THE STORY OF RUTH

Ruth may be a shortened version of 'retut', which means ‘lovely friend’.

Naomi means ‘pleasant’, but the name she called herself later in the story, Mara, means ‘bitter’.
Boaz means ‘powerful’ or ‘strong’.
Mahlon and Chilion mean ‘sickness’ and ‘used up’.
Orpah means ‘back of the neck’; she turned her back on Naomi.
Elimelech means ‘my God is king’.

What the story is about:

Ruth was poor, a foreigner, and a woman, and all this counted against her, but she was helped by an
older woman to overcome the difficulties she faced. She had the good sense to listen to the advice
given to her by Naomi, and the older woman was rewarded by Ruth's unfaltering loyalty. Her story
illustrates the triumph of courage and ingenuity over adverse circumstances. She has special
significance for Christians. In the gospel of Matthew, four women were included in the genealogy of
Jesus (Matthew 1:2-17), and Ruth was one of the four.

The story is set in the period of the Judges before the birth of King David, but it was almost certainly
written much later, when the two tribes of Judah were set free from their captivity in Babylon and
allowed to return to Jerusalem. It has the qualities of an historical novel - based on real people but
with a message and theme directed at a later audience. (See end of this page for historical background
to this story and information about women's lives.)

The story contains four different episodes that together form a beautifully constructed novella:

1. Naomi and Ruth go to Bethlehem (Ruth 1) - the anguish of loss

Naomi and her family suffered great misfortune in a foreign land. Naomi returned to her home,
Bethlehem, with her foreign daughter-in-law Ruth, in time for the barley harvest.
2. 2Ruth meets Boaz (Ruth 2) - the love story
Ruth, a young widow, met Naomi's relative, a rich man called Boaz. It seems to have been love
at first sight for him, and he ordered that Ruth be well treated when she worked in his fields.
The older woman Naomi saw immediately what had happened, and encouraged Ruth to
continue working in Boaz's fields.
3. Ruth proposes marriage to Boaz (Ruth 3) - this chapter contains some ribald peasant humor.
Ruth approached Boaz during the night, at the threshing floor, and the text obliquely suggests
that there may have been some sexual hanky-panky. Subsequently, Ruth suggested that they
marry, reminding Boaz of his obligation to her as her nearest male kin. Boaz promised to do all
he could.
4. Ruth and Boaz marry (Ruth 4) - the happy ending
Boaz proved as good as his word, and he and Ruth were married. She had a son called Obed,
and Naomi cared for the child, who would grow up to be the grandfather of King David.

NAOMI AND RUTH GO TO BETHLEHEM (Book of Ruth, Chapter 1)

Naomi was an Israelite woman who, during a famine, had gone with her family to live in the country
of Moab. When her husband and two sons died, she decided to return to her home town, Bethlehem.
She had two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpha. All three women were widows.
In modern society a widow is free to remarry after her husband dies, but in ancient Israel this was not
necessarily so. After her husband’s death the widow was still considered to be a part of her dead
husband’s family, because marriage joined families as well as individuals.

Her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, were Moabite women not Israelites. The Moabite people
were traditional enemies of the Israelites. There was frequent warfare between the two groups.
According to the Israelite belief, Moabites originated from the act of incest between Lot and his older
daughter (Genesis 19:30-38), and so the whole nation was intrinsically tainted and inferior. Naomi
assumed that Ruth and Orpah would not want to return to Bethlehem with her, even though the
women respected and loved each other.

Orpah decided to return to her people and the Moabite way of life, but Ruth could not be persuaded.
She had shared loneliness, anxiety and grief with Naomi, and now that the older woman was
completely alone, Ruth would stand by her and return to Bethlehem.
This part of the story contains Ruth’s famous speech of loyalty to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16-17).

‘But Ruth said,

“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die
There I will be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me
And more as well
If even death parts me from you!”’
(Read Ruth 1:1-22)
So the two women returned to Bethlehem in time for the autumn harvest of barley.

RUTH MEETS BOAZ

(Chapter 2)
Now although Naomi was destitute, she has good family connections. Furthermore, both she and
Ruth were women of initiative. They did not believe in sitting down and letting events simply happen.
Ruth decided she would help to glean the barley in the fields, to feed herself and Naomi and to get a
store of grain for winter. Gleaning was a common practice in ancient Israel. It was a form of charity
for the disadvantaged in society (see Leviticus 23:22 and Deuteronomy 24:19). Recognized groups of
the poor, such as widows, orphans and foreigners, could walk behind the harvesters, picking up what
was left. This is what Ruth did.

