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“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
(Romans
8:2)
Ruth –
Biblical Figure – Wikipedia
Ruth (biblical figure)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ruth
Spouses
Mahlon (died)
Boaz
Children Obed
Ruth (/ruːθ/; Hebrew: רוּת,
Modern: Rūt, Tiberian: Rūṯ) is the person after whom the Book
of Ruth is named. She was a Moabite woman who married an Israelite, Mahlon.
After the death of all the male members of her family (her husband, her
father-in-law, and her brother-in-law), she stayed with her mother-in-law,
Naomi, and moved to Judah with her, where Ruth won the love and protection of a
wealthy relative, Boaz, through her kindness.[1] She is the great-grandmother
of David.
The story of Ruth as told in the Book of Ruth was likely
written in Hebrew during the Persian period (550–330 BCE).[2][3] Some scholars
generally consider the book to be a work of historical fiction,[4][5] while
other scholars, including evangelical scholars, hold that it is a historical narrative
written in the form of a short story.[6]
Book of Ruth
In the days when the judges were leading the tribes of
Israel, there was a famine. Because of this crisis, Elimelech, a man from
Bethlehem in Judah, moved to Moab with his wife, Naomi, and his two sons,
Mahlon and Chilion. There Elimelech died, and the two sons married Moabite
women, Ruth and Orpah. They lived for about ten years in Moab, before Mahlon
and Chilion also died.
Naomi heard that the famine in Judah had passed and decided
to return home. She told her daughters-in-law to return to their mothers'
houses and marry again. At first, both Orpah and Ruth refused to leave her, but
Naomi told them that she was unlikely to have more sons that Orpah and Ruth
could marry. They all wept, and Orpah decided to leave Naomi and return to her
people. Naomi tried again to send Ruth back, too, but she told her that
"(...) where you go I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people
shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there
will I be buried." (ESV) In the Targum, each of Ruth's lines is preceded
by Naomi, who defines what it is to be Jewish.
Eventually, Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem at the
beginning of the barley harvest. Boaz, a relative of Elimelech, lived nearby,
and Ruth decided to go to his field and glean after his reapers. When Boaz
arrived at the field, he asked who the young woman was, and then told Ruth not
to go to anyone else's field, but keep gleaning there. He told her that if she
was thirsty, she could drink from the vessels of the female reapers, but to
avoid the men. When Ruth asked him why he was so good to a foreigner, Boaz told
her that he had heard how loyal she was to Naomi. At mealtime, Boaz invited
Ruth to eat with him, and then instructed his male reapers to not reproach or
rebuke her, and even to pull out some barley from their bundles and leave it
for her to glean. Ruth gleaned at the fields of Boaz throughout the barley and
wheat harvests.
When the harvest ended, and Boaz was winnowing barley at
night at the threshing floor, Naomi advised Ruth to wash and anoint herself, go
to the threshing floor, and when Boaz had lain down to sleep, uncover his feet
and lie down there. Ruth did as she said. At midnight, Boaz woke up, and Ruth
asked him to protect her, as he was her husband's goel, closest relative tasked
with protecting his rights. Boaz said that he would like to do so, but Ruth had
an even closer relative than him.
In the morning, Boaz went and sat down by the gates of the
town, then talked to the relative when he arrived. He told him that Naomi was
selling Elimelech's land. The man said that he would redeem it. Boaz then says
that one of them will acquire Ruth, although the text is unclear due to a Qere
and Ketiv disagreement. In the Qere, spoken form, the relative would acquire
Ruth. In the Ketiv, written form, Boaz would acquire Ruth. In both cases, it
would be to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance in a levirate
marriage. The man refused to redeem the land, fearing that it would impair his
own inheritance. Boaz then redeemed the land and acquired Ruth. Ruth became
Boaz's wife, and bore him a son. After Ruth had given birth, Naomi took the child
to her breast. The women of Bethlehem named him Obed and said that Naomi had
borne a son. Obed became the father of Jesse, the father of King David.[1]
Religious interpretations
Jewish perspectives
Boaz of Judah blessed Ruth for her extraordinary kindness
both to Naomi of Judah and to the Judean People (Ruth 3:10). "And he
[Boaz] said, 'May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter; your latest act of
kindness is greater than the first, not to follow the young men, whether poor
or rich.'" Commentary of Rashi (c. 1040–1105) regarding the first
act of kindness: "that you did with your mother-in-law".
Ruth's kindness as noted in the Book of Ruth by Boaz is
seen in the Jewish Tradition as in rare contradistinction to the peoples of
Moab (where Ruth comes from) and Amon in general, who were noted by the Torah
for their distinct lack of kindness. Deut. 23:5: "Because they [the
peoples of Amon and Moab] did not greet you with bread and water on the way
when you left Egypt, and because he [the people of Moab] hired Balaam the son
of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim against you, to curse you." Rashi
notes regarding Israel's travels on the way: "when you were in [a state
of] extreme exhaustion."
According to the Ruth Rabbah, Ruth was Orpah's sister and
the two were daughters of Eglon, the king of Moab; according to the same text,
Eglon was the son of Balak.[7] Tamar Meir of the Jewish Women's Archive writes
that Ruth and David being descended from these two men is seen as a
"reward" for them.[7] For Balak, it is his reward for building altars
and for Eglon, it is his reward for "arising upon hearing the name of God
from Ehud son of Gera".[7] The same text says Ruth did not convert during
her marriage to Mahlon, contradicting other rabbinic literature, which says
Ruth formally converted to Judaism for the sake of marrying Mahlon but did not
fully accept the faith until later.[7]
Josephus viewed the Book of Ruth as historical and
referenced it in his Antiquities of the Jews.[8] Yitzhak Berger suggests
Naomi's plan was that Ruth seduce Boaz, just as Tamar and Lot's daughters all
seduced "an older family member in order to become the mother of his
offspring". At the crucial moment, however, "Ruth abandons the
attempt at seduction and instead requests a permanent, legal union with
Boaz."[9]
Christian perspectives
Ruth is one of five women mentioned in the genealogy of
Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew, alongside Tamar, Rahab, the "wife of
Uriah" (Bathsheba), and Mary.[10] Katharine Doob Sakenfeld argues that
Ruth is a model of loving-kindness (hesed): she acts in ways that promote the
well-being of others.[11] In Ruth 1:8–18, she demonstrated hesed by not going
back to Moab but accompanying her mother-in-law to a foreign land.[11] She
chose to glean, despite the danger she faced in the field (Ruth 2:15) and the
lower social status of the job. Finally, Ruth agrees with Naomi's plan to marry
Boaz, even though she was free of family obligations, once again demonstrating
her loyalty and obedience (Ruth 3:10).[11]
Barry Webb argues that in the book, Ruth plays a key role
in Naomi's rehabilitation.[12]
Ruth is commemorated as a matriarch in the Calendar of
Saints of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod on 16 July.
She can also be seen as a prototype of a convert to
Judaism.[13]
Tomb of Ruth
Main article: Tomb of Jesse and Ruth
Tomb of Jesse and Ruth in Hebron
The traditional burial place of Ruth is a building located
in Hebron. Francesco Quaresmi in the early 17th century reported that Turks and
Orientals generally believed the structure contained the tombs of Jesse and
Ruth.[14][15] According to Moshe Sharon, the association of the site with Ruth
is very late, starting in the 19th century.[16] It receives numerous visitors
every year, especially on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, when the Book of Ruth
is read.[17] Haim Horwitz in his 1835 book on Israeli holy sites Love of
Jerusalem[18] discusses the oral tradition that the tomb houses Ruth's grave as
well as Jesse's, who is mentioned in earlier writings. Menachem Mendel of
Kamenitz[19] wrote in 1839, "Also in the vineyard was a shelter with two
graves: one of Jesse, father of David, and one of Ruth, the Moabite."[20]
Cultural influence
Ruth is one of the Five Heroines of the Order of the
Eastern Star.
Ruth was played by Elana Eden in Henry Koster's The Story
of Ruth (1960); the film depicts Ruth as a pagan priestess prior to her
religious conversion.[21] Sherry Morris portrayed her in The Book of Ruth:
Journey of Faith (2009).[22]
In English literature, John Keats in "Ode to a
Nightingale" references Ruth as isolated and grief-stricken when laboring
in exile: "Perhaps the self-same song that found a path/Through the sad
heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,/She stood in tears amid the alien
corn;"[23]
Genealogy: the descent of David from Ruth
Elimelech Naomi
Boaz Ruth Mahlon Orpah Chilion
Obed
Jesse
David