Ruth

Through subtle echoes of other biblical narratives, the book of Ruth recasts women not as rivals competing for men, but as partners bound by loyalty and kindness.

Does Naomi appreciate Ruth? Is she embraced by the women of Bethlehem? How does the narrator of the Book of Ruth regard her? And why, at the end of the story, is Ruth effectively erased, and her child appropriated by Naomi?

Why are the Books of Ruth and Esther so much alike?

Lot’s older daughter gets him drunk and conceives the forefather of the Moabites. Tamar, Boaz’s foremother, conceals her identity from her father-in-law, Judah, to bear his child. Although Naomi encourages Ruth to seduce Boaz, Ruth reveals her identity to him, thereby correcting the legacy of her foremothers, including that of the daughters of the Moabites, who seduced the Israelites into apostasy.

The story has a comic undergirding as Naomi and Ruth teach the staid patriarch Boaz a humanitarian lesson.

When Boaz sees Ruth gleaning in the field, and learns who she is, he offers her protection from his own workers’ predatory behavior, giving us a glimpse at what poor women, gleaning in the field, had to contend with.

Despite its name in tradition, the story revolves around Naomi—her feelings and her needs.

With its sensitively portrayed characters and quotidian contexts, the story of Ruth and Naomi underscores questions about the good path in life, the choices we make, and especially the role of the deity who controls all. The narrative also touches upon a wide array of issues concerning gender, economic deprivation, the status of the migrant, and other matters.

Ruth’s consumption of barley and wheat gleaned from the field of Boaz was an integral step in her transformation from a “foreigner” who arrived from the fields of Moab to a “daughter” in Judah.

The book of Ruth presents a different model of justice from that afforded by statute, custom, and precedent, one that seeks restorative as opposed to retributive justice.

A look at Naomi’s theology, as expressed in her poem, and how it carries her through her grief and back into productive engagement.

A tale of chesed and chutzpah