Ordinary Time Week 24

Psalm: Psalm 127 or Psalm 146

Old Testament: Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

 or 1 Kings 17:8-16

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

Epistle: Hebrews 9:24-28

This week I feel like we have to discuss the story of Ruth. The Lectionary covers the whole book in week 2, but last week we used the readings for All Saints’ Day so we didn’t read or discuss this particular section. Ruth is the great-grandmother of King David and I think that is the primary reason why this story is told and included in the Hebrew Bible. But we can also wonder what other issues the author was trying to explore in telling this story.

The biggest issue for Ruth and the structure that provides the drama for the narrative is that Ruth is a Moabite. The Moabites were the enemy of Israel and in Deuteronomy we find that a Moabite cannot enter into the assembly of the Lord to the tenth generation (23:4). The drama is set for the story from the very first verse of Ruth when Elimelech went to Moab to escape a famine in the land. The drama is heightened when Elimelech and his two sons both died in the land of Moab and Naomi was left in a foreign land with no one to able to care for her. The irony is that Naomi means “pleasant” or “delightful” when her life to this point has been anything but. In fact, when she returned home to Bethlehem she said, you call me Naomi, but you should call me Mara--"bitterness." (1:20) She even blames her trials on the “Almighty.”

So, as I mentioned, Naomi returned to her homeland because she had no future in Moab whereas Orpah, her Moabite daughter-in-law, decided to stay in Moab. Ruth, however, decided to return to Israel with Naomi. She spoke these powerful words of loyalty to her mother-in-law:

Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for 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 I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me. (1:16-17)

These words are important to Ruth's story as the ancestor of David, but also in terms of Ruth’s acceptance into the people of Israel.

I encourage you to read all 4 chapters of Ruth; it is a relatively short book and the narrative is easy to follow. The one thing I will point out is that Boaz is called a “kinsmen-redeemer.” The word is גָּאַל (ga-al or go-el) in Hebrew and it is repeated throughout the book to describe Boaz and another of Naomi’s kin. It was the role of the kinsmen-redeemer to avenge “a kinsman’s blood and the redemption of his person and property from seizure or forced sale.” (Abingdon Bible Commentary, 378) It was also the role of the closest living relative to assume the role of the husband if a married man died without heirs. We see that playing out in chapters 3 and 4 of Ruth where Boaz will not agree to marry Ruth until he first ensured the closest living relative would give up his right.

The idea of the kinsmen-redeemer is picked up in later Jewish thought and applied to the Lord and his relationship to Israel. The later half of Isaiah particularly picks up on this usage (for example, see 41:14, 49:7, 47:4, and 63;16 where in each case the word is translated as “redeemer.”). The Lord redeems his people when they have no other hope. In this sense, the people of Israel become like Naomi and even the Moabite Ruth in their dependence.

The providence and agency of God is not taught directly in Ruth and he doesn’t have a large role in the narrative. Yet both Ruth in her loyalty to Naomi, Boaz in his redemption role and the two of them together in their role in the line of King David present crucial foreshadowing the story of Salvation. We are to be loyal to God and God is loyal. God is the Redeemer of Israel of all of those adopted into his family. Finally, as David was descended from a Moabite, and through him Jesus as well, God in Christ has extended his family to include all people.

I recently heard a series of sermons dealing with Ruth and other topics, which revolved around the refugee crises happening right now in Europe with the Syrian people flooding into its territory. The speaker placed the refugees in the place of Naomi and Ruth, stuck in famine and desperate for redemption. And the story works on this level as well. When people are oppressed, bitter and defeated, God is there to redeem. There is so much in Ruth for the people of God, and like I said, I encourage you to read it through this week.

May be as loyal to the Lord as Ruth was to Naomi. And may we also pursue our Redeemer as Ruth pursued Boaz.

Grace and Peace.