Ruth: a story of friendship, loyalty and love

Her name means friendship. She was a generous, loyal and loving woman. Ruth was a woman of unusual love and loyalty. She leaves her family and her country to follow her mother-in-law to a land where she would be looked down on as a foreigner. But it didn’t matter. Where Naomi would go, Ruth would go too. She was strong, able to take risks, dealing actively with the consequences that followed. As I discussed Naomi last month, she was a woman who only saw her own grief and bitterness. But through Ruth, Naomi would find joy again. In the Book of Ruth, we are giving two examples of the generous, loyal, and loving nature of God, first in Ruth. But the story of Ruth is also the story of Boaz who displays this generous, loyal and loving nature as well. There are two important aspects of their stories: gleaning and a kinsman-redeemer. 

While we meet Ruth in Naomi’s story, Ruth’s story truly begins in chapter 2 as it is harvest time in Israel and Ruth gleans from a local field to provide for herself and Naomi. The field she happens to glean from is Boaz, a distant relative of Naomi’s. He notices her and learns that she worked quickly and effectively. Everyone in Bethlehem had been talking about Naomi’s unexpected return and her Moabite daughter-in-law who came with her. They were also talking about Ruth’s extraordinary love and loyalty to Naomi. To repay her kindness, Boaz directed her to stay near his servants and follow them as they glean. He would also instruct his men to purposefully leave stalks in her path. He would watch out for her day after day. It is discovered that Boaz is their kinsman-redeemer, which allows Boaz to marry Ruth, which he does. They would eventually have a son, Obed. Obed would become the father of David, the future king of Israel and the ancestor of Jesus. Ruth is the only woman mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5. The stories of Ruth and Naomi are woven together and through them we see that God’s presence in a relationship can overcome differences and flourish into greater blessings. 

Gleaning is an old practice in which grain is “gleaned” or gathered from the fields. Gleaners would collect the leftover crops from the fields after they’ve been harvested. Harvesters were not allowed to reap the very edges of the fields or go over the fields a second time. Any grain missed had to be left for the “poor and aliens” (Leviticus 19:9-10, 23:22). Deuteronomy 24:19-22 adds the practice to vineyards as well. Gleaning was a :welfare system” set up to care for the needy. But it wasn’t a handout. Gleaners still had to work for their food, competing with others to gather as much as possible, which is why it was noticed that Ruth worked effectively and efficiently. Ruth worked hard,from morning to evening, only taking short rests (Ruth 2:1-23). Gleaning still exists in many parts of the world. In 1996, President Clinton signed the Good Samaritan Act which encourages individuals and organizations to donate excess food instead of throwing it away (Food Forward, 2015). As a part of the bill, food donations are protected from liability as long as they were made in good faith. Gleaning organizations recover food from farms, restaurants, grocery stories, wholesale markets, farmer’s markets as well as personal gardens (Food Forward, 2015). 

A kinsman-redeemer is first mentioned in Ruth 2:20 as Naomi tells Ruth that Boaz is their kinsman-redeemer. What is a kinsman-redeemer? A kinsman-redeemer is a male relative who has the responsibility to help a relative in need or in danger (Bolinger, 2020). This person would avenge, deliver, rescue, and redeem his relatives and their property. Leviticus 25:25-26 states that if a man is so poor that he has to sell portions of his property, his kinsman-redeemer was to come and buy back what was sold. Genesis 38:8 states that a man was to marry his brother’s widow as a kinsman-redeemer so his brother’s name would not be blotted out from the family records (Bolinger, 2020). Boaz qualifies as a kinsman-redeemer as a relative of Naomi’s and therefore of Ruth’s late husband. There was a man closer who could be the redeemer and Boaz talks with him in order to claim the right of redeemer and marry Ruth (Ruth 3:12, 4:1-12). We have our own kinsman-redeemer in Jesus. He pays our debts and marries us into the family of God (Bolinger, 2020). He bore the cost of our debts. He paid the price so that we can gain an inheritance as children of God. Just as Boaz was motivated by love for Ruth, Jesus was motivated by love for us that he paid the ultimate price to redeem us. 

In conclusion, the story of Ruth is a story of loyalty, love and commitment to stand by loved ones in times of need as well as times of joy. Her relationship with Naomi shows that the greatest bond in a relationship is faith in God, a strong mutual commitment to each other and a relationship in which each person thinks of the other first. The practice of gleaning was designed to help those who did not have a male figure to provide for their basic needs. Gleaning is practiced today by gathering excess food. A kinsman-redeemer is an important figure. We have a kinsman-redeemer in Jesus Christ. The story of Ruth is a story of God’s providence and his divine guidance is always at work, even in the darkest of times. She gave up the familiar in Moab for the unfamiliar in Israel because of love. Love is at the center of this story. 

References

Bolinger, Hope (December 15, 2020). The Importance and Meaning of a Kinsman Redeemer. Christianity.com. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/importance-and-meaning-of-a-kinsman-redeemer.html. Retrieved May 11, 2021. 

Food Forward (September 23, 2015). What is Gleaning? Food Forward.org. https://foodforward.org/food-recovery/what-is-gleaning/. Retrieved May 13, 2021. 

Suggested Reading

In the Field of Grace by Tessa Afshar

A fictional telling of the Ruth story

In the Field of Grace: a great love story

In the Field of Grace by Tessa Afshar is the romantic retelling of the story of Ruth and Boaz. Their story appears in the small but powerful Bible book of Ruth. Ruth is a Moabite who is the youngest and forgotten daughter when she befriends Naomi and catches the eye of her son, Mahlon. The two marry and set up house with Naomi, his older brother Chilion and his young bride, Orpah. The small family is very happy until suddenly Mahlon and Chilion become ill and die. Naomi is left with one option, to return to her home in Bethlehem. Ruth is determined to follow her beloved mother in law to the ends of the earth if she had to and refuses to return to her parents even after Naomi pleads with her. When the two arrive in Bethlehem, they have very little to their name. Naomi tells Ruth about gleaning in the fields. Gleaning is when the poor pick up the shafts of wheat and barley that the harvesters drop. In order to keep them from starvation, Ruth decides to join the gleaners in the fields. The one she chooses belongs to Boaz, a distant cousin of Naomi, a kind and gentle man who all he can to help the less fortunate. He is immediately drawn to Ruth and finds himself making sure Ruth and Naomi have all they need to survive. He tells himself that his interest in Ruth is nothing more than repaying her love and kindness to his cousin, but will he open himself up to the truth? Will he and Ruth surrender to God’s will and plan for their lives?

I have always loved the book of Ruth. I love the love story between Ruth and Boaz. A woman from a nation who was a hated enemy of Israel and a man with a strong stance in the community. God brings them together and from their son, Obed, comes King David and from David’s line is the Messiah, Jesus. Ms. Afshar once again brings a simple but magical story on its own and fills it with even more wonderful. In In the Field of Grace, the human sides of Ruth and Boaz become more real. Readers can see them as we are today, filled with doubts, pain, grief and uncertainty. Often you read a Bible story and it seems so obvious that the people in these stories would follow God and rewarded. But we do not realize that Ruth and Boaz had their own doubts, insecurities about their self-worth and God’s love for them. Ms. Afshar’s story opens the human side to these Biblical figures in a powerful way. I highly recommend In the Field of Grace.

In the Field of Grace

is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook