From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John

Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture

Jane Austen
(A Biography)

Solomon Among the Postmoderns

The Baptized Body

1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary

The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter

A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature

Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen

The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism

A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel

Against Christianity

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution

Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Better than Seven Sons

Naomi’s daughter-in-law, Ruth, is better than seven sons to Naomi (4:15).  To underscore this, the book calls Ruth “daughter-in-law” seven times (1:6, 7, 8, 22; 2:20, 22; 4:15).  She is the sevenfold daughter, the daughter who brings new life and new creation to Naomi, a new life that her sons did not bring.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Naomi’s Son

A couple of reflections on Ruth, after reading some student papers.

First, it’s fairly common to note the reverse inclusio around the book – Naomi loses sons at the beginning, and gains a son at the end.  But in 4:15b, the women of the city claim that Ruth is better to Naomi than seven sons.  The first replacement for Naomi’s dead sons is Ruth herself; the Gentile widow takes the place of Israelite sons.

Second, the story of Ruth is partly about the restoration of the tribe of Judah to legitimacy, bringing the 10 generations of exclusion to an end.  It is striking, though, that this restoration of the royal tribe takes place thorugh a Gentile.  Judah is put in a position to ascend to the throne by the incorporation of a Moabite.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Eucharistic meditation

2 Chronicles 3:1: Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Naomi gives Ruth specific instructions for her approach to Boaz: “Wash your clothes, anoint yourself, put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor” (3:3).

Ruth adorns herself as a bride, but she also dresses herself as a priest.

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Exhortation

Ruth 3 begins and ends with “rest.” Naomi seeks “rest” for Ruth (v. 1), and after Ruth meets Boaz on the threshing floor, Naomi assures her daughter-in-law and Boaz will not “rest” until he has finished the task.

That’s his job as a redeemer: To bring rest. Redeemers buy brothers from slavery, restore property to the poor, raise up a son for a dead relative. As Toby said last week, redemption is Yahweh’s work, and since it is the work of our God, it is our work. We are to be redeemers, and a redeemer is one who brings rest.

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Eucharistic meditation

Ruth 2:10: Why have I found favor in your sight that you should take notice of me, Since I am a foreigner?

As Toby pointed out last week, the book of Ruth appears in the “writings” section of the Hebrew Bible, right after Proverbs. If you were reading the Old Testament in the order of the Hebrew Bible, you would end with Proverbs 31’s description of the “excellent woman,” and then start reading the story of the “excellent woman,” Ruth.

But the story of Ruth complicates things.

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Exhortation

We who believe the Bible is God’s word hear this slander all the time: How can you believe a Bible that permits slavery? How can you worship a God who gave Israel the harsh, dehumanizing, bloodthirsty law of Moses?

Our response should be to show them the actual Torah. The Torah is not harsh and bloody. It’s a law of charity, given to Israel by the same God of love who sent Jesus, His living Word.

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Eucharistic mediatation

Ruth 1:22: So Naomi returned and with her Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth begins tragically. Elimelech flees from famine in Bethlehem by taking his wife and sons to Moab, where death assaults them. First Elimelech dies, and Naomi is left with her two sons. Then her sons die, and she is left with only her daughters-in-law.

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Baptismal exhortation

Ruth 1:21: Naomi said, I went out full, but Yahweh has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?

Ruth’s statement of faith is one of the most memorable and moving in Scripture. It is a statement of whole-hearted, deep attachment to Naomi, her people, her land, her God. What makes this so moving is that Ruth makes this confession, and clings to Naomi, when Naomi has nothing – nothing – to offer her. Naomi is husbandless, childless, landless, an exile. She is exactly what she says: Empty.

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Boaz the Bridegroom

Boaz is the type of the bridegroom who marries Ruth in order to raise up a seed for the old and widowed Naomi.  James Jordan says Ruth is a substitute bride, because the firstborn seed is her seed, and leads to the redeemer that comes into the world.  Typologically: The Bridegroom marries the Moabitess, the Gentile widow, but he does it in order to give a seed to the Israelite widow.  All Israel is saved through the marriage of Gentiles with the redeemer.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Daughter Ruth

Boaz calls Ruth “my daughter,” even when they are lying together at night with Boaz’s feet uncovered.  The whole book is about the levirate institution, and refracts again and again off the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38.  Ruth is a new Tamar, who was “more righteous” than Judah in securing a name for her dead husband(s).  The difference in Ruth is that she finds a Judahite greater than Judah himself; Boaz volunteers to raise up seed for his “daughter,” and doesn’t need to be tricked into fulfilling his responsibilities.  This is another sign that Ruth is about the redemption of the tribe of Judah.

Bible - OT - Ruth: No Name

At the beginning of Ruth 4, Boaz takes a seat at the gate, the place of courts and judgments.  The nearer kinsman happens by, and Boaz greets him.  Lawson Younger points out that the common translation of his greeting, “friend,” doesn’t capture the Hebrew, which is a farrago, a nonsense phrase implying an anonymous “somebody.”  The other kinsman has no name.

