Jacob Chanikuzhy

“I saw six men kicking and punching my mother-in-law. My neighbour asked, ‘Are you going to help?’ I said, ‘No, six should be enough.’” Les Dawson, the English comedian, was known for such wits on mothers-in-law. Contrary to the traditional picture of fighting mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, we have a caring mother-in-law and very kind and loyal daughter-in-law in the biblical book of Ruth. Naomi, a Bethlehemite living in Moab, wanted to return to Bethlehem after the death of her husband and two sons. Her daughters-in-law were Moabite women. She advised them to go back to their homes to find new husbands. One returned home. Ruth, however, insisted to live with her mother-in-law.

Neither the biblical law demanded nor the Jewish customs expected Ruth to dedicate her life for the family of her deceased husband. Hence, Ruth’s decision to live with her mother-in-law was a choice of pure love and mercy from her part. It is remarkable that such loyalty and loving kindness was shown to an Israelite family by a Moabite woman, a foreigner who was looked down by the Jews.

It was harvesting season when Naomi returned to Bethlehem. Naomi sent Ruth for gleaning in the barley field. She happened to glean in the field of Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi. He was so generous to her not only to allow this Moabite woman to glean with his servants, but also to help her to get some extra. On the winnowing night, after eating and drinking Boaz came to sleep beside the heap of barley. Ruth, as per the instruction of Naomi, uncovered the feet of Boaz and lay down there.

What actually Ruth did that night is still debated. Some think that she had sex with Boaz. The fact that she was advised by Boaz to leave before dawn points in this direction. He sent her away with 6 measures of barley as if the remuneration for the sexual favour he received from her. This would remind the readers of the story of the origin of Moabites. Bible traces the origin of Moabites through the tricky incest of Lot’s daughters with their father. The Moabite woman Ruth now almost does the same.

Others think that she was just sleeping at the foot of Boaz. In their view, she was sent away before people got up to safeguard the reputation of both Boaz and Ruth. The barley Boaz gave her must have been the bride’s money. Nevertheless, even if she was just sleeping near Boaz, it was a scandalous act. No one would expect a woman of character to do that.

It is to be noted that Boaz understood Ruth’s act as an act of loving kindness towards him (Ruth 3,10). What was looked upon as an illicit or sinful act was praised as an act of kindness and selflessness! One can say that Ruth’s act was in line with the bold act of Tamar who tricked Judah, her father-in-law, to get conceived from him. She did it to get justice done to her. In a similar manner, Ruth was also moulding her own destiny rather than submissively accepting her fate. By asking Boaz to marry her, she redeemed the family of her husband. If she wanted only the security of her life alone, she could have married anybody of her liking. But, since she wanted to continue the line of her husband, she wanted Boaz, a kinsman, to marry her. And she did whatever was necessary to fulfil her intention.

Her “scandalous” and at the same time kind-hearted and well-motivated act helped the continuity of the messianic line into which the Messiah himself was born. In that sense, the Messiah owed to the “scandalous” behaviour of Ruth for his royal lineage.

Another pertinent point with regard to Ruth is that it is through this Moabite woman that Israel itself received its Redeemer, the Messiah (Ruth 4,17). Ruth opens our eyes to the truth that God can redeem his chosen people even through the gentiles. Thus, the story of Ruth is a powerful warning against any attempt to isolate and exclude the other. This message of Ruth is all the more remarkable in the context of the vehement exhortation of Nehemiah, another book in the bible, to abandon the gentile wives. Yes, the ingenuity of the bible is in that it offers checks and balances by enshrining different viewpoints on a particular subject.