When a girl needs to get married she will do desperate things, or at least her mother will. With Ruth it is different, for it is her mother-in-law who suggests the desperate measures. Ruth has been a widow for a number of years. She lives in poverty with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and gleans in the field of Boaz to eke out a living. Working in his field was serendipity and Naomi hopes that the rich farmer Boaz will get round to falling in love with Ruth and marrying her. That would be the ideal situation, for how else is a poor widow to find a husband in a foreign land?
But the hoped-for liaison does not come about. Boaz has met Ruth, praised her devotion to Naomi, asked her to glean only in his field, given her the right to eat with his workers and told them not to molest her. Can he do any more?
He sees no need, but Naomi does. As time passes and the barley and wheat harvest go by and their stocks of food diminish, the women wonder what to do. Ruth makes no move to attract a husband, and Naomi is too old. But not too old to know what Ruth should do.
By happy coincidence, Naomi sees that Boaz is the closest living relative of her deceased husband, Elimelech, so it his duty to marry the childless widow. If the man cannot see it himself, the women will have to show him how.
The harvest is over, Boaz is checking the produce and in a merry mood, so one night when he is alone in the granary, Ruth must go and seduce him. Naomi puts it frankly to Ruth and she, the ever-obedient daughter-in-law, does not demur. She washes and dresses in her best clothes and creeps up to Boaz in his sleep, uncovers him and makes advances. Boaz is startled to find himself embraced by the beautiful girl. His reaction is that of any normal male and he asks her to stay the night. She agrees, and at daybreak he gives her a betrothal present and, thanks to the night encounter, they are formally engaged. Naomi's plan has worked, but there is one little snag.
Naomi has jumped the gun. Boaz is not the closest living relative; there is the mysterious Mr. Peloni-Almoni, and he has the right to inherit the field Elimelech left in Bethlehem. Boaz wastes no time and speaks to him next morning. Does he want to take over the field, knowing that Boaz has secured the girl? Peloni-Almoni at first says "yes," and then changes his mind when he realizes that Ruth and Boaz are engaged.
Why does Peloni-Almoni change his mind? If Ruth has a baby by him, then the field will go to that baby, in the name of Ruth's dead husband, Mahlon. But that cannot be because Boaz has taken Ruth in the night; so it will be their baby who will inherit the field. So Peloni-Almoni has to refuse the offer, and the way is clear for Boaz to marry Ruth and inherit the field.
But who is the mystery Mr. Anonymous? He must be a close relative, probably a brother of Elimelech, and older than Boaz. His name implies a place, for Peloni-Almoni is used in the Bible only as a place name and not for a person (cf. I Samuel 21:3). In this case the place is probably Ammon.
In other words, when there was a drought in Bethlehem and Elimelech went to Moab, his older brother Peloni-Almoni fled to Ammon, while the younger one, Boaz, stayed at home. Elimelech died in Moab, Mr. Anonymous came home from Ammon in disgrace (Naomi did not know him), while Boaz, who had stayed at home, was the good one and became rich.
THAT IS the real story, but the codifiers have sanitized it by changing one little word, kaniti (I have acquired) to kanita (you have acquired) in Chapter 4:5. Luckily they left us the true reading, from which we can work out the actual story. And the Talmud (Yebamot 69a) tried to say that Peloni-Almoni did not know that you can marry a Moabitess, but not a Moabite according to the Torah Law (Deuteronomy 23:4), and that is why he is shown as ignorant and anonymous. But that again is not quite correct, as Ezra tells us that you cannot even marry a Moabitess (Ezra 9:2).
So what is all that about David being descended from a Moabitess, who genuinely converted to Judaism, if Ezra did not allow it?
The fact is that in the line of David there are skeletons in the cupboard. Did he not go out of his way to seduce Bathsheba one night on the rooftops? It sounds a bit like Ruth going out to seduce Boaz that night in the granary. Our Book shows that David had seduction in his blood. And non-Torah marriages were the basis of the whole Davidic dynasty, for was Rehoboam not the son of Solomon and Na'amah the Ammonitess (I Kings 14:21)?
The Book of Ruth is not as pure and simple as Rabbi Ze'ira, of the third century, claims in the Midrash Rabbah (Ruth 2:15). It tells us, he says, "nothing of ritual purity or impurity, neither of prohibition nor permission. For what purpose was it then written? To teach how great is the reward of those who do deeds of kindness."
Quite so, and what were those deeds of kindness?
Ruth looking after Naomi, and Naomi getting Ruth to seduce Boaz and thereby securing their future. So it is in order for David to seduce Bathsheba. Boaz marries a Moabitess and so it is in order for the descendants of David, Solomon and Rehoboam, the son of an Ammonitess, to carry on the royal line of Judah, even though the practice is against the Torah law, as repeated by Ezra.
Ruth story
by z 3 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
z
-
Leolaia
Thanks for posting this.
For more info on the scribal amendation in Ruth 4:4-5, the following two articles by D. R. G. Beattie apparently go into the evidence in more detail: Vetus Testamentum 21:490-494, 1971; JSOT, 5:39-48, 1978.
Interesting too that the LXX has Boaz telling "the man with the right of redemption" that "you must buy her" (autén ktésasthai se dei). I would like to see how the Hebrew of the Qumran version of Ruth renders it, but what do you know but the fragmentary text breaks off at Ruth 4:3.
-
peacefulpete
I'm confused. Is here any place online to read a detailed argument? Those sources you listed Leolaia can they be read without a subscription?
-
Leolaia
Here's one, but it's a summary:
http://www.upsaid.com/mac47/index.php?action=viewcom&id=401
The articles I mentioned are prolly not even online through the publishers, I think you may need to consult the paper copies....