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Ruth gleaning in the field.
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Ruth, the central figure in the Book of Ruth, is one of the most lovable women in the Bible. And her abiding love embraces the person you would least expect it to, her mother-in-law, Naomi. The latter was a Hebrew from Bethlehem-Judah, while Ruth was a foreigner from Moab, a lofty tableland to the east of the Dead Sea. Ruth's alien background is repeatedly stressed. In the short book, five times she is "Ruth the Moabitess,'' also "the woman of Moab,'' the "Moabitish damsel,'' and a "stranger.''
Though of a neighboring people, hated by early Israel, Ruth finally won her way into their hearts as the ideal daughter-in-law, wife, and mother. The people of the little town of Bethlehem admired her, not because of her genius or her foresight or her great beauty, but because of her womanly sweetness. Her story, which finally culminates in her marriage to Boaz, a man of influence, is one of the most beautiful romances in the Bible.
Modest, meek, courteous, loyal, responsible, gentle yet decisive, Ruth always seems to do the right thing at the right time. Though the Bible gives no clear-cut description of her appearance, literature and art have depicted her as extremely lovely. In his book on Ruth Irving Fineman describes her as a woman "whose radiant beauty of face and form neither the shadows nor the sad state of her raiment could obscure. He further depicts her as having gleaming golden hair and dark eyes. Frank Slaughter's Song of Ruth pictures her as "startlingly beautiful, with dark red hair, high cheekbones, and warm eyes'' and as a woman who dressed in the "clinging robe of a temple priestess.''
At the opening of the story Ruth as the young widow of Mahlon faces an uncertain future, along with her mother-in-law Naomi and her sister-in-law Orpah, widow of Chilion. From this point on Ruth herself becomes the embodiment of all that is fine in a young widow. We do not hear her crying out at the loss of her husband, but expressing her affection for him in her loyalty to his mother, his people, his country, and his God. Nor do we find her pitying herself, though she and her mother-in-law are destitute. Instead she chooses to follow her mother-in-law wherever she leads, and she does so in a spirit of love.
Ruth's husband and his father Elimelech and mother Naomi and brother Chilion had left Bethlehem ten years before because of famine. Recent explorations of the land of Moab have given confirmation of the fertility of the plains of ancient Moab, a fact which is implied in the statement that Naomi's family went there to escape the famine of Judah. Dr. William L. Reed, professor of Old Testament at Texas Christian University and a well-known archaeologist of the Holy Land, reports that explorations and excavations point toward a close association among Hebrews and Moabites, as is implied in the story of Ruth.
Naomi and her family had gone into the fertile, well-watered highlands of Moab east of the Dead Sea, but there her husband and her two sons had died.
Old and weary, Naomi longed to return to the land of her birth. All three women wept as they stood to say good-by. Naomi pleaded with her two daughters-in-law to turn back to their mother's house. Orpah did turn back, but Ruth clung lovingly to her mother-in-law, and as she did she made this most wonderful confession of love ever spoken by a daughter-in-law, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.'' Ruth 1: 16
Like so many young widows, she might have said, "Somebody else must take care of this forlorn old woman. I'm still young. I want to marry again. The mother of my first husband is in my way.'' But Ruth made this other choice, and she made it gracefully.
She never swerved from her unselfish purpose during the many trials that followed. Nor did she ever complain because she had given up everything, her country, her relationships with young friends, or her chance to marry a man of her own country. She had given them all up with a resolution fierce in its quietness.
The young and beautiful daughter-in-law and the old and wise mother-in-law now turned their faces resolutely toward Palestine.
The journey was less than 120 miles, but this distance represented a long, fatiguing, and dangerous trek in this period thirteen centuries before Christ, especially for two lone women who had neither money beyond their barest needs nor protector. They crossed the Arnon and the Jordan, ascending mountains and descending into deep valleys, partly on foot, let us suppose, and partly on donkeys. This journey through desolate places caused them to cling more closely together.
When they reached Bethlehem, in order to support herself and her mother-in-law Ruth performed the lowliest of tasks, that of following the reapers and gathering up the fragments of grain which fell and were left behind for the poor. Without the least feeling of self-pity or dread of a difficult task, Ruth gleaned all day in the hot sun, returning to Naomi joyfully at the end of the day with her small harvest.
One day, as Ruth gleaned, she came into a field belonging to Boaz, a large landowner, who was a distant kinsman of Naomi's husband. For a time Ruth worked with the other poor gleaners and was unknown to Boaz. She performed her work well, from the hour that the sun first rose over the fields of swaying barley until it dipped gently behind the low-lying hills of Judah.
Humble woman that Ruth was, she did not rush to Boaz, her husband's rich kinsman, and introduce herself, but worked quietly at her task. Her good work was rewarded. When Boaz came into his fields and saw this pretty young woman, he inquired of his servants who she was, and they told him she was the Moabitess who had come back with Naomi from the country of Moab. Immediately offering her his protection, he asked her not to glean in any field except his own, ordered his young men not to touch her, and invited her to drink of the water which they had drawn.
Later he returned his admiration for her in little kindnesses, for he knew not only that she had to support her mother-in-law but that she was a woman with a gentle disposition. "The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.'' Ruth 2:12
Boaz, who was a man of God, also a man of intelligence and with a high code of morals, could appreciate Ruth's quiet loveliness, her inborn purity and generosity of soul. And he began to shower small favors upon her. He asked her to come and eat bread and to dip her morsel in wine. As she sat among the reapers, he passed parched grain to her and instructed his helpers to pull out some stalks from their bundles and leave them for her so as to make her gleanings easier and more productive.
When Ruth returned to Naomi at the end of each day with about an ephah (or a bushel) of barley, Naomi would always question her about the day's happenings. Once when Ruth told her she had gleaned in the field of Boaz that day, Naomi said, "Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead.'' And Naomi added, "The man is near of kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen.'' Ruth 2:20
The entire scene was now set for the culmination of a beautiful romance. We know why Goethe has called the Book of Ruth "the loveliest little idyll that tradition has transmitted to us.''
Naomi, an honored matron of Judah, made the next step on behalf of a brighter future for her beloved daughter-in-law. With bold tenderness she directed Ruth to the threshing floor at night, where Boaz would be winnowing his grain. She instructed her to wash, anoint herself, and put on her best raiment, and to go where Boaz was after he had finished eating and drinking. This wise mother-in-law advised Ruth one step further.
"And it shall be, when he lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do.'' Ruth 3:4 Ruth, knowing that her mother-in-law would command her to do nothing that was not considered proper, replied, "All that thou sayest unto me I will do.'' Ruth 3:5
The bold yet humble advance of Ruth was accepted by Boaz with a tender dignity and a chivalrous delicacy. He treated this act by which she threw herself upon his protection as an honor due him, for which he was bound to be grateful. And he hastened to assure her that he was her debtor for the preference she had shown for him. He became as careful for her reputation and chastity as if she had been his daughter.
The measure recommended by Naomi and adopted by Ruth was equivalent to a legal call on Boaz, as the supposed nearest kinsman of the family, to fulfill the duty of that relationship. An archaic custom this was, and one which subjected Ruth to a severe moral test, but she had confidence in her mother-in-law's judgment and she also knew that Boaz had proved himself to be meticulously upright.
This part of the story is handled in the Bible with great delicacy and restraint. First Boaz told his servant not to let it be known that Ruth had come to the threshing floor. There might be idle gossip. He also knew there was a nearer kinsman than himself, one who would have a prior claim to Ruth.
He immediately sent word to Naomi that he gladly accepted the legal protection of her daughter-in-law. Now he summoned the next of kin. This man waived his right to the young widow, admitting that he did not care to redeem Elimelech's portion of the land, a necessary part of a levirate matrimonial transaction, which assured the continuation of family life, the preservation of property, and the welfare of widows.
Boaz had shown his honorable and businesslike traits of character in going to the gates of the city before the elders. Then he went forth publicly to tell that he had brought Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be his wife. And the lovely stranger in Judah became the wife of the rich land proprietor Boaz. By her perserverance and faithfulness, she had achieved the seemingly impossible. She had been lifted out of obscurity and poverty to influence and plenty.
From this marriage of Ruth and Boaz sprang an auspicious lineage, the House of David (Matt. 1:5). Before the birth of her son Obed, Ruth was assured that her child's name would be "famous in Israel.'' Ruth 4:14 And Naomi was told that the child would be a nourisher of her old age. Her neighbors, rejoicing with her, said, "Thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee than seven sons, hath bom him.'' Ruth 4:15 And Naomi joyfully took over the duties of nurse to her grandchild.
Love had worked the miracle in Ruth's life. She was beloved by all because she was so lovable. She had proved that love can lift one out of poverty and obscurity, love can bring forth a wonderful child, love can shed its rays, like sunlight, on all whom it touches, even a forlorn and weary mother-in-law. Ruth's love had even penetrated the barriers of race.