Ruth and Naomi gleaning in the fields of Boaz

 Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a
prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose
name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi
“Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of
grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find
favor”. She said to her “Go, my daughter”. So she went.
She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers.
As it happened, she came to the part of the field
belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem.’
(Read Ruth 2:1-7)

Ruth 2:3 says that ‘as it happened’ Ruth went to the field of Naomi’s rich relative, Boaz. This phrase
is often used in the Bible to suggest that God is setting the scene for something significant. It also
implied, with a touch of Jewish humour, that Naomi and the people of Bethlehem saw a good match
for Ruth and edged her into meeting Boaz.
Naomi knew that Ruth was beautiful and respected, and she knew that a rich husband for Ruth would
solve all their problems. Boaz was the ideal choice. He was available, childless, well respected and
rich. He was also a relative of Naomi’s through her husband’s family, so he had a legal obligation to
help Naomi. Boaz was second in line to the position of go’el in Naomi’s, and therefore Ruth’s, family.

In English, the word go’el is often translated as ‘nearest kin’, but in ancient Judah it meant more than
that. A go’el was a close male relative with the duty of looking after a family when the male head of the
family was absent. In earlier times, the go’el of the family was expected to marry the widow of an
Israelite man if she wished it (Deuteronomy 25). Ruth, who may not have understood the niceties of
Israelite law, called Boaz go'el.
(Read Ruth 2:8-23)

Love was in the air....

By great good luck, Boaz seems to have been smitten from

the outset. He went to great lengths to get extra grain for
Ruth, to protect her from young men who might harass her,
and to see that she was properly fed.

'At mealtime Boaz said to her “Come here, and eat some of
this bread, and dip your morsel in the sour wine”. So she sat
beside the reapers, and he heaped up for her some parched
grain. She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left
over.'

Of course, the point of the story is that it was not just love or
luck, but God who was nudging them into their destiny.
RUTH PROPOSES MARRIAGE TO BOAZ (Chapter 3)

This part of the story took place at the threshing floor, at a golden time of the year when the harvest
had been brought in and the weather was still warm. Love was in the air, with the fertility of Nature
reflected in the lives of the characters.

Naomi devised a plan to prod Boaz into proposing to Ruth. She knew men, and she gave Ruth specific
instructions on everything she must do.

Fortunately, Ruth had the good sense to heed the older woman. She perfumed
herself, dressed in her most becoming clothes, and waited until Boaz had eaten a
good meal - both women knew a man with a full stomach was easier to handle.
When Boaz finally lay down to sleep, Ruth approached him where he lay on the
threshing floor - someone always slept there at night until the grain was removed, to
guard against thieves. (Read Ruth 3:1-18)

'When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and he was in a contented mood, he went to lie
down at the end of the heap of grain. Then she came stealthily and uncovered his
feet, and lay down.'

A village threshing floor

This action would seem strange unless

you knew that in ancient times 'foot' was a
euphemism for the male genital organ, as
'sandal' was for the female organ.
Threshing floors at harvest time were
often the scene of sexual shenanigans,
what the old Irish priests used to rail
against as 'fockin' in the fields', a time for
license forbidden at other times.

Lying beside Boaz, Ruth suggested that

he, as the go-el of Naomi’s family, should
‘cover her with his blanket’, a euphemism
for marriage. She had the right to demand
marriage of the go-el of her family, so that
she could have the children that Israelite
women longed for. Boaz happily agreed,
but pointed out to her that there was
another man who had that right, a closer
relative even than himself. Boaz had to
square matters with him before he could marry Ruth. He seems to have been at pains to do everything
correctly, so that there could be no question about the legality of the marriage.
Ruth stayed beside Boaz until morning, stealing away before first light to return to Naomi, who
pounced on her and demanded to know how things had gone, and whether the plan had worked. Was
Ruth to be married or single? The two women waited impatiently to see how events would unfold.

THE MARRIAGE OF RUTH AND BOAZ (Chapter 4)

Of course, the villagers were well aware of what was happening, as people in small towns usually are.
When Boaz went next morning to the meeting place at the gate of the town, he was met almost
immediately by the official go-el of Naomi’s family - and probably by a good many intrigued onlookers
as well. Some complicated negotiation went on regarding a small parcel of land that Naomi either
owned outright or had put up for sale at some previous time, but this was just a formality. The
outcome of this story was never in doubt.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive,
and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this
day without next of kin. May his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life
and a nourishment for your old age. For your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you
than seven sons, has borne him”. Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became
his nurse.’
(Read Ruth 4:1-22)

Ruth and Boaz were married, and she had a son, Obed. Eventually, Ruth would be the great-
grandmother of King David.
The marriage of Ruth and Boaz created a family with a good chance of success, because
- Naomi was shrewd, courageous and persevering
- Ruth was intelligent, strong, loyal and level-headed
- Boaz was a good manager of people, and not afraid to get his hands dirty.

