Torah for Christians: The Book of Ruth

TORAH FOR CHRISTIANS

SEASON THREE    EPISODE TWENTY-ONE

THE BOOK OF RUTH

          “Your people shall be my people; your God, my God.”

          The Book of Ruth is one of the most beautiful stories in the entire Hebrew Bible. A story of devotion, of love and of ultimate redemption, Jews and Christians alike revere its simplicity and theme of selfless love.

          But of course, several things are not so obvious here. The Book of Ruth, aside from being one of the great pastoral tales of all time, also foretells many of the great themes of Judaism and Christianity alike. Without Ruth, our faiths would be far different.

          Let’s get started. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.

MUSIC

          Welcome to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr.

          I adore the Book of Ruth. Its four chapters tell a narrative that has withstood the test of time. In this episode, we will discuss first why I am talking about Ruth at all, then how some important Biblical laws were practiced, and finally, the ancestry and descendants of Ruth and Boaz and why they are so important.

          As I’ve mentioned on earlier podcasts, Jews read five Megillot, Biblical books that each fit on one wooden roller, during certain holy days: Lamentations on the 9th of Av, Ecclesiastes on Sukkot, Esther on Purim, Song of Songs on Pesach and Ruth on Shavuot, a holiday we covered in last week’s podcast. 

Aside from Lamentations and Esther, which have obvious connections to their holidays, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs do not have clear connections – but perhaps it just became customary to read them at these times. Since Ruth and Naomi’s return to Judah takes place during the harvest season, this may be why we read this book during this harvest festival.

          When we look closer at the Book of Ruth, we see several Levitical laws at play. First though, let’s set the stage. In Chapter One, verse one, Naomi and Elimelech were a couple from Bethlehem, note the location, who went to live in Moab, for reasons not disclosed. They had two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, who accompanied them. Elimelech died so Naomi was left alone with her sons. Mahlon and Chilion married two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. After living in Moab for about 10 years, both Mahlon and Chilion died without fathering children.

          Naomi was left alone with her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi had to return to Judah so that she could be under the protection of her kinsmen, as custom dictated. Before she returned to Bethlehem, however, she told Orpah and Ruth to return to their family homes so that their Moabite families could care for them. 

        Ruth and Orpah protested; they wanted to remain with Naomi. Naomi’s response though was on the surface quite perplexing. In verse 11, she said, “Have I any more sons who could become your husbands?” This is the first law that we confront, called Levirate marriage. There is a peculiar law in Deut. 25.5-6 that says that if a husband dies childless, his widow must marry the brother next in line. If they have a son, they must name that son after the deceased brother so that “his name be not blotted out in Israel.” Should he refuse, there is a ritual called Halitzah, whereby the widow removes the sandal of the brother in question and then spits on the ground, releasing him from the obligation in a most humiliating fashion.

          Levirate marriage was important in Biblical times as it protected widows physically and financially. Today, it has fallen out of favor and is quite rare in the Jewish world. In our story, Naomi was telling Ruth and Orpah that she had no additional sons who could be a Levir, a suitable husband for either of them. Furthermore, Jewish law stated that any son born to Naomi after the deaths of these brothers was exempt from this obligation. Thus, their safety lay in returning to their families. Orpah went home but Ruth committed herself to Naomi. “Your people shall be my people, your God my god.”

          After this reference to Levirate marriage, we come to the second halachic question that the Book of Ruth poses: Did Ruth convert? Rabbinic sources all allege that she did. But I’m not so sure, mainly because there is no provision in Biblical law for someone to do so. Tribal identity was paramount in Biblical times and while one could live amongst another ethnic group, he or she was not expected to worship that God or gods, nor be a full member of that society.

 While Ruth may have thrown her fate in with Naomi and the Tribe of Judah, she could not become a member of the Tribe. It was only in Rabbinic times that conversion to Judaism became possible. The Biblical word ger, which means stranger, morphed in Rabbinic times to mean convert. Rabbis inserted this new meaning of the word back into the Bible and came up with the idea that Ruth converted. 

Yet, nobody ever converted in the Hebrew Bible, not even Ruth. Ruth simply showed her devotion to Naomi and even though she vowed to worship Naomi’s god, she could never be a full member of the community; she would always be a ger v’toshav, a resident alien among Jews, not a convert.

          This brings us to Chapter Two, Ruth’s first encounter with Boaz, Elimelech’s kinsman. You remember Elimelech, Naomi’s deceased husband. Here is his connection to the story.

          Ruth is gleaning in Boaz’s field when Boaz spots her. Here, we see another law in practice, one from Lev. 19.9 which states, “When you reap the harvest of your field, you shall not fully reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.” The next verse ends by saying, “You shall leave them for the poor and the ger, the stranger. I am Adonai, your God.” Here, ger clearly means stranger, not convert.

          Boaz was fulfilling a mitzvah when he instructed his workers to allow Ruth to glean from his fields; she had the right to collect the wheat and barley that had fallen to the ground. In fact, Boaz gave her preferential treatment, initially out of respect to Elimelech and Naomi but increasingly, because he was clearly attracted to her.

          Now we come to the infamous Chapter 3, where biblical euphemisms abound. At the start of the chapter, Naomi realizes that Ruth needs a husband to care for her and to protect her – and possibly even to father children with her. They then hatch a plot that was sure to get Boaz’s attention. 

          While Boaz and his workers were busy on the threshing room floor, Ruth put on her best clothes and even wore some perfume. Then she went to the threshing room floor and, as the text tells us, uncovered the sleeping Boaz’s feet in the middle of the night. Boaz woke up and suddenly realized that this might be an embarrassing situation. He hustled Ruth out before sunrise but not before he filled her shawl with six measures of grain.

          We can only infer what the text is really telling us. Uncovering one’s feet is a euphemism for sex. Ruth snuck onto the threshing room floor and lay down next to Boaz. When Boaz woke up in the middle of the night, he found the woman of his dreams cuddled up with him. Not wishing to embarrass her or himself, for that matter, he got her out of there as fast as he could. Did they have sex? The text does not tell us; you are free to infer.

          But Boaz had a problem. He was in love with Ruth but there was another kinsman with a greater claim on her and on Elimelech’s property. Boaz had to seek his permission to marry her and acquire the land. He did gain his permission in Chapter 4; he purchased Elimelech’s land and so acquired Ruth. Ruth and Boaz married and, as they say, lived happily ever after. Ruth even bore him a son, whom they named Oved.

          But there is more to the story, something incredibly important. But we’ll talk about it after the break. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians. 

BREAK

          Welcome back to Torah for Christians. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr. Before we return to our discussion of the Book of Ruth, I want to thank you for listening to this podcast. Please remember to review and rate this episode on Apple, Spotify, or whatever service you are using. Also, please go back and listen to previous episodes if you have not done so already. A transcript is also available on our Buzzsprout feed. And now, this and many previous episodes are available on our brand-new YouTube channel. And if you would like to read my weekly Torah Study, please go to Bible Stories They (Never) Taught You in Religious School, available for free on www.Substack.com. I have also started another Substack page called Wednesday Torah, where I share random thoughts on the Jewish experience. Please subscribe to both.

          In Chapter Four, verses 11-12, we read a strange passage. As the people of Bethlehem were praising Boaz after he acquired both Elimelech’s property and Ruth, they said, “May Adonai make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring Adonai gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.”

          Now, why would they bring up the story of Judah and Tamar? In brief, this too is a story about Levirate marriage. Tamar had married Er, Judah’s oldest son, who died before fathering a child. Then, she married the next son, Onan, who ejaculated onto the ground rather than have sex with Tamar. For that, God killed him. There was a third son, Shelach, who was not yet of age. Tamar agreed to return to her father’s house until he matured; then she would marry him. But when Shelach came of age, Judah reneged.

          To get her revenge, Tamar disguised herself as a harlot and seduced Judah. She became pregnant and when Judah found out, he demanded that the man who impregnated her be found and killed since the pregnant Tamar could no longer marry Shelach. Tamar then produced Judah’s belt to prove that Judah was the father.

          Oops. Tamar and Judah’s child was Peretz. Peretz was the direct ancestor of Boaz. So, when the town proclaimed that the child should be as great as Peretz, they really meant that the child should be as great as Judah. 

          Let’s also look at Ruth’s ancestry. As we know, Ruth was a Moabitess. First and foremost, Boaz marrying her was a violation of Biblical law, as Moab did not extend hospitality to Moses and the Israelites during the 40 years of wandering. This shows that sometimes, law and narrative diverge in the Hebrew Bible.

          But who was Moab? For that answer, we must go back all the way to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. We recall that as Lot, his wife and two daughters fled Sodom just prior to its destruction, Lot’s wife turned looked back and was famously turned into a pillar of salt. But what happened to the others?

          Lot and his two daughters hid in a cave in Zoar. The daughters, fearing that they and their father were the last humans alive on earth, decided to seduce their father. They got him drunk and on successive nights, slept with him. One daughter became pregnant and gave birth to a boy named Ammon, the namesake of the Ammonites. 

The other daughter became pregnant and gave birth to a boy named, you guessed it, Moab. Ruth’s ancestral origin then was via incest. Perhaps this was another reason the Torah banned marriage between Israel and Moab.

          Now let’s set the stage for the finale. Boaz is a descendent of Judah and Tamar, not quite incest but still, the Torah does not allow a man to have sex with his daughter-in-law, even if his son is dead. But they did and we eventually get Boaz. Lot’s daughter incests him and gives birth to Moab. Ruth is also a descendent of a forbidden relationship as well. 

          The author of this story, though, has no problems with this. Instead, the author doubles down and draws an amazing conclusion. Remember Oved, the son of Ruth and Boaz? The Book of Ruth states that he was the father of Jesse, who in turn was the father of David. That’s right, David’s great-grandparents are Ruth and Boaz, the descendants of forbidden relationships. Yet, David becomes king and, of course, is also the ancestor of the Messiah. 

          The Gospel of Matthew takes this one step further in Christian tradition. He quotes the end of Ruth, which listed this genealogy and shows how Jesus is the descendent of Ruth and Boaz, through King David. Of course, Matthew is trying to prove to the Jews of his day that Jesus is the true halachic Messiah. We can also infer that when Ruth was written, well before Matthew by the way, its author was trying to prove to the Jews of his day that Ruth and Boaz were the ancestors of the eventual Messiah. He didn’t mention Joseph, the father of Jesus, of course but Matthew took this one step further. This, by the way, is why Christians place the Book of Ruth among the Prophets, following Judges and before Samuel, where the story of King David is located. Jews place Ruth in the Writings, among the Megillot and following Psalms, Proverbs and Job. To Christians, Ruth is a prophecy; to Jews, Ruth is a genealogy.

I want to thank you for listening to Torah for Christians. Please remember to rate and review this, and previous episodes on Apple, Spotify, or other streaming services. You can also like us on Facebook and now, you can subscribe to the podcast on Youtube and read a transcript on Buzzsprout.

We are going to take a week off so that we can bring you some exciting new features. We’re finally building a website and when we return, hopefully in two weeks, there will also be additional resources for you to explore and even purchase. Stay tuned.

Finally, I have begun to publish a weekly Torah Study, called Bible Stories They Never Taught You in Religious School. It’s available for free on www.substack.com. You can also sign up on Substack for the newsletter to appear every Friday in your Inbox. You can also find my new column, Wednesday Torah there, where I offer weekly musings about life, the universe and everything.

          Have a wonderful week and remember; Hinei Mah Tov … L’hitra’ot, till we meet again. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.