Ruth the Moabite

Ruth the Moabite

A women’s story in a man’s world

It is a story full of surprises - a story of the wrong people in the right places and the right people in the wrong places.

It is a story of tragedy and bitterness - but also of love and happiness. In chapter one, we meet Naomi who changed her name to Mara, because life had gone bitter. Her husband had taken her to enemy country in his search for happiness and prosperity. He did not find what he was looking for, and now he is dead. Naomi can look back to two weddings, three funerals but no birthdays. It is not hard to imagine why she had turned bitter. She is about to return home with all her shame and not much more. She had one last prayer for her daughters-in law: That God will show goodness and give them a home, give them rest (v.1:9).

In many ways, Ruth’s experience is not that different from Naomi’s. But her reaction is different. Whatever it is she has seen and experienced in her life together with Naomi’s family she has come to faith in the God of Israel. She is a stranger in all sorts of ways, from the enemy-people, the Moabites. A woman with an experience of bereavement and death, she embraces the God of Israel. Whatever this is, it is not prosperity gospel! And such a different voice than that of Naomi’s. Two people, two women with the same experience and very different reactions. Yet it takes both of them to the same place, to the land of Israel – and with their faith in the God of Israel. In spite of Naomi’s bitterness, she still turns to the God of Israel with her prayer that he will provide for her two daughters-in-law. And then they arrive in the middle of the harvest season. A comment that signals hope and new beginnings.

Chapter two is so different from the first chapter with famine, death, bitterness and darkness and departures. In chapter two we read about harvest time, gleaning, prosperity, arrivals and new beginnings. It is a chapter full of action – and action taken by the two women – only. What happens here is what the women do for themselves. Boaz is out there somewhere, we hear that he is a relative but he does nothing to live up to his obligations. All the action is due to what the women do for themselves. Although to Boaz’s credit it needs to be said that he shows kindness toward Ruth when she collects her food in his fields and he does bless her with these words:

May theLordrepay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by theLord, the God of Israel,under whose wingsyou have come to take refuge.” (2:12)

Naomi confirms Ruth in what she does and lets her know that the man whose field she has been visiting and who has blessed her is their relative and therefore also a redeemer. This is how the social system worked – or was supposed to work. So far, Boaz had done nothing, and despite the hopeful beginnings in this chapter, it still ends with the harvest being over, no solution in sight, and Naomi and Ruth still without a future. Ruth is still a stranger and a widower in a foreign land where her only connection is a bitter mother-in-law. However, she is not a woman without action.

Chapter three begins with Naomi going into action - just like chapter two was full of Ruth in action. Now Naomi acts on her own prayer in chapter 1. There she had prayed that God would provide rest, security – a home for her daughters-in-law (v. 9), that they would have husbands. Now, she becomes the agent of her own prayer – for Ruth. There is a time for action and a time for prayer. It is not one or the other. It is both. And sometimes God uses us as the instruments for the exact same thing that we asked him to provide for us. God works through human actions. Back in chapter 1 Naomi prayed. Now she sets out to do exactly what she had prayed about: to provide a home, a rest for Ruth (v. 3). She might still be bitter, but she is not at all paralyzed or perplexed.

Naomi’s plan is both daring and dangerous - and a bit intriguing. She explains to Ruth who this Boaz is, a relative and therefore also a redeemer according to the social system of Israel where family was to look after one another.

It is not that Boaz did not know that – but so far he had taken no action. The two women set out to appeal to his duty AND a little to his desire as well. They will use a little charm. We hear about Ruth bathing, using perfume and dressing up. And then she is to lie down, uncover his feet. Here language is used that reminds us of what other Moabite women once did to Israel while still in the desert (Num 25). Moabite women did not in general have a good reputation in Israel. It is a plan filled with darkness, danger. What if he refused? Then she would really be in a bad place. She would not only be a stranger and a widow but considered a prostitute with nowhere to go.

But Ruth had previously shown that she was willing to take risks and go where others would not. Otherwise, she would not have been where she was now. It all had to do with her commitment to Naomi and her faith in the God of Naomi. It was not that she did not dare go against her mother-in-law. She had already done that back then. Her response is now: I will do all that you tell me (v.5).

v.6.8: Here we have a description filled with suspense. She has to go, hide, to wait until it is dark, make sure she lies down on the right madras and wait until she hears him snore.

And then we read about Boaz, how he wakes up – to find a woman at his feet! Is this a dream or what is this?

He asks the question. ‘Who are you?’ And Ruth introduces herself – not as a foreigner, not as a stranger, but as Ruth your servant! And then she departs from the script Naomi has given her, for she is much more daring: She tells him what to do! She tells him to do what he had asked God to do for her. Bozs had asked that God would give her protection under His wings. Now she asks Boaz to spread his garment over her, to cover her under his wings. In other words, what she says is: Marry me!

Spread your garment over me resembles the relationship between God and Israel the way it is described in Ezekiel 16. Despite Israel’s disobedience and disgrace, God decided to spread his garment over her. It is the language of marriage.

What Ruth tells Boaz is this: I ask you to be for me what you prayed God would be for me. Another example of how God uses us to answer prayer – sometimes our own prayers. She tells him who he is and reminds him of his obligations and responsibility. And she offers herself. Like Boaz is saying: what you offer now is greater than what you had done so far. What Ruth is really saying is that she is willing to be the instrument through which not only Naomi, but Naomi’s family and departed husband can be redeemed. She will make sure that the family gets an heir. She is not doing this for herself. We see that also from what Boaz is saying. Other young men would be glad to have you; why me? She has a good reputation. All are talking about her because of what she has done for Naomi. She has chosen Boaz – out of loyalty to Naomi. She is indeed the woman described in Proverbs 31 – AND she is a Moabite, a foreigner, a widow.

Boaz and Ruth are two opposites – yet by her faith in God and her commitment to the God of Israel she is equal to him. She is also a redeemer – in her own way.

Boaz tells her not to walk away empty-handed. He gives her grain so they can eat but the promise of the seed for the womb is equally important. We understand that their redemption draws near. And that is what chap 4 talks about – and where Boaz finally gets into action.

There are two books in the Bible named after women, Esther and Ruth. Esther’s book does not even mention the name of God. Here in Ruth we can also ask, “Where is God here?” And the answer is. His fingerprint is all over the place. We hear about social redemption and it is a picture of what God is doing. It does not say it in the same way as when God brought his people out of Egypt. That was also social redemption – but it was more than that. As it always is!

Both Boaz and Ruth are imitators of God. God is a God who acts like them. He acts on behalf of the weak and the poor, the stranger and the widow. Redemptions points beyond. It points to the Lord, the Lord who acted on our behalf - in Jesus. He took it upon himself to see to our needs – like Ruth did for Naomi.

In Christ our needs are met. In him our home and rest are provided.

Ef 1:7 – in Him we have our redemption

And through Ruth, the redeemer of Naomi, David comes into the family from where our Redeemer has come.

Bodil F. Skjøtt - ()