Ruth 3: Women with a Story to Tell: Things are Looking Up.

 Ruth went to work, and “as it happened” she joined the gleaners in the field of a rich relative of Naomi’s husband. The man’s name was Boaz, and he was not anything like the ‘rich landowner’ in Jesus’ parable (Luke 12: 13-21). Boaz was no fool; he treated his laborers well, and he was generous with his harvested barley (Ruth 2). 

 When Naomi heard Ruth’s report about her first day at work, she wondered if her destiny had changed. Remember that she thought that the Lord had turned against her with her losses in Moab (Ruth 1:13, 20-21). Now, when she hears this news, she blurts out: “Blessed be he by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” (Ruth 2:21). 

 One might say that Naomi is discipling her young daughter-in-law, Ruth. Ruth is a Moabite, born and raised in Moab, an immigrant to the land of Israel. She has seen the gracious and loving character of Naomi and has decided to quit her gods and follow both Naomi and her God YHWH. 

 The contrast between YHWH and Chemosh, the leading Moabite god, could not be greater. Chemosh was most known for supporting conquests and bloody war. When it did not look like victory was in the cards, the Moabite king and priests were known to sacrifice a child to get Chemosh’s attention so he would help in a battle. Ruth made a good choice to abandon her old allegiances for a God who is compassionate and faithful to his word. 

 Naomi’s faith is also renewed. First, she says, “Blessed (barak) be he by YHWH whose kindness (ḥesed) has not forsaken the living or the dead.” Remember that there was a judge named Barak and his name meant ‘Blessed’. The ‘he’ is her kinsman Boaz. 

 Then Naomi reveals one of the primary characteristics of YHWH, and this is his kindness, also translated as mercy, steadfast love, and faithfulness. The word ḥesed (or chesed) appears over 175 times in the Old Testament. YHWH is not a war god who has moved on and is no longer concerned with the small affairs of a widow bereft of her sons. Jesus was not a war god, and did not ignore the plight of the widow at Nain who had also lost her son, her only son (Luke 7:11-17).  

 It is interesting that Naomi considers YHWH to be in a relationship with ‘the dead’ who are her husband, Elimelech, and her two sons. This implies that they live before YHWH and that their story is not yet complete. The sons, especially, left this world without sons of their own, and in that ancient patriarchal society, that meant they were in danger of being forgotten in the genealogies, a kind of social death. 

 Then Naomi speaks again and says, “The man is a relative of ours, and our nearest kin.” For the last phrase she uses the word go’el. That is a very important word in Jewish sociology and theology. A proper translation takes a phrase in English: “near-kin redeemer.” This goes back to a time when people were responsible for the good health and good standing of their relatives, as well as liable for their debts and losses. The degree of responsibility depended on how near or how far the relative was in terms of genealogy. 

 This is also the purpose behind our obscure cousin terminology. Do you know what a ‘second cousin once-removed’ is? I do; I’m an anthropologist. The first term indicates how far from your direct line of descent the person is. The other term indicates how many generations removed from your generation they are. In this case, your ‘second cousin’ is your grandfather’s brother’s son’s son. He is of the same generation as you. His son then would be the next generation down and so ‘once-removed’. Such precise relationships used to count in old English law.

 In ancient Hebrew law, given by God, the go’el who was first in line was a brother. After him came male cousins descended from father’s brother, then those descended from grandfather’s brother. If a near-kin relative had to sell a piece of land which was part of his allotment in the Promised Land, then the law says it should be redeemed by the clan. “If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold” (Leviticus 25:5). 

 If a near-kin relative became so indebted that he sold himself into slavery, then he should be redeemed. “If resident aliens among you prosper, and if any of your kin fall into difficulty with one of them and sell themselves to an alien or to a branch of the alien’s family, even after they have sold themselves they shall have the right of redemption; one of their brothers may redeem them, or their uncle or their uncle’s son may redeem them, or anyone of their family who is of their own flesh may redeem them, or if they prosper they may redeem themselves (Leviticus 25:47-49). There is no animosity here toward an immigrant in the land who does well, only that one should not let relatives become slaves. 

 If a near-kin dies without children, then a brother or cousin should take the widow as a wife and raise children (especially the first born son) as if they were the son of the deceased. This is called ‘the levirate’ in Anthropology. “When brothers reside together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her…” (Deuteronomy 25:5).

 This is the legal and theological context that Naomi lives in, and the reason she is so excited that Ruth has met Boaz. Though this is a patriarchal society, it can be run well or it can be abused terribly. Notice that these obligations are not commodified; that is, neither land, nor property, nor marriage is valued according to market price. These things belong to a different economy, an economy based on family care and fairness so that no one falls too far out of society. That is the God that Ruth has decided to follow, without promise of future income or riches. Her commitment to Naomi was one born out of love, not greed. 

 The most prominent difference between God’s economy and human economies, capitalist or otherwise, is that God cares about the outcomes for the people. That can best be seen in God’s establishment of the Year of Jubilee that was to be celebrated every 50 years. Every 7th year was a Sabbath Year, and 7 times 7 gives us 49, so the 50th year was a mega-celebration.

 In that year, all debts were wiped out, not paid, just forgiven. Any person who had sold themselves, or been sold into slavery was freed. Any person who had lost their ancestral allotment of land received it back, without compensation for whoever claimed it at that time. Imagine an economy with no interest rates, where debts had a mandatory expiration date, and where peoples’ land rights were always restored. That means that every 50 years society hit the ‘reset button’, so the poor did not become generational poor. The down-hearted were lifted up, those who had made mistakes and fell on hard times were re-established with a second chance. 

 God’s plan continued through ages where people longed for the Year of Jubilee. How does Jesus fit in? Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 4.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the Year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4: 18-19).

 The ‘year of the Lord’s favor’ is another name for the ‘year of Jubilee’. So Christ’s coming and his continual presence with us is linked directly to this restorative economy of the Jubilee Year. What does that mean for us?