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zeborahThere is a famine in Bethlehem. Naomi (Ruth 1:1 - 4:17), her husband, and her two sons emigrate to Moab where the streets are paved with gold. Her husband dies and her sons marry local girls named Orpah and Ruth (who I'll write about individually later). Then her sons die too, leaving her alone with her daughters-in-law: no income, no protection, and no descendants.
Then she hears that the famine in her hometown is over. She sets off for home, telling her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab where they can marry again. (She considers herself too old to marry, certainly too old to have any more sons.) Orpah stays, but Ruth insists on coming with her back to Bethlehem.
The women in Bethlehem are excited to see Naomi again: "Can this be Naomi?" Naomi isn't so excited: her name means 'pleasant', and she says, "Don't call me that -- call me Mara ('bitter') because I've lost everything I had."
Naomi has a relative in Bethlehem, one of her "kinsman-redeemers", Boaz. (Tradition was, if a man died then his wife married the closest kinsman available, and their children (or possibly just the first-born?) are considered the children of the dead man and inherit his estate.) She doesn't seem to think to mention this to Ruth until after Ruth, picking up trash barley from behind the harvesters, happens to work in Boaz' field one day and he is kind to her. Once Ruth tells her about this, however, she tells Ruth to keep working there: not just because he's letting her take extra grain home, but because in someone else's fields she mightn't be safe. (She didn't seem to mention this danger to Ruth before sending her out in the first place. But then they didn't really have any choice so why worry the girl?)
A little after this, Naomi starts plotting: "Should I not try to find a home for you?" she asks her daughter-in-law. She tells Ruth to pretty herself up, go to Boaz' place, and when he goes to bed, lift up the covers at his feet and lie down there -- Boaz will know what to do then...
All goes well. Boaz marries Ruth, they have a son, and as the women of the town congratulate Naomi on her good fortune, she "took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him."
--I wrote this a while ago but as I came to post it I noticed an interesting parallel going on in the 'kinsman-redeemer' thing.
With Naomi's husband dead and unable to produce any more heirs, the 'kinsman-redeemer' enters the scene. But Naomi is unable to produce any more heirs either -- and so Ruth enters the scene, to become a kind of 'kinswoman-redeemer'. The child that is born is only related to Naomi by marriage, but she takes him into her lap as if he were her own child.
Then she hears that the famine in her hometown is over. She sets off for home, telling her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab where they can marry again. (She considers herself too old to marry, certainly too old to have any more sons.) Orpah stays, but Ruth insists on coming with her back to Bethlehem.
The women in Bethlehem are excited to see Naomi again: "Can this be Naomi?" Naomi isn't so excited: her name means 'pleasant', and she says, "Don't call me that -- call me Mara ('bitter') because I've lost everything I had."
Naomi has a relative in Bethlehem, one of her "kinsman-redeemers", Boaz. (Tradition was, if a man died then his wife married the closest kinsman available, and their children (or possibly just the first-born?) are considered the children of the dead man and inherit his estate.) She doesn't seem to think to mention this to Ruth until after Ruth, picking up trash barley from behind the harvesters, happens to work in Boaz' field one day and he is kind to her. Once Ruth tells her about this, however, she tells Ruth to keep working there: not just because he's letting her take extra grain home, but because in someone else's fields she mightn't be safe. (She didn't seem to mention this danger to Ruth before sending her out in the first place. But then they didn't really have any choice so why worry the girl?)
A little after this, Naomi starts plotting: "Should I not try to find a home for you?" she asks her daughter-in-law. She tells Ruth to pretty herself up, go to Boaz' place, and when he goes to bed, lift up the covers at his feet and lie down there -- Boaz will know what to do then...
All goes well. Boaz marries Ruth, they have a son, and as the women of the town congratulate Naomi on her good fortune, she "took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him."
--I wrote this a while ago but as I came to post it I noticed an interesting parallel going on in the 'kinsman-redeemer' thing.
With Naomi's husband dead and unable to produce any more heirs, the 'kinsman-redeemer' enters the scene. But Naomi is unable to produce any more heirs either -- and so Ruth enters the scene, to become a kind of 'kinswoman-redeemer'. The child that is born is only related to Naomi by marriage, but she takes him into her lap as if he were her own child.
