A few weeks ago, I finished studying the Old Testament book of Ruth with She Reads Truth. (This link will take you to the first day of the study if you are interested.)
I have some thoughts swirling in my head and I need to get them down on paper so I can move on.
Anyone else know what I mean? Sometimes I just don’t know what I think about something until I get it down on paper.
If you aren’t familiar with the story or aren’t a Bible reader, I invite you to go to this link and read this short book in The Message. It’s a great love story that lends itself to much reading between the lines. I have to admit that I’m a little annoyed that more details weren’t included in the story. I want to know….
Who had the idea in the first place to take this nice hungry Jewish family to Moab? I thought the Israelites were warned against association with such people. Was it Naomi’s idea or her husbands?
What was the reaction when their two sons married Moabites….a big no-no? I can imagine major parental heartbreak over this turn of events. And maybe some finger-pointing of blame. “Why did we come here?”
How did the husband and two boys die?
Were the boys married very long? If so, how unusual that neither had any children. After all, there was no birth control pill back then.
What kind of relationship did Orpah and Ruth, the daughters-in-law, have with their own parents? Surely, Ruth’s wasn’t all that great if she said to her mother-in-law, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”
Sometimes we hear that verse quoted in a wedding ceremony and they are lovely words, for sure. But Ruth didn’t say them to her husband. She said them to her MOTHER- IN- LAW.
Huh? Most girls wouldn’t choose their mother-in-law over their own mother. There is a huge backstory here, and I want to know it.
I have questions, people.
Some think that Naomi had such a strong faith in God that her daughters-in-law were drawn to her because of that faith. I’m not seeing that. For Pete’s sake, Naomi urged the girls to stay in Moab with their own people and their own gods. If she had such strong faith, how could she encourage the girls to worship gods that weren’t God at all?
But, Ruth persisted and traipsed behind Naomi all the way back to Bethlehem where I’m sure they endured being the object of much gossiping and curious glances and lifted eyebrows.
And that’s when things really begin to get interesting. In those days, women were considered second class citizens and NEEDED a man in order to survive. The girls were probably hungry and things had to change.
I don’t know if Naomi consciously began to develop a scheme for getting Ruth a man, or if it just happened innocently, but before we know it, Ruth is lying at the feet of Boaz at the threshing floor.
I’ve only watched an occasional episode of The Bachelorette, but this sure seems like a hot tub scene to me!
I just have to ask. Was Ruth the original bachelorette?
Thankfully for all of us, the story truly had a happily ever after ending. Boaz had already noticed Ruth (wink, wink) and taken steps to care for her and Naomi, who had a family connection to him.
Boaz was a kind and honorable and wealthy manly man. So even after a big meal celebrating the end of harvest with the other men of the town that probably included an alcoholic beverage or two, he didn’t take advantage of Ruth when he found her lying near him.
Instead, it was obvious that he truly cared for her! When she boldly asked him to claim his right to marry her (I know. So many unusual-to-us customs.) Boaz was all fluttery and flattered, complementing her and telling her she could have had her pick of the younger men. The Message paraphrase says he called her “A Real Prize”. After paying attention to a few details of the day, they marry.
Sooooo sweet. I love a good love story but this one continues to go on and on and on.
If you look at the linage of Christ, Ruth is right there. Boaz and Ruth have a son who has a son who has a son who has a son…..who has a son named David, who became King of Israel. And it continues all the way to Mary and Joseph and Christ.
Boaz saved Ruth and Naomi by his mercy and love. And Jesus saves you and me the same way.
Beautiful.
I just love this about God. He takes our cockamamie ideas and mistakes and boo boo’s and works them out for our good.
I don’t know how many of the relationships from The Bachelorette actually end in long-term marriages, but the marriage of the original bachelorette lasted.
Ruth got a husband. Naomi got a grandson. We got a Savior.
And I am so glad. Aren’t you?
P.S. In case you haven’t noticed, I am no theologian. If you have some light to shed on this story or just a comment or observation, please share them with us!
