For Ruth

Note: Reading the book of Ruth is highly encouraged before reading this post.

There aren't many women remembered for their love and faithfulness to their mother-in-law. In fact, I honestly can't think of anyone other than Ruth.

Ruth is a daughter.

She's a fighter.

She embodies strength.

Yet I've come to see her strength as being extraordinarily gentle.

At the start of our story, Ruth is widowed. She has hopes and dreams about her life that suddenly crash to the ground. She's separated from her family, she's alone in the world, she's economically desolate, she's childless. She has nothing going for her.

So when Naomi starts to journey back to Bethlehem returning to her homeland, the fact that Ruth joins her instead of returning to her traditions and family, choosing to reject the comfort of the familiar, is astonishing.

It's important to note that Ruth is not the only daughter-in-law who started back to Bethlehem with Naomi. Orpah packed up her life and started journeying with Ruth and Naomi. When Naomi begs the women to stay in Moab with their families, Orpah obeyed Naomi's plea. Imagine the conflict in Orpah's mind. Imagine the questions floating through Ruth's head. What would happen if she returned home? Who would teach her more about Naomi's God? Was a God who took her husband and her comfort a God worth worshiping? What would happen to Naomi if she left?

We remember Ruth for her refusal and disobedience. Two words with deeply negative connotations. Ruth refused to enact Naomi's wishes. She refused to leave her side. She insisted on accompanying her mother-in-law because she knew the God of Naomi, she knew the stress a journey from Moab to Bethlehem would have on a woman Naomi's age. I wonder how much her words were stated with confidence and determination solely for the sake of Naomi.

There is little information about Ruth's life before her marriage. She was a Moabitess, which means she would have worshiped a pagan god in her childhood. It is through Naomi, that she learned of God. Naomi is her cornerstone. Her guide into a lifestyle and faith so unfamiliar to her. So when Naomi says she is leaving, Ruth remains steadfast. She forsakes her pagan lifestyle and adopts Naomi's. What a beautiful example of love for a mother, a mentor, a friend.

Ruth time and again is pulled into unexpected moments. She didn't expect her husband to die. She didn't expect to move away from Moab. She didn't expect to glean as the lowest of the low in Israel. Ruth qualifies as three of the four members in the quartet of the vulnerable (foreigner, widow, and poor). In society, she couldn't have been more shunned or unwelcomed. Her economic status drops from comfortable to about as unfortunate as can be.

And then Naomi tells her to go to Boaz. I wonder if this is the most unexpected part of it all. Her husband's mother, asking her to go to a man to whom she wasn't married, at night, and request to be taken under his care.

There is much debate as to what actually took place on that threshing floor that night. I've come to believe that Ruth quite literally uncovered Boaz's feet, allowing the coolness of the air on his feet to wake him. Based on my Hebrew and exegetical studies, this personally makes the most sense to me. (However, it's only fair to state that some believe Ruth slept with Boaz because "uncover his feet" was used as an innuendo for sex.)

When Boaz wakes up, Ruth states "spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family" (Ruth 3:9). In Hebrew, this translates to "spread your wings over me". Wings were a symbol of safety, so Ruth is basically saying, "protect me and Naomi as we are your relatives. Protect us by claiming the land of Naomi's husband, Elimelech, your relative".

From this part of the story until the end, there are two significant transactions that in Jewish custom are made official through gifts. First, Boaz agrees to Naomi's plan and sends Ruth back to Naomi with a gift of wheat, symbolizing that he will recognize the connection between himself and Elimelech and will marry Ruth to further the family line. Second, when Boaz meets with the other relative of Elimelech who is closer in line to the inheritance of Elimelech's property and family, the relative refuses it and gives Boaz his sandal as a symbolic and official way of handing over his rights to Boaz.