Talk About Carpe Diem

And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the LORD, Who has not deprived you of a redeemer today, and let his name be proclaimed in Israel” [Ruth 4:14].

As I mentioned last week, as we journey toward the end of the church year, the Revised Common Lectionary provides us with two OT readings from the often overlooked book of Ruth. Last week, we looked at the familiar “Whither thou goest” passage [Ruth 1:16, KJV]. We observed that Ruth clung to Naomi and determined to accompany her back to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem in spite of the fact that Ruth—a Moabite—might not be welcomed there.

This week the Lectionary appoints as one of the Old Testament readings a rather disjointed group of verses from the short book’s third and fourth chapters [Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17, Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year B]. To get the full picture of this week’s lesson, I suggest that you read the “in-between” verses, as they offer important context for the overall story. As you may already know, some of the omitted verses are for mature audiences only.

The prospects for Naomi and Ruth have improved somewhat after Naomi’s return to Bethlehem. They’ve found a relative of Naomi’s deceased husband, Elimelech, and they’ve set up a modest household on a corner of his land. Nevertheless, they must rely upon the generosity and protection of this man, Boaz, and so, nothing is guaranteed. Boaz allows Ruth to glean from the corners of his fields. While there is apparently some age on Boaz, he appears to be unmarried.

And so, Naomi hatches a plan. Knowing that Boaz will be eating and drinking—and then sleeping—Naomi suggests that Ruth bathe and anoint herself, put on her best garments, and go to the threshing floor herself after Boaz has finished eating and drinking. After he has laid down for the night she is to—how can we say this?—“uncover his feet” [Ruth 3:4]. I don’t think I need to draw you a picture!

If we can stop here for just a second, what Naomi has proposed is actually quite risky. If Boaz isn’t “impressed” by Ruth’s overture, he could announce to the town her “lack of decorum.” She’d be finished in terms of ever attracting a man to be her husband. She might even be stoned. Yet Ruth agrees.

Ruth prepares herself, waits until Boaz is sufficiently inebriated, and slips between the sheets with him, so to speak. Boaz doesn’t wake up. At midnight, however, he tosses and turns a bit, wakes up to find a young woman in his bed, and then asks the natural question, “Who are you?” [Ruth 3:9]. Papers have been written on her response:

I am Ruth your servant. May you spread your wing over your servant, for you are a redeeming kinsman [Ruth 3:9b].

In his excellent translation of The Hebrew Bible, Robert Alter allows that the Hebrew kanaf means both “wing” and “corner of a garment.” Ruth is being wonderfully sly here in her use of words. She’s echoing something that Boaz has already said [see Ruth 2:12], when he signaled that Naomi and Ruth had come under the kanaf, i.e., the “wing” of the LORD. In Boaz’s earlier statement, he speaks of Yahweh’s protective power over the two women. Here, however, Ruth’s nuanced language carries with it an implicit reference to marriage.

Boaz tells here to spend the night. There is both a practical and symbolic reason for his suggestion. From a practical standpoint, it might be dangerous for an unaccompanied young woman to make her way back to Naomi’s in the middle of the night. Symbolically, the sleeping arrangement is a foreshadowing of the couple’s marriage. Incidentally, most OT scholars say “nothing went on” between the two that night. Ruth sleeps at his feet, rises at dawn, when there isn’t sufficient light to recognize a person quickly traveling through the street, and goes back to Naomi.

I don’t have room to explain fully the “redeeming kinsman” reference. Suffice it to say that through a somewhat complicated arrangement, Boaz “redeems” Ruth by marrying her. Ruth and Boaz have a son. He’s named Obed (some OT scholars think this is probably a shortened form of Obadiah, which means “worshipper, or servant, of the LORD”). As I mentioned last week, Ruth enlists Obed’s grandmother, Naomi, to help in his care. The women in Bethlehem sing praises for Naomi, who has also been redeemed through the matrimonial arrangement. They pray that the child’s name may be proclaimed in Israel and that the child be a restorer of life.

Nice little story, we might say. “And they lived happily ever after.” Here, in the case of Ruth and Boaz—and even Naomi—that is exactly what happens. As I mentioned last week, in the Naomi and Ruth story, there is precious little mention of Yahweh. There aren’t any miracles. There are no prophets with visions. What we see is ordinary life. We see nothing particularly special about the sleepy hamlet called Bethlehem.

And yet, if we look closely, we may see the foreshadowing of Jesus. Here is a story of a young woman, Ruth, who steadfastly clings to Naomi, in spite of the fact that because of their circumstances, their future might only be death from hunger and abandonment. That, of course, is exactly what Yahweh does for you and me through Christ. He clings to humanity. Ruth’s beautiful soliloquy becomes Yahweh’s promise to us: “Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay.”

The second person of the blessed Trinity took on human flesh, and in so doing clings to us, just as Ruth did to Naomi. Ruth took the risky step of seeking out after Boaz, of risking her very life, in order to choose life with him. That is also what Christ did with us. The Holy Trinity chases after us, pursues us, refuses to give up on us, and will stop at nothing until we belong to God. Jesus risked everything for us and in the end, gave up everything for you and for me.

Although she did not realize that she was doing it, Ruth points us all to Jesus. Her story doesn’t end with a marriage to Boaz and a son named Obed. As we read in the final verses of the book of Ruth, her son, Obed will, in turn, have his own son. That son will be named Jesse. Jesse will have a number of sons, the youngest of whom is named David. Ruth the Moabite—the lonely widow, the outsider, the one without a secure future—thus becomes the great-grandmother of David, beloved King of Israel. Fourteen generations later, another son will be born in Bethlehem. This son will be born in a stable. Hallelujah!!!