Well, That Was Easy

Ruth Chapters 1 thru 4

The Book of Ruth is the story of…well…Ruth, who is a Moabite woman who travels to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi’s husband and her two sons died, leaving her without a man to support her so she was returning home, and he urged her daughter-in-law to return to their homes as well, but only Orpah did. Ruth stayed with Naomi and went to the fields to collect the barley that fell from bundles. Also, she went to meet Boaz, a close relative of Naomi’s husband, who was also rich.

⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. ⁹Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”

Brettler, Marc; Newsom, Carol; Perkins, Pheme. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version (p. 400). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

Boaz seemed to like her because of what she was doing for her mother-in-law, and told his servants to let her take however much grain she needed. He invited her to eat with him and the reapers. When she returned to the field, Boaz instructed the reapers to allow her to take what she needed and also let a little extra fall to the ground.

This is showing the practice of Levitical law when comes to gleaning (picking up the fallen wheat). Remember that in the law it states that whatever falls to the ground will not be picked except by the needy and foreigner. Some other laws are going to come into play in this story, including the next of kin marrying the widow.

Naomi tells her to go down to the threshing floor and wait for him to fall asleep and lie at his feet without anyone else seeing her. According to the annotation, “feet” is euphemism for genitals, but nothing explicit happened between them. This was a play for Boaz, but because he is not the closest kin, he has to do some wheeling and dealing.

Boaz meets with the elders and the next-of-kin and tells him that Naomi has returned and has a parcel of land that belonged to their kinsmen, the next-of-kin who is unnamed says that he will redeem it, but Boaz springs the surprise on him…it comes with Ruth. Well, the other man says that if he does redeem it now, it will affect his inheritance negatively.

⁷Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one took off a sandal and gave it to the other; this was the manner of attesting in Israel. ⁸So when the next‐of‐kin said to Boaz, “Acquire it for yourself,” he took off his sandal. ⁹Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have acquired from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon.

Brettler, Marc; Newsom, Carol; Perkins, Pheme. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version (p. 402). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.

I wonder if the person who gave up their sandal will get it back eventually? If not, his feet are going to suffer in the desert sun.

So anyway, Boaz and Ruth are married in the way people are often married in the Old Testament (she goes into his house and…bada bing…married). She gives birth to Obed, who will be the father of Jesse, who will be the father of David (yes, that David).

That’s the whole book of Ruth, short and to the point. I have more thoughts about it, but that will have to wait for Thursday.