Biblical and Theological Foundations of Stewardship: The Book of Ruth - A Focus on Ruth (Part 5 of 6) Visit website for more information.	Bible Study Author:  Dr. Diane Jacobson is Professor of Old Testament and Associate Dean of the MA/MSM programs at Luther Seminary. Click here for more info. Theme:  Communicating the Message Updated:  7/26/2006 © 2003 Dr. Diane Jacobson
Ruth, the poor foreign widow, is indeed a remarkable model of stewardship. She chooses to follow and commit her life to her foreign mother-in-law, chooses hard work, shares her meager takings and then risks everything on the possiblity that she can convince the patriarch of a foreign clan that family and tribe extend far beyond the boundaries typically thought to define reality. Please note: This material was presented at a 2003 gathering of the Southwest Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The presentation originally included art work and Hebrew quotations that cannot be reproduced on this site. Please contact Dr. Jacobson at djacobso@luthersem.edu if you are interested in having these resources.
Biblical and Theological Foundations of Stewardship: The Book of Ruth - A Focus on Ruth (Part 5 of 6) {Slide, Chagall} We see Ruth first as a young Moabite woman who becomes the wife of Mahlon, eldest son of Naomi and Elimelech, the foreign Israelites who had settled in her homeland. After 10 years of marriage, Mahlon dies. Yet we hear nary a word of Ruth's grief because all the grief belongs to her mother-in-law, Naomi. So how can we learn about stewarding one's life from this foreign widow? Let's take a look at her actions just as we watched Boaz in the last part of the study. 1. The first thing we notice about Ruth is her willingness, yea, even her determination to leave her home and to follow her mother-in-law. This is even after Naomi had released her from all obligation and told her to go home to her own mother's house. Yet she persists, unlike her sister-in-law, Orpah. We are told, "Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her." (Ruth 1:14). Ruth "clings" to Naomi, the very same action as in Genesis 3, where it says that a man will leave his mother and father and "clings" to his wife. 2. More than this, Ruth not only takes persists in following Naomi, but she also makes one of the best-known loyalty oaths in all of scripture. In language akin to the loyalty oaths of Ittai the Gittite, who swears loyalty to David (2 Samuel 15:21) and Elisha, who pledges himself to Elijah (2 Kings 2:2, 4), Ruth swears to Naomi: "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die – there will I be buried. May the LORD do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!" (Ruth 1:16-17) It's always such a shock to remember that these words aren't said by a bride to her husband but rather by a foreign daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law. And trust me, mother-in-law tensions in near Eastern culture put our mild mother-in-law jokes to shame. Think of what Ruth takes on – foreign lodging, family, burial place and God. Her commitment to the God of Israel is a commitment to a new family and a new community, much as when a refugee family brought by Lutheran Social Services to Minnesota joins the local church. The personal decision grows out of the obligation and the departure from the past. The risks involved are enormous. Ruth, like the poor widow at the temple before Jesus, "has put in all she had to live on." (Luke 21:4) 3. We next notice Ruth's willingness to glean, the stewarding act that matches Boaz' willingness to allow her to glean. We so often see the noble generosity of the rich in their willingness to permit the poor to take the leavings of wealth. But how often do we admire the poor for their willingness to do the hard work required to put food on the table? We are told of Ruth's persistence here as well. So the overseer, whose voice I hear as sarcastic, reports to Boaz when he asks about the identity of Ruth, "'She is that Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.' She said, 'Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.' So she came, and she has been [bugging me] on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment." (Ruth 2:6-7) Ruth is persistent even in the face of disdain. Remember, she is choosing to do the hard work of gleaning rather than the more lucrative work of prostitution. 4. After her hard day of labor, she brings home food to share with her mother-in-law. The biblical report here is striking. "So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over after she herself had been satisfied." (Ruth 2:17-18) I am struck not only by her sharing of her gleanings, but also by her sharing the remains of her meal with Boaz. She had eaten only until she is satisfied. I am reminded of the important stewardship principle of sufficiency. Take and use only as much as one needs, and there will be plenty for all. We see this lesson again and again in Scripture, but no where more poignantly portrayed. While gleaning, Ruth received food not just for herself, but also for her mother-in-law, to whom she was bound by her oath. She had taken on the responsibility of family. 