AN UNCOMMON DAUGHTER-IN-LAW

The peaceful story of Ruth is set in the violent times of the book of Judges.  Ruth a Moabite woman is married to an Israelite.  When he dies, Ruth shows uncommon loyalty to her Israelite mother-in-law and deep devotion to the God of Israel.

Long ago the days before Israel had a king, there was a famine in the land.  So a man named Elimelech who belonged to the clan of Ephrath and who lived in Bethlehem in Judah, went with his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion to live for a while in the country of Moab.  While they were living there, Elimelech died and Naomi was left alone with her two sons, who married Moabites girls, Orpah and Ruth.  About 10 years later, Mahlon and Chilion also died and Naomi was left all alone without husband or sons.

Sometime later Naomi heard that the Lord had blessed his people by giving them a good harvest.  So she got ready to leave Moab with her daughter-in-laws.  They started out together to go back to Judah, but on the way she said to them, “Go back home and stay with your mothers.  May the Lord be as good to you as you have been to me and to those who have died.  And may the Lord make it possible for each of you to marry again and have a home.”

So Naomi kissed them good bye.  But they started crying and said to her, “No! We will go with you to your people.”

“You must go back, my daughters,”  Naomi answered.  “Why do you want to come with me?  Do you think I would have sons again for you to marry? Go back home, for I am too old to get married again.  Even if I thought there was still hope and so got married tonight and had sons would you wait until they have grown up?  Would this keep you from marrying someone else.  No my daughters that is impossible.  The Lord has turned against me, and I feel sorry for you.”

Again they started crying.  Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good bye and went back home, but Ruth held on to her.  So Naomi said to her, “Ruth, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god.  Go back home with her.”

But Ruth answered, “Don’t ask me to leave you.  Let me go with you.  Wherever you go, I will go.  Wherever you live, I will live.  Your people will be my people your God will be my God.  Wherever you die, I will die, and that is where I will be buried.  May the Lord’s worst punishment come upon me if I let anything but death separate me from you.”

When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.

They went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived, the whole town got excited, and the women there exclaimed, “Is this really Naomi?”

“Don’t call me Naomi” she answered.  “Call me Marah, because the Almighty God has made my life bitter.  When I left here, I had plenty, but the Lord has brought me back without a thing.  Why call me Naomi when the Lord Almighty has condemned me and sent me trouble?”

This then was how Naomi came back from Moab with Ruth her Moabite daughter-in-law.  The barley harvest was just beginning when they arrived in Bethlehem.

Naomi had a relative named Boaz, a rich and influential man who belonged to the family of her husband Elimelech.  One day Ruth said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields to gather the corn that the harvest workers leave. I am sure to find someone who will let me work with him.”

Naomi answered, “Go ahead my daughter.”

So Ruth went out to the fields and walked behind the workers, picking up the corn which they left.  It so happened that she was in a field that belonged to Boaz. 

Sometime later, Boaz himself arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the workers. “The Lord be with you!” he said. 

“The Lord bless you!” they answered. 

Boaz asked the man in charge, “Who is that young woman?” 

The man answered “She is the foreign girl who came back from Moab with Naomi.  She asked me to let her follow the workers and pick up the corn. She has been working since early morning and has just now stopped to rest for a while under the shelter.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Let me give you some advice.  Don’t pick up corn anywhere except in this field.  Work with the woman here, watch them to see where they are reaping and stay with them.  I have ordered my men not to molest you.  And whenever you are thirsty go and drink from the water jars that they have filled.”

Ruth bowed down with her face touching the ground, and said to Boaz, “Why should you be so concerned about me?  Why should you be so kind to a foreigner? 

Boaz answered, “I have heard about everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband died.  I know how you left your father and mother and your own country and how you came to live among a people you had never known before.  May the Lord reward you for what you have done.  May you have a full reward from the Lord God of Israel to whom you have come for protection!”

Ruth answered, “You are very kind to me, sir.  You have made me feel better by speaking gently to me even though I am not the equal of one of your servants.”

At meal time Boaz said to Ruth, “Come and have a piece of bread, and dip it in the sauce.”

So she sat with the workers, and Boaz passed some roasted grain to her.  She ate until she was satisfied and she still had some food left over. After she had left to go on picking up corn, Boaz ordered the workers, “Let her pick it up even where the bundles are lying, and don’t say anything to stop her.  Besides that pull out some corn from the bundles and leave it for her to pick up.”

So Ruth went on gathering corn until evening and when she had beaten it out, she found that she had 10 kilograms.  She took the corn back into town and showed her mother-in-law how much she had gathered.  She also gave her the food left over from the meal. Naomi asked her, “Where did you gather all this?  Whose field have you been working in?  May God bless the man who took an interest in you!”

So Ruth told Naomi that she had been working in a field belonging to a man named Boaz.

“May the Lord bless Boaz!” Naomi exclaimed.  The Lord always keeps his promises to the living and the dead and she went on, “That man is a close relative of ours, one of those responsible for taking care of us.”

Then Ruth said, “Best of all he told me to keep picking up corn with his workers until they finished the harvest.”

Naomi said to Ruth, “Yes my daughter, it will be better for you to work with the women in Boaz’ field.  You might be molested if you went to someone else’s field.”  So Ruth worked with them and gathered corn until all the barley and wheat had been harvested and she continued to live with her mother-in-law. (Book of Ruth)