References (13)
The sons married women from Moab. One was named Orpah [meaning ”gazelle”, derived from the Hebrew word for ”neck” and ”stiff-necked”, she married Chilion] and the other was named Ruth [which means ”friendship”, married Mahlon, see ]. They lived there for about 10 years.
Then they burst into tears again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye [and went back], but Ruth stayed close (close, literally ”clung to, was glued to”) to Naomi.
[The Book of Ruth is used as a template when someone wants to convert to Judaism. Some rabbis reject the convert several times to test the authenticity of the decision. There are also parallels with how Jesus urges those who want to become his disciple to calculate the cost, see . Interestingly, the meaning of Orpah’s name comes from the word for neck (Heb. oref) and can be associated with being stiff-necked. Some people also associate the word with gazelle/deer and can then describe someone who is easily frightened and runs away. Stiff-necked is an expression that recurs when God describes those who are rebellious against him, see .]
But Ruth answered:
Don’t try to persuade me to abandon you,
to turn back, away from you!
For where you go, I go,
and where you lodge (stay a night – Hebr. lon), I lodge.
Your people will be my people,
and your God (Elohim) my God (Elohim).
So Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth the Moabite, returned from the land of Moab. They came to Bethlehem when the barley harvest started [in the spring, around the month of April.]
[Although wheat was more desirable than barley, barley was an important grain because it was more durable and grew in places too dry for other grains. Its early harvest made it an important part of the food supply while waiting for other crops to mature. The barley harvest is the first harvest of the year. It takes place in April, which means that the bulk of Ruth’s story takes place in early spring.]
One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, ”Let me go out into the harvest field. Perhaps someone will be kind enough (give me grace) and let me pick ears of grain.” [According to Moses’ teaching, landowners were to let the poor, widows and fatherless share in the surplus of the harvest, see ; ; .]
She said, ”Go, my daughter.”
Then Boaz said to Ruth, ”My dear daughter! [A warm and welcoming phrase to the stranger Ruth.] Don’t go off to glean in some other field, stay in this field and stay here with the women workers.
The Moabite woman Ruth said: ”He also told me to stay close to his workers until the entire harvest is gathered.”
Naomi said to her son’s wife, ”Yes, it is good, my daughter, that you are with his female workers. If you work in any other harvest field, someone may harm (molest) you.”
He asked, ”Who are you?”
She replied, ”I am Ruth, your maidservant. Spread your mantle (wing - Hebrew kanap) over your handmaid [marry me, see Ezekiel 16:8], for you are my redeemer.”
[Here Ruth uses the term amah for handmaid, the word has a higher rank than shifkhah, the word Ruth uses for herself in . When Naomi now sends her to Boaz to inquire about marriage, she is aware of Boaz’s responsibility as a close relative of her deceased husband. She challenges him to fulfill his obligation. Like all Jews, Boaz wore tassels on the four corners of his outer robe. The tassels (Hebrew: tsitsit) were always visible as a reminder of the 613 commandments of the Torah, see Num. 15:38-39. The horned tassel is also a symbol of power and authority, see ; . The same word for mantle flap (Hebr. kanap) is used in where it says that ”the sun of righteousness”, referring to the coming Messiah, ”will rise with healing under his wings”.
This verse is one of the dramatic highlights of the book. Will Boaz accept or reject her? The next verse is reassuring, the blessing he prays is similar to the one Naomi prayed over him earlier, see .]
Then Boaz explained [that the situation is complex and there are more commitments]: ”The day you acquire the field from Naomi, you must also acquire [marry] Ruth the Moabite, the wife of our dead relative. [It is then your responsibility to ensure that she has children.] This is so that her deceased husband’s name (honor, memory) will be preserved in the inheritance.”
[The last expression is a quote from Deut. 25:7 which speaks precisely of levirate marriage. Technically, however, there is nothing in this statute that forced either Boaz or the nearest unnamed redeemer to marry Ruth. However, the situation revealed the redeemer’s motives and heart. Again, grace (Heb. chesed) is described. Boaz was prepared to take a step in love, further than the regulations required. The question is whether the nearest redeemer was willing to do so.]
I have also acquired (taken responsibility for) Ruth, the woman from Moab who was married to Machlon. She will be my wife. I am doing this so that her deceased husband’s inheritance will remain in the family, so that his name will be remembered among his relatives and at the gate of his city. You are all here today as witnesses to this.”
Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. He went in to her, and the Lord (Yahweh) allowed her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son.
Salmon begot Boaz, whose mother was Rahab
(Gk. Rachav) [a pagan who welcomed the Israeli spies in Jericho, see ],
Boaz begot Obed, whose mother was
Ruth [a Moabite who accompanied her mother-in-law Naomi back to Judah, see ],
Obed begot Jesse
(Isaiah),