5. This brings me to her next series of actions, more difficult to discuss as actions of stewardship but crucial to understanding the depth of Ruth's character. We need turn our attention to the activity on the threshing floor. As I have noted several times, many would have assumed any foreign widow under no obligation to a man would have made a living as a prostitute. One of the places such women were found was the threshing floor, where all the men of the village slept at night during the harvest, in order to protect what they had reaped. Boaz was among them. And there comes Ruth, looking for all the world just like a prostitute, dressed in her finest clothes. And she brazenly lies down beside Boaz' proverbial feet – feet being the biblical euphemism for "private parts". Now, Ruth's mother-in-law had told her that Boaz would tell her what to do. But Ruth goes one step further. On finding a woman lying at his proverbial feet, a startled Boaz asks, "Who are you?" Ruth responds. "I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin (go'el)." (Ruth 3:9) What is remarkable about this speech, this request, is the enormous risk Ruth takes. Here she is, a Moabite widow, looking and acting the prostitute. Yet she is asking Boaz to see her not as a foreign hooker but rather as a member of his extended family to whom he has an obligation The brother of a deceased man was required by law to make possible the birth of a new son in order to continue the man's family name. But Boaz wasn't that man's brother. Boaz was just some distant cousin. Yet, Ruth is asking Boaz to act the part of the go'el, the next-of-kin, the family redeemer. In so doing, she is asking that "family" be redefined; that it be defined not by blood but rather by loyalty, by love, by commitment to some greater notion of community and family. Boaz has to see himself first as having an obligation to Naomi and then has to see that obligation extending to this Moabite woman at his feet. (To top it off, the word for "cloak" is the same as the word for God's "wing.") So Ruth, the poor foreign widow, is indeed a remarkable model of stewardship. She chooses to follow and commit her life to her foreign mother-in-law, chooses hard work, shares her meager takings and then risks everything on the possibility that she can convince the patriarch of a foreign clan that family and tribe extend far beyond the boundaries typically thought to define reality. And lest we leave the threshing floor scene hanging, note all that happens in answer to her risky suggestion. Boaz responds in the most remarkable way, He said, "May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter; this last instance of your loyalty (hesed) is better than the first; you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich." (Ruth 3:10) Boaz accepts Ruth's new view of reality and more. He once again sees beyond appearances. He once again blesses Ruth and recognizes her worth. He recognizes her loyalty to her mother-in-law, but then adds something mind-boggling. Her request is not seen merely as an invitation to fulfill a family obligation; it is seen as an act of love, an act of hesed to him personally in that she has chosen him, this older man, rather than some young buck. It seems that in the breaking down of boundaries, not only are others helped, but the boundary breakers themselves find happiness and fulfillment. The scene is set for the marriage of these two people, each defined by their acts of kindness and loyalty. Ruth returns once again with food for her mother-in-law, a gift from Boaz. "He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, 'Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'" (Ruth 3:17) Their generousity of spirit is made visible in this gift, a natural outflowing of their acts of hesed, of loving commitment. These six measures of barley can be seen also as sealing the marriage contract, if a bit prematurely. For as it happens there is another go'el, another kinsman closer to Naomi's family than Boaz. That one, called only "what's his name," in Hebrew, peloni alomi, has the right of first refusal. (In the NRSV it's translated "friend," but don't you believe it!) The scene with "what's his name" is quite hysterical. And it is all about the relative merits of property and commitment. "So," says Boaz, "You know that widow Naomi who came back from Moab? It seems her dead husband, Elimelech, has this field that needs to be kept in the family. So you are go'el, (next-of-kin, redeemer). Do you want to go'el it?" "Oh sure," says peloni almoni. "Of course, I'll help the widow," he says, rubbing his hand at the prospect of more property. "Oh," says Boaz, "I forgot to mention. When you go'el the field, you also go'el Ruth, the Moabitess." (It goes unsaid, but what is understood by this is: "You also take on the responsibility and apparent stigma of this foreign woman, and the property will revert to her kid, not to your purebloods.) "Oh," says peloni almoni, "I almost forgot. I've got two kids going to college next year and couldn't possibly risk buying that field." See what fun property negotiations can be! To access the other parts of the presentation, click on the appropriate topic. The Stewardship of Vocation (Part 1 of 6) The Stewardship of Creation (Part 2 of 6) The Stewardship of Time (Part 3 of 6) The Book of Ruth – Boaz (Part 4 of 6 The Book of Ruth – Naomi (Part 6 of 6)
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