21. Ruth - short and sweet

1. Matriarch Naomi is forced to return to her homeland in Bethlehem after the death of her husband and sons who were attempting a new family venture in Moab, and most unexpectedly Ruth (her Moabite daughter-in-law) chooses to stay with her

2. While scraping a living by gathering leftover grain from the harvest, Ruth meets and forms an instant rapport with Boaz, who turns out to be a close relation of her deceased father in law

3. Wanting to secure her daughter-in-law's future, Naomi initiates a plan which involves Ruth approaching Boaz secretly to ask him for protection, after which the two women wait anxiously for the outcome

4. Following the tradition of Torah law, Boaz claims the right of inheritance to make Ruth his wife and she bears a son, much to Naomi's delight

This is the first Old Testament book I've come across so far that had a coherent narrative from beginning to end. It's a sweet little story, and I loved the sense of growing relationship between Naomi and Ruth, and then between Ruth and Boaz. I have to confess to being a little disappointed that in the end it all seemed to be about the ancestry of king David. The story seems to be wanting to fully legitimise Israel's favourite king by making it clear that one of his Moabite ancestors did not stop him from being 100% pure Israel.

Despite being named for her, we don't hear much from Ruth in the story, but what we do hear is significant. She not only showed her love for Naomi in her choice to return to Israel with her, but also her love for God. This is expressed through her bravery in choosing to start a new life in a foreign land and through her obedience to Naomi and Boaz. What she did is compared in the story to the sisters Rachel and Leah - the mothers of the twelve tribes of Israel. I'm struck by the way that this family of Israel looked after it's people, that Naomi was able to return from Moab without husband and sons to claim a home and an inheritance. She needed a man to speak for her though and if Boaz hadn't taken a shine to Ruth things may have been more challenging.

I think the book of Ruth celebrates women generally and the matriarchal influence of Naomi in particular. In the way that she treated her 2 daughters-in-law, and in her savviness with helping Ruth to speak with Boaz, Naomi demonstrated wisdom and fairness at a time in her life when she could easily have focused entirely on her own needs and wellbeing. I have seen in other old testament books, especially the law books like Deuteronomy, how exclusive and insular the twelve tribes were, so it is nice that this book celebrates an immigrant woman - even if it's main aim seems to be to prove that Ruth was in fact really truly Israel after all