And he continues to have no name, because he refuses to take on Ruth as bride and raise up a seed for Naomi.  He could have had an enduring name by providing a perpetual name for Elimelech.  Because he refuses to carry on Elimelech’s name, his own name is lost.

If we had to choose a name, it might be Onan.  The nameless non-redeemer has the same motivations as Judah’s son.  He wants the benefits of acquiring a brother’s property without the labor and expense and sacrifice of raising his brother’s heir.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Ruth the Moabitess

A friend and former student, Aaron Cummings, writes: “If Ruth is ‘adopted’ as a daughter to Boaz, then her story becomes the reversal of the original story of Moab (Gen. 19). Lot’s younger daughter successfully seduced her father while he slept, and she conceived Moab. Ruth, Elimelech’s younger daughter in law, fails to seduce her ‘father’ while she sleeps. He is honorable and persuades her to behave righteously. In essence, we have the restoration of the Moabite people pictured here.”

Ruth “redeems” Moab not only by reversing the seductions of Numbers 25 but the seductions of Genesis 19.

Bible - OT - Ruth: With the maids

James Jordan points out that Boaz “adopts” Ruth into his household when he first meets her. The use of the Hebrew na’ar hints at this. Boaz speaks to his na’ar when he first arrives on the scene (2:5), and invites Ruth to drink water along with his na’arim (2:9).  In his first conversation with Ruth he tells her to “stay among my maids” (na’arot). The Hebrew word can mean young man/young woman as well as servant. Boaz addresses Ruth as “daughter” and brings her into his household, ingrafting a Gentile who will become the means for the restoration of Naomi’s house.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Daughter Ruth

Boaz calls Ruth “my daughter” (2:8), as does Naomi.  This indicates the age difference between them, but also points in a typological direction.  After all, Boaz marries his “daughter,” just as Yahweh is both Father and Husband to “Daughter Zion.”

Bible - OT - Ruth: Pentecost

Citing Deut 16:9-12 and the Gezer Calendar, K. Lawson Younger says in NIV Application commentary on Ruth, “the time period from the beginning of the barley harvest to the end of the wheat harvest was normally seven weeks, concluding at Pentecost.” Presumably, this was the festival that Boaz was celebrating in Ruth 3.

Booths begins after the gathering of the wine (Deut 16:13), but Pentecost is the feast of wheat.  Pentecost is also the festival of the law, and this gives an additional layer to Ruth’s approach to Boaz.  Pentecost celebrated the time when Yahweh spread His wing over Israel at Sinai (cf. Ezek 15), which is what Boaz does for Ruth.  

Bible - OT - Ruth: Ten years

Noami sojourned in the fields of Moab for 10 years (Ruth 1:4), which points to the conclusion of the book, where the author traces the descend of Judah for 10 generations, to David.  After 10 years, Naomi returned to the land, which by then had become fruitful (1:22).  After 10 years, Boaz took the place of Elimelech as the head of Naomi’s remnant family.  After 10 generations, Judah returned to the congregation of Israel (cf. Deuteronomy 23) as the royal tribe, and the land flourished.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Husband and King

James Jordan points out in his lectures on Ruth that the book contrasts Boaz with Elimelech as husband. Elimelech is a failure as a husband, leaving the land and then leaving Naomi alone.  The contrast of the two men also has a political dimension. 

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Bible - OT - Ruth: Ends and Beginnings

Ruth begins with death – the death of the land in famine, the death of exile, the death of Elimelech, the death of Naomi’s sons, the death of Naomi’s future. Naomi goes out full, and comes back empty. Ruth 1 is a perfect tragic story, a story of endings and emptyings.

But it is chapter 1, and the author wants us to realize that this series of deaths is not an end. The end of chapter 1 is a beginning, as Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem “at the beginning of the barley harvest” (v. 22).  The author makes his point with a touch so light as to be nearly imperceptible, but the import of that “beginning” is as weighty as anything in Scripture.

“In the beginning” and “once upon a time” make rational sense as the beginning of a story. But recognizing a beginning on the other side of an end is an act of faith.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Obed

Ruth not only points ahead to the union of Jews and Gentiles, but records it.  Ruth the Moabitess marries Boaz the Jew – a marital union of Jew and Moabite, and Obed incorporates Jew and Gentile in his own body.  Obed, whose name means “servant,” is a type of the coming Servant of Yahweh.

Bible - OT - Ruth: Jesus and Gentiles, 2

Perhaps the pattern noted earlier can be applied more broadly.  Perhaps the incorporation of outsiders is always what spurs God’s return to save the insiders.  So, the current moment may not only be one (as Philip Yancy put it) of God moving on from the West to a place where He’s wanted.  It may also be that as peoples outside traditional Christendom (Naomi) are incorporated into Christendom (Ruth), not only are they saved but the greater Boas comes to the rescue of Naomi as well, gives Naomi, who is as good as dead, new life.

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