love for her mother in law, and her choice to follow and trust Yahweh. Returning to a powerless Moabite god was not an option. Ruth therefore chose to be the lowest of the low in Israel: poor, female, and foreign.

Ruth would have been in her mid-twenties at the time of the story, and could have attracted a young man and secured her own future. Her devotion to Naomi meant that she looked for a way to provide for Naomi’s future as well as her own, which was only possible by turning to her dead husband’s kinsman-redeemers. She did this chastely, demonstrating that she was a loving and faithful woman. Even when she risked entering the all-male environment of the threshing floor, she did not make sexual advances to Boaz, but rather offered herself as a servant to him by lying near to his feet. When he asked what she wanted, though, she was confident and even bold, not being afraid to suggest that he apply the Levirate law which would bring a settled future for Ruth and for Naomi. Boaz admired the love and commitment that had led Ruth to support Naomi, even though that meant living extreme poverty and working long hours.

The Levirate law that had failed Tamar had been refined by the time of Ruth. Where there was no surviving brother-in-law to take responsibility for a widow and ensure the continuance of the dead man’s name, the nearest male relative had the right to become the ‘kinsman-redeemer’. This meant that if land belonging to the dead man was sold, the kinsman redeemer had to be offered it first, so that it stayed in the family. And if there was a widow, he would marry her too. Unlike a brother, this was a right, not an obligation. Mahlon’s nearest potential kinsman-redeemer, however, seems not to have had any sons by other wives, and did not want his eldest son (and therefore his heir) to carry Mahlon’s name rather than his own. So he took the option not to support Ruth.  We are not told whether Boaz already had a wife or wives or children when he met Ruth. Whether he did or not, he was happy to marry her.

Read    Ideally, read the whole of the book of Ruth.  Or read 1: 11-18 and 2: 8-13.

Consider

Twenty-first century Christians perhaps don’t always think very hard about the difficulties of making choices according to love. We take it for granted that people marry for love, and make decisions about where they will live and work according to love. Our culture tells us that it is appropriate, and the welfare state and comparatively easy access to work ensure that we can move freely and (in most cases) not fear ending up in extreme poverty. It’s easy, then, for us to overlook just how fiercely selfless and unusual Ruth’s behaviour was.

Naomi was not Ruth’s responsibility, and by firstly choosing not to return to her own family, and secondly ensuring that she married a ‘kinsman-redeemer’, Ruth was living out a commitment to Naomi that was not a duty or an obligation. Ruth made herself poor and vulnerable in order to live out her love for her friend. She did not allow her own welfare or comfort to leave Naomi friendless or homeless.

Twenty-first century readers may be distracted by what we perceive as a love story between Boaz and Ruth.  The story of their developing relationship is lovely; his admiration of her in 2:11-12 is real. But the admiration is for the real love interest in the story: not romance but Ruth’s faithful commitment to her mother-in-law.

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Question

1)   The book of Ruth is a love story, but not according to the usual twenty-first century rules for love stories. How do you respond to the choices that Ruth made? In her situation, what would you have done?

2)   Like other Biblical stories, the strand of story that is about faith seems slim. The reader is expected to see for her/himself where faith informs the character’s actions. How far do you think faith affects the actions of Naomi, Boaz and Ruth?

3)   The story shows clearly how the Israeli law for supporting the poor worked in practice, permitting the poor to pick up grain that had been missed by harvesters. Boaz added his own generosity to ensure that Ruth and Naomi were well provided for. Does our society support the poorest members adequately? Are there ways we can, like Boaz, offer extra support for those who are in need?

4)   Ruth was not too proud to seek and accept help. Sometimes twenty-first century Westerners are! We expect to be self-sufficient. How can we support each other in asking for help, and in offering it when we spot someone who doesn’t feel able to ask?

The Scarlet Thread

There is a reference to Tamar in Ruth  4: 12, a request by the people of Bethlehem that Boaz and Ruth would be blessed as the house of Perez is blessed. Boaz is a descendant of the house of Perez, the son of Rahab, and the following genealogy (verses 18-22) demonstrates that the requested blessing was given. So the scarlet threads of Tamar and Rahab continue genetically through Boaz, but Matthew sees Ruth’s faith and example as an important part of the chain of people of faith who lead to Jesus, and names her with her husband.

Ruth’s life of loving and faithful commitment, willing to sacrifice her own security for the sake of others, prefigures the sacrificial love of Jesus. When you reflect on Ruth, the third of the women Matthew marks out as important in the line that led to Jesus, what do you think marks her out? Why does her presence in Jesus’ story matter? Keep a note of your thoughts and ideas, so that Ruth’s thread can be linked with the other women whose stories we are studying.