This morning I want to
reflect on our 1st reading (Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17), the story of
Naomi, Ruth and Boaz.
First let’s remind ourselves who these three characters are.
Naomi and her husband, with their two sons, had left their home in
Bethlehem years before for the land of Moab to escape a famine – they were
refugees. Naomi’s husband died there, and then her two sons who had married
Moabite women died as well. Naomi had lost her whole family. And she decided to
go back to her home place, Bethlehem. But Ruth, one of her daughters-in-law and
a Moabite foreigner, insisted on going with her. She said, ‘Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I
will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God’.
Ruth must have loved Naomi very much.
It was the time of the barley harvest when Naomi and Ruth got to
Bethlehem. It was a Jewish tradition to leave the corn in the corners of the
fields to be harvested by the poor – this was called gleaning. Ruth went out
into the fields to glean to support both of them. There she met Boaz, the owner
of a field, who was a relative of Naomi’s late husband – that’s important as we
shall see. Boaz had heard about all that Ruth was doing to support Naomi, and
praised her for it. And because he was a kind man, he made sure that Ruth was
able to glean enough for two of them without being harassed. This is where
today’s reading begins.
I
found the reading rather odd when I first looked at it – perhaps you did too.
It sounds almost as if Naomi puts Ruth up
to seducing Boaz, tricking him into marrying her! But that is only because the
reading jumps from ch3 v5 to ch4 v13 - for some reason the good compilers of
the lectionary have missed out an important piece of the story.
To understand what really happened we need
to understand a Jewish tradition, called ‘levirate marriage’. In this case, if
a married man died without leaving children, his next of kin - his brother or
another close relative - could choose to marry his widow, and this was seen as
a good and righteous thing to do. It kept the property in the family, it ensured
the future of the widow, and any children of the marriage would be treated as
children of the dead husband.
No doubt Naomi could see how Boaz was
attracted to Ruth. So she sends Ruth to ask Boaz if he would marry her in this
way, to provide her with security. Ruth uncovers his feet and lies down beside
him, and when Boaz wakes she says to him, ‘Spread your coat over your servant, for you are next of
kin’. She is seeking his protection. And Boaz wants to marry her, but
he tells Ruth that there is another, closer relative who should have the first
refusal - if that man does not wish to marry her, he will. And he is careful to
guard her reputation and sends her away with a present.
Boaz is entirely honourable by the
standards of his society - and he’s as good as his word. The next day he goes
to talk to the closer relative in front of the elders. He establishes that the
closer relative does not want to marry Ruth – in fact he persuades him that he
shouldn’t. And then Boaz says to the elders, ‘Today you are witnesses that I have
acquired from Naomi all that belonged to (her husband and sons). I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite … to be my wife,
to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance’.
In this way Ruth becomes Boaz’s wife, and
with Naomi they live happily ever after. Their son whom Naomi nurses is the
grandfather of King David, and an ancestor of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
his earthly father Joseph.
It’s
a charming story. But why should it have been included in our Bible, and why
should we still read it in churches today?
I suggest it is because this very human tale
illustrates how God works in individual human lives.
Naomi and Ruth had suffered terrible blows.
Naomi had lost her husband and two sons. Ruth had lost her husband. Suddenly
they had become impoverished widows dependent on charity. It must have seemed
as if the very heavens had fallen in on them.
It would have been so easy for them to give
in to depression, to become bitter and angry. But they didn’t. Instead they make
the best of their situation, showing their love for each other.
And then good things start to happen. They
meet a good man, Boaz, who is attracted by the love they show each other. He wants
to help them and sees how he can do so. New life and hope comes into all their
lives. They are offered a second chance of happiness. And they take it.
This, surely, is how God will work in our
lives, if God forbid dreadful things happen to us. If we hold on to what is
good and true and beautiful, even when it seems we have been abandoned, even
when we find ourselves in the depths of depression, then suddenly we will
notice good things starting to happen. Our spirits will rise and we will start
to discern new life and happiness.
I have had my own dealings with loss and depression,
and this has been my own experience. The story of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz is a
message of hope to hold on to in the most difficult of times.
This is redemption - God redeeming us. This
is God acting like our loving Father. In the words of the Benedictus, sung in
the temple by Zechariah,
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
For he hath visited and redeemed
his people,
And hath raised up a mighty
salvation for us
In the house of his servant David
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