Ruth

Well I’ve done it again. I had the option of choosing the easier more well-known story of Ruth 1 where she confesses that she’ll follow Naomi where she goes and that Naomi’s people will be here people and Naomi’s God will be her God, but no I decided to skip that and go to a different part of Ruth that is much harder to preach on. But we’re doing that so we can get a more complete picture of Ruth and what an incredible person of faith she is.

I am being both serious and poking fun at myself about picking a harder text, but I am doing that to show us just how serious Ruth was when she made that incredible claim and statement of faith in Ruth 1:16-17. One bit of information that will help us better understand this story and just how amazing it is, is to remember that Ruth is from Moab. It is mentioned multiple times in our reading, but it is a very important factor. I like to compare it to Gospel times and the tensions and outright hatred that existed between the Jewish people and the Samaritan people. During this time period of Ruth, the Jewish people were trying to re-strengthen their faith with God and in doing so they became very negative toward not just the Moabites but all outsiders that might cause them to stray from God once more.

So Ruth and all other foreigners that were living with the Israelite people found themselves in an upward battle to live with them peaceably despite many of the laws that were meant to protect foreigners. Though the text doesn’t explicitly say any of this, we know that this is happening and I think we have every right to assume that Ruth knew all of this, and I believe that it, as well as her proclamation of faith from Ruth 1, play a big role in what we hear today.

And that’s what we’re going to look at briefly right now. It is Ruth who decides to go and glean during the harvest. Gleaning is the practice of picking up leftovers from the harvest that the paid harvesters left or missed. This was laid out in the book of Leviticus 23:22 “When you harvest your land’s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don’t gather every remaining bit of your harvest. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God.” It was specifically meant for people like Ruth who was both poor and an immigrant, and it is amazing that Ruth knows this law of the Israelites and uses it to provide food security for herself and Naomi.

It’s even more than that though, when Boaz enters the story and asks about her the overseer of the harvesters tells Boaz that this Moabite woman has been working from the the very beginning of the harvest in the early morning until their conversation about her. During the whole harvest she has only taken a brief break. What we learn from this is that she is very hard working and is determined to get the food that she needs for both herself and Naomi. Not only that but then Boaz essentially blesses her and asks God to continue to bless her for everything she has done for Naomi and for seeking refuge under the wings of God. He is praising her for her faith and because of all of this he tells his workers to allow her even more than the gleaning she would have and she continues to work all the way until evening. Despite the kindness she has been shown by Boaz she is still determined to work until the end of the workday and get as much as she can, to again, provide food security for herself and Naomi. And hopefully sell what they can’t use in the market to provide them with the resources to buy other items for their survival.

Despite being a widow, poor, and an immigrant, Ruth is determined to have a plan to sustain the family she has chosen to be a part of. As I mentioned already this determination and dedication to both the God of Israel and her family is noticed by everyone around them. The actions and behavior that Ruth take is able to change the hearts and the minds of the people around her. It seems like they no longer see her as a foreigner and a Moabite and simply as someone who is well respected in the community for what she is doing for her family. Ruth may have not been expecting that outcome, but through her desire to survive and integrate into the society she was in, she was able to transform people’s opinions around her, and that went so far as to cause Boaz to take her as his wife after purchasing their land from them, which also secured their future by providing monetary security for them.

The people are so supportive of the wedding between Boaz and Ruth that the blessing that they bestow upon them is that Ruth may be as blessed as Rachel and Leah who are two of the matriarchs of the people of Israel. Then when Ruth has a son from Boaz, who’s name is Obed the women even claim that the blessing that Ruth has been for Naomi is better than having seven sons. In a society where everything is passed down through the men in the family, saying that a woman, not to mention a foreign woman, is better than seven sons is quite the extraordinary statement.

This woman Ruth, who is now seen as better than seven sons for Naomi, as I mentioned, has a son, who is Obed and Obed is the father of Jesse, and Jesse is the father of David. And yes we are talking about that David. David the king of Israel, the one who is blessed by God and unites the kingdom. That David has a great-great grandmother who is a Moabite. It’s not like she’s just listed in some lineage, but she has an entire book of the Bible dedicated to her and it’s not just because she is the ancestor of David, but for the incredible woman she was. Her tenacity and her faith in herself and the God of Israel allowed her to fully live into the person she was and nothing about her ethnicity or anything else mattered because of it. It was Ruth, as a person and a strong woman of faith, that is lifted up here.

A woman who just so happens to be not only the ancestor of David, but also of Jesus, who is our savior. A savior who also doesn’t care if you are Moabite, American, European, African, Middle Eastern, Asian or anything else. Because God is the God of all people, who sent Jesus for all people. Today we give thanks for this ancestor of faith who teaches us to break down our prejudices based on where someone came from, and who shows us that all people are worthy of God’s love. Amen.