Perhaps the single most limiting thing we can do in reading the
5. THEMES: WHEN STRENGTH, LOYALTY, AND KINDNESS MEET Perhaps the single most limiting thing we can do in reading the book of Ruth is to see it only as a love story – or more precisely, the story of the love between Ruth and Boaz. Although we may tend to think of the book that way, it is not really a story of love between a man and a woman at all. It is a kind of love story, but not the kind we usually presume. If we want to see a love story in the Old Testament, we must look to the Song of Solomon – which is a story or song about the love between a man and a woman. The book of Ruth is not such a story.
If it seems shocking to say that Ruth is not a love story, we should remember that there is not a single word of love spoken between Boaz and Ruth anywhere in the story – only words of kindness and loyalty. Further, nowhere in this story does it say "Boaz loved Ruth" or "Ruth loved Boaz," as it does of men and women in many other biblical books (Genesis 24:67, etc.). This does not mean that the two individuals did not love each other, of course, but that romantic love is not the theme of the book.
In fact, the Hebrew word for love only appears once in the whole book of Ruth – and when it does appear it is not talking about Boaz and Ruth, but about Ruth's love for Naomi. We see this when the women of Bethlehem tell Naomi: "…your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given … birth" (Ruth 4:15, emphasis added).
The book of Ruth is just as much a story of Naomi's love for her daughters-in-law and of Ruth's love for Naomi as it is about love between Ruth and Boaz. We must not forget that the marriage of Ruth and Boaz would never have happened had it not been for Naomi's love for Ruth (Ruth 3:1).
So, contrary to what many people presume, love is not the most important theme in the book of Ruth. But there are other virtues, traits, or characteristics – whatever we may want to call them – highlighted in this story that are really its true themes. In Part One we saw that the three main characters in the book of Ruth exhibit many such good traits, but that individually they each exemplify one trait in particular. Naomi's strength is evident throughout the story, as is Ruth's loyalty, and the kindness of Boaz.
This does not mean that Ruth, for example, does not show strength or kindness – she certainly exhibits these traits. When Ruth insists on remaining with her mother-in-law for a long and potentially dangerous journey, she demonstrates strength as well as loyalty – as she does when she volunteers to forage for food for them, alone, outside of Bethlehem (Ruth 2:2). Ruth's kindness to Naomi, and to Boaz, is noted in the story (Ruth 2:11, 3:10), but the one characteristic that defines her role is her trait of loyalty. Without that, Ruth's strength and kindness would not have accomplished what they did.
In a similar way, Naomi displays loyalty and kindness to Ruth, and Boaz exhibits strength and loyalty as well as kindness in his dealings. But the three traits of strength, loyalty, and kindness are so linked to the three individual characters that they almost define them. We could even say that Naomi personifies strength, Ruth loyalty, and Boaz kindness – so much so, that to say the book of Ruth is a story of strength, loyalty, and kindness is simply another way of saying it is the story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz.
Interestingly, although the story of Ruth uses these three traits as its major themes, it turns them upside down as stereotypes. We might expect that Boaz ("strength is within him") would be the character to personify strength, but it is the woman Naomi who most exemplifies this trait in the story. Similarly, we might possibly expect it would be one of the women who would be most associated with kindness in this ancient story, but it is Boaz with whom this trait is continually connected.
Yet the three traits do not exist apart from each other. Each is vital to the eventual outcome of the story. If we removed Naomi from the book, it would become little more than a detailing of how a relationship came about between Ruth and Boaz. If we take Ruth from the story and substitute any other young woman, it might well become a simple account of an ancient marriage of responsibility. If Boaz is removed from the narrative, the story loses a great deal because it is his characteristic kindness that leads to the eventual happiness of both Naomi and Ruth.
There is a practical lesson in this. So often we only see good traits and deeds in isolation. It is easy to think of virtues like loyalty and kindness without seeing the potential they have beyond our immediate interactions with others – we can miss the often very real "ripple effects" they cause.
The strength shown by Naomi, for example, doubtless helped her in navigating the long road from personal suffering to happiness, but it also helped others. Without Naomi's strength, Ruth would not have had the opportunity to exhibit loyalty. Without Ruth's loyalty, Boaz would not have had opportunity to demonstrate the kindness he did.
The story of Ruth shows that the expression of godly characteristics in good deeds makes it possible for others to do good deeds of their own. This is something the New Testament tells us to think about – how we might do that also: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24). The expression "to spur on" in this scripture implies actions, not just words.
It is only because strength, loyalty and kindness meet and interact in the