Thank you for giving me hours of enjoyment! Your blogs are interesting, beautiful and exciting.
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I enjoyed reading your post and thought I would interject a couple of thoughts.
Your first question, you kind of answered it yourself. Not unlike Jacob, who sent his children in search of food during a time of famine, this family, would have most likely died had they not gone elsewhere to find food. Though God had warned Israel not to mix with the other nations, the fact that they were in a famine shows that they were not in a season of God's favor. Because of their rebellion against God, they were in a period of just judgment. We are told in the narrative that this is during the time of the Judges, when we know God's people are idolatrous and disobedient, and so God was right to punish them accordingly.
Moreover, since God is Sovereign, even their decision to go to Moab was under His providential hand. I find it amazing that our beloved Savior is a descendant of a Moab (a gentile nation), which really points to how even we can find salvation in Him.
We are not told whose idea it was to go, and any guess would be mere speculation, but we do know that ultimately, it is God's idea, since He is Sovereign over all.
As they had moved to Moab, it's most likely that there were no alternatives to marrying Moabites, albeit in disobedience to God. It's not like God was saying in the circumstances it is ok to sin, but rather, in spite of their sin, He had mercy on them and provided for them. I wonder whether the fact that they remained childless was brought on by God's judgment for their disobedience for marrying foreign women. Either way, it was providential, since both men died, and the women would have had to remarry Moab men, in order to survive. But because they were childless, they were free to go with Naomi.
Again, we don't know how long they were married, but we do know that Ruth was young (2:6) which kind of indicates that it probably wasn't a very long time. Another point is that Naomi longs to go back to Bethlehem, probably as soon as the famine had ended. This might be an indicator to say that they were in Moab long enough for the famine to pass, but of course we do not know the age of the two boys when they went. Anything beyond that is merely guesswork.
Likewise, Ruth's relationship with her own family, is one of silence. We don't know whether it was good or not, but the most likely reason for Ruth not going to her own family is because she had now placed her trust in YHWH (since marrying the Hebrew men) and her own family would have been idolaters. This means, she took her adoption into God's family more seriously than she did her own blood family. This is a virtue worthy of praise. Many Christians often fall short on this point.
This was really interesting and I'm going to put a link to it on my blog. Hope you don't mind. All the questions you asked made me want to know more too. Interesting since I've read this so many times.
I love the book of Ruth, and being the young, single I am, I've been through many Bible studies on it, so I think I might go see what She Reads Truth have been talking about with it soon =)
One of the other comments talked about how Ruth was relatively young–which is true. Theologians come to that conclusion because Naomi encourages her two daughter in-laws to go home to their parents in hopes of being able to remarry again, which means that they couldn't have been that old or married to her own sons for very long.
I also think that Ruth at some point of living with her new family would've come to solid faith in the God of Israel as well. Moab actually had a religious system with some rather twisted and sick beliefs. I can hardly imagine that if she was a believer in God that she'd ever want to return to that.
I love how Ruth gets a spot in Jesus lineage, because this marriage is an inter-racial marriage, and would've been frowned upon greatly by onlookers in Bethlehem, and yet God does use it greatly! And this is just a side note, but if you take out a couple of your "who has a sons" we do indeed get David, and thus our Savior! =) Boaz to Obed to Jessi to David–it'd just four short generations. (And probably a sign I know the story a little too well to remember that… lol)
Just last week our church did a whole sermon on Ruth! Maybe you'll find some of it interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqs_QpqL6sc&index=16&list=WL
It is wonderful indeed how God works everything for our good. I also like how you liken Ruth to the original bachelorette – clever. I am not a watcher of the show either. The commercials have enough drama for me : )
What fascinates me about this story is that Ruth told Naomi to go and lie at his feet. Hilarious! My mama wouldn't let a boy in my room much less sit on my bed. To lie on my bed with me there would have been hell and damnation.
encouraging blog …i found you thrue other bloggers…blessings