Summary
The story of Ruth celebrates the family and the way it continues through many generations. Ruth, a
childless widow at the beginning of the story, became the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king,
David.
The story of her family, and the way it endured despite misfortune, is the story of the Israelite people,
who continued despite all that happened to them. Even an unlikely person like Ruth, a foreigner from
the despised Moabite nation, could be used to move God's plan a step further towards completion.

An Eastern European Jewish Wedding

EXILE IN BABYLON AND RETURN TO JUDAH

In 586BC Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple and carried off the
aristocracy, members of the upper classes, and all the leading families of Judah - all the leaders of the
people, in fact. They were forced to live in exile in Babylon for a period of about fifty years.

InBabylon these families were well-treated: they were allowed to live together, and given land. They
were not forced to intermarry or become slaves, but were respected members of the Babylonian
empire. They adopted Babylonian names, the Babylonian calendar and the Aramaic language (this
was the language that Jews such as Jesus spoke in later times). They assimilated well into Babylonian
society, but maintained their Jewish identify.

The Euphrates, one of the 'rivers of Babylon'

Their living conditions may have

been good, but they were faced with a
theological dilemma: if they were Jahweh's Chosen People, why had he allowed the destruction of
Jerusalem and his Temple, and the scattering of his people? What had they done to deserve the
terrible things that had happened to them? How could such an event be prevented in the future?

Their prophets and wise men reasoned that disaster had struck because they had not completely
abandoned the fertility gods Asherah and Baal in favour of Yahweh as they should have - this must be
why Yahweh had given them up to their fate. It followed that if they repented, Yahweh would forgive
them. Hopefully they would be reinstated, first in his favour, then in their homeland. With this in
mind, the priests edited and rewrote the Jewish Scriptures so that the focus was on radical
monotheism, the exclusive worship of one god - thus effecting the development of religious thinking
to this very day. In 538BC Cyrus the Great of Persia issued an edict allowing the Jewish captive
population to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. This was part of an empire-wide
resettlement program, but the Jewish captives saw it as evidence that Yahweh was giving them a
second chance.
Over a period of time they returned to Jerusalem, and then set about the task of rebuilding Jerusalem
and the Temple, the Second Temple (the first Temple had been built by Solomon). They no longer had
kings to govern them, but were led by prophets. Two of these prophets, Ezra and Nehemiah, carried
out sweeping social reforms that had a direct bearing on the lives of many women

WOMEN’S LIVES IN THIS ERA

Ezra demanded that worship of the fertility gods be completely abandoned; only Yahweh was to be
worshipped. This was not as difficult to enforce as it might previously have been. Worship of the
forces of Nature and fertility had been strongest in the northern agricultural provinces, and the
dispersal of these people by the Assyrian conquerors had led to a decline in the popularity of the
fertility religions. The problem for women was that religion was now centered on a god whose essence
was power and majesty. This deity was a genderless spirit force, neither male nor female, but because
power and strength were seen in human terms as male attributes, the deity was increasingly described
in male terms.

God as Mother

Poetic images of Yahweh had previously contained

female references, likening Yahweh to a mother and
suggesting that Yahweh’s love was as deep as a
mother’s. These images were increasingly overlooked in favor
of male images of Yahweh. Sin was now linked with impurity and with imagery that was demeaning to
women, for example the reference in Ezekiel 37:17 to menstruation. When wickedness was presented
in human form, it was female, for example Zechariah 5:7-11.

Nehemiah demanded that all foreign-born wives who had returned to Jerusalem with their Jewish
husbands be divorced. The purpose of this edict was to emphasize and purify Jewish identity. Women
were judged on their clan background rather than on their personal merits, which undermined
respect for women as human beings.

The social reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah were accepted by the people, but not without protest. For
example, the stories of Ruth and of Esther, written in this period, make particular points about
women, that:
 they were intelligent human beings not disposable chattels
they were as capable of being God’s instruments as men were
The story of Ruth was a protest against the radical conservatism of the prophets.