Ruth, a Romantic Tale of a Victim who Wins Out in the End, Like Jesus

Last updated on: November 14, 2018 at 6:03 am by Jack Hartjes

Ruth, a Romantic Tale of a Victim who Wins Out in the End, Like Jesus 2018-11-14T06:03:26-06:00 Jack Hartjes

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ruth is gleaning in fields belonging to Boaz.

The story of Ruth provides analogies to the life of Jesus.

In the Book of Ruth a member of a nation that Israel traded and warred with off and on becomes one of the Israelite people and an ancestor of Israel’s most loved king, King David. Jesus career is like Ruth’s.

Episode 10 in Opening the Scriptures on the Way to Emmaus: Why Messiah had to Suffer. Introduction and links to other posts in the series here.

Ruth’s story begins.

Naomi is an Israelite woman living in the land of Moab at a time before there were kings in Israel. Her two sons have married two Moabite women, but both sons and Naomi’s husband have died. As Naomi starts her journey back to Israel and an uncertain future, she tells her daughters-in-law to stay behind and marry again to Moabite men. Ruth won’t leave Naomi, insisting,

Wherever you go I will go. Wherever you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Wherever you die I will die, and there be buried. May the Lord do so and so to me, and more besides, if aught but death separates me from you!” (Ruth 1:16-17)

To us it sounds like a moving story of a daughter-in-law’s devotion. At the time it was written I imagine what many people saw first in Ruth is that she is a foreigner.

Ruth ekes out a living for herself and Naomi by following up the harvesters in a field belonging to Boaz, gleaning what they left behind. Israelite law required harvesters to leave something behind for the poorest people. She eventually marries Boaz. King David is her great grandson.

Ruth and Jesus

The story includes three details worth noting.

First detail: Ruth is subject to the typical prejudice against foreigners. She deals with it by gleaning only in fields belonging to Boaz, a relative of Naomi.

Second detail: Ruth engages in behavior that, at least by the time the story was written, was considered questionable. On the advice of Naomi she gets cleaned and dressed up and finds Boaz asleep on the threshing floor after he’s taken on some wine in honor of a hard day’s work. The Bible says she “uncovered a place at his feet and lay down.” Commentators inform us that “feet” could be a euphemism for a man’s genitals. The action was risqué enough, in any case, that some later versions of the story make Naomi the one who lay at Boaz’s “feet,” preferring incest to having any suspicion clinging to David’s blood line.

The third detail is an experience of rejection, a happy one as it turns out. Boaz can’t automatically marry Ruth because a closer relative to Naomi has, legally, a prior claim. Boaz informs the man that Naomi is selling a piece of property, and the man is eager to buy it. But when informed that Ruth comes along with the property, he backs out, probably thinking he doesn’t want to share his estate with any children he might sire by her.

A protest against a theology of exclusion

The Encyclopedia Judaica says the Book of Ruth is a “subtle but forceful protest against the Ezra-Nehemiah attitude toward foreign women.” It’s easy enough to see Jesus in the figure of Ruth. She’s a stranger who freely goes to a place where she will be the lowest in society. She scandalizes. She is rejected (before being vindicated). This story challenges the common thinking of the Jews after the Exile in the same way Jesus challenges his time and ours.

In Jesus’ words, “The Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” That was a choice very much like Ruth’s. I can imagine Jesus saying to the two on the way to Emmaus, repeating Ruth: “Wherever you lodge I shall lodge.” Jesus says the same to us, especially to the most rejected, from his place on the cross.

Image credit: WordPress.com via Google Images

Opening Scriptures on Way to Emmaus

Previous Post

November 12, 2018

Ezra and Nehemiah: Tribal Identity vs. Compassion

Next Post

November 16, 2018 Cheating Death, Cheating Extinction

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Christmas Amazon Synod Angels Being Consumed Bible Catholic Modern Creed Ecology Economics Elizabeth Johnson Eucharist Fragments and Filaments Gender and Sex Gospel of Mark Herzog Historical Jesus Liturgy Luke Opening Scriptures on Way to Emmaus Ordinary radicals Parables Pro-Life Reincarnation Rosary Sacraments science Social Justice Souls Stories of Jesus The Creed Torture and Eucharist Tracy Uncategorized War and Peace

Select a Month October 2026 June 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 November 2024 July 2024 March 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz