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Ruth: Difference between revisions
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== The Gleaner == | == The Gleaner == | ||
[[Image:RuthFieldsHughes.jpg|right|250px]] | [[Image:RuthFieldsHughes.jpg|right|250px]] | ||
Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem on or about 1 Abib 2692 AM, the beginning of the month of [[barley]] harvest. Ruth seems to have held no illusions about her status in Israel. She and Naomi were destitute, with no assets other than an estate that they could not manage and would probably have to sell. But Ruth familiarized herself with all the laws that the Israelites lived under, including those that made provision for the poor. This included the ''gleaning law.''<ref name=Constable/>{{Bible quote|''Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger.''|book=Leviticus|chap=19|verses=9-10|version=NASB}} | Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem on or about 1 Abib 2692 AM, the beginning of the month of [[barley]] harvest. Ruth seems to have held no illusions about her status in Israel. She and Naomi were destitute, with no assets other than an estate that they could not manage and would probably have to sell. But Ruth familiarized herself with all the laws that the Israelites lived under, including those that made provision for the poor. This included the ''gleaning law.''<ref name=Constable/>{{Bible quote|''"Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger."'' - |book=Leviticus|chap=19|verses=9-10|version=NASB}} | ||
For Ruth, the decision was easy: she would not pretend to be anything other than a destitute foreigner, and would glean grain from a landowner who would allow it. Yet she would do nothing of that sort, or take any other action, without first asking Naomi's permission. So she asked permission, and Naomi granted it. ({{Bible ref|book=Ruth|chap=2|verses=2}}) | For Ruth, the decision was easy: she would not pretend to be anything other than a destitute foreigner, and would glean grain from a landowner who would allow it. Yet she would do nothing of that sort, or take any other action, without first asking Naomi's permission. So she asked permission, and Naomi granted it. ({{Bible ref|book=Ruth|chap=2|verses=2}}) | ||
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# If the decedent left a widow, the ''ga'al'' must marry the widow, and their first-born son would inherit the estate and preserve the name of the deceased. | # If the decedent left a widow, the ''ga'al'' must marry the widow, and their first-born son would inherit the estate and preserve the name of the deceased. | ||
The latter duty was an extension of the levirate law, which stated that a widow had the right to marry her late husband's brother, if he had one. {{Bible quote|''When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, | The latter duty was an extension of the levirate law, which stated that a widow had the right to marry her late husband's brother, if he had one. {{Bible quote|''"When brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. But if the man does not desire to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to establish a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.' Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he persists and says, 'I do not desire to take her,' then his brother's wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders, and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall declare, 'Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.' In Israel his name shall be called, 'The house of him whose sandal is removed.'"'' - |book=Deuteronomy|chap=25|verses=5-10|version=NASB}} | ||
Mahlon and his brother were dead, but if levirate marriage were impossible, the ''ga'al'' could still intervene. | Mahlon and his brother were dead, but if levirate marriage were impossible, the ''ga'al'' could still intervene. | ||
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True to his word, Boaz spoke to the other man in front of ten witnesses about Elimelech's estate, and made clear that part of acting as redeemer would include marrying Elimelech's daughter-in-law. The other man then declined and renounced his rights in the matter. To signify this, he drew off his sandal, thus observing a custom similar to that described above for a brother refusing a levirate marriage. The Bible does not say that Boaz spat in the man's face, but only that he accepted the sandal and announced his intention to redeem Elimelech's estate and marry Ruth. | True to his word, Boaz spoke to the other man in front of ten witnesses about Elimelech's estate, and made clear that part of acting as redeemer would include marrying Elimelech's daughter-in-law. The other man then declined and renounced his rights in the matter. To signify this, he drew off his sandal, thus observing a custom similar to that described above for a brother refusing a levirate marriage. The Bible does not say that Boaz spat in the man's face, but only that he accepted the sandal and announced his intention to redeem Elimelech's estate and marry Ruth. | ||
The marriage appears to have taken place in the fourth month of the Jewish year, the month following the wheat harvest. Ruth fell pregnant almost immediately, and her son [[Obed]] was born next spring. The residents of Bethlehem acclaimed his birth, saying, {{Bible quote|''A son has been born to Naomi!''|book=Ruth|chap=4|verses=17|version=NASB}} | The marriage appears to have taken place in the fourth month of the Jewish year, the month following the wheat harvest. Ruth fell pregnant almost immediately, and her son [[Obed]] was born next spring. The residents of Bethlehem acclaimed his birth, saying, {{Bible quote|''"A son has been born to Naomi!"'' - |book=Ruth|chap=4|verses=17|version=NASB}} | ||
Naomi nursed Obed, who later became the grandfather of King [[David]]. | Naomi nursed Obed, who later became the grandfather of King [[David]]. | ||
