The Beauty of the Book of Ruth

[ddnoe]

Published in the Bolivar Free Herald


The beauty of the book of Ruth
By Denise Noe

My current adventure in Bible reading has most recently led me to the book of Ruth. I have always found this book to be one of the most sublime, yet in its own way surprising, books of the bible.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this brief yet emotionally powerful story lies in its portrait of loving relations between a mother in law and her daughters in law.

Relations between both fathers in law and mothers in law and either sons in law or daughters in law are notorious in folklore, jokes, and, yes, everyday experience for being fraught with tension. The particular stereotype of the interfering or nagging mother in law may be based on the truth that women, who bear babies and have historically done the bulk of the day-to-day raising of children often have a special problem “letting go” of a child when that child reaches adulthood. Moms can have a kind of rivalry with their sons’ wives. In traditional cultures, of which ancient Hebrew society was certainly one, a daughter in law is frequently under the authority of her mother in law, adding yet another reason for tense, even hostile, relations between them.

However, the book of Ruth shows us the polar opposite sort of relationship between a mother in law and her daughters in law.

The book of Ruth tells of a Hebrew family, father Elimelech, mother Naomi, and sons Nahlon and Chilion, who “sojourn” in the “country of Moab” where both sons marry “women of Moab.” One of these women is Orpah and the other Ruth. First the father and then both of the sons die so that only the mother in law and daughters in law are left.

Naomi decides to return to her own country and people. She tells Orpah and Ruth, “Go, return each to her mother’s house; the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.” Soon Naomi “kissed them; and they lifted up their voice, and wept.” But the daughters in law “said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.”

Let us pause here for the forgoing speaks volumes about the relationship that Naomi has enjoyed with Orpah and Ruth. They have not been at loggerheads nor have been rivals for the affection of Naomi’s sons and the younger women’s late husbands. These relationships have been full of affection and cooperation. Naomi does not see her daughters in laws as usurpers but as those who dealt kindly with both herself and her sons. Orpah and Ruth do not chafe under Naomi’s authority but feel bound to her by ties of tender affection.

Naomi tells the younger women that they must separate from her, asking “are there yet any more sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?”

This simple rhetorical question is important because it represents the attitude that this ancient society had to marriage, seeing it as the natural and normal state for members of both sexes. Thus, Naomi believed Orpah and Ruth would live incomplete lives unless they remarried.

Again the reader is reminded of the strength of affection in the relationship between Naomi and her daughters in law: “And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.”

Orpah is on her way but Ruth must accompany the mother in law she so deeply cherishes. Ruth tells Naomi, “Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: they people shall be my people, and thy God my God” and that nothing “but death [may] part thee and me.”

The late legendary singer Judy Garland, a believer in traditional sex roles, once wrote of the above quote as beautiful because it showed us “woman as follower.” However, what she overlooked was that it was a woman following another woman and not just any other woman but her mother in law. That such a bond of loyalty is depicted in this relationship makes the statement truly poignant.

Naomi and Ruth leave Moab for Bethlehem. There Ruth works in the fields, gleaning ears of corn from the fields owned by the wealthy Boaz. Apparently the ancient Hebrews were not unaware of sexual harassment since the Bible states that Boaz “charged the young men that they shall not touch” Ruth.

Grateful for Boaz’s injunction, Ruth “bowed herself to the ground” and asks him why she has “found grace” with him despite being a foreigner. He replies that he is favorably impressed by the loyalty and love Ruth has shown to her mother in law.

Naomi is told of the kindness Boaz has shown to her kindly daughter in law Ruth so Naomi helpfully plays matchmaker. The plan is successful and Boaz weds Ruth. The baby Ruth bears is considered a “kinsman” to Naomi who becomes the infant’s nurse. A lineage of special Biblical importance is continued as the baby is named Obed and becomes the father of Jesse who is in turn the father of King David, one of the Bible’s most prominent heroes.

The book of Ruth is one of the briefest in the Bible but one of the most lovely in its depiction of familial love and loyalty.

[Kashesan]

I read from the Book of Ruth at my mother's funeral. (her name was Ruth after all!)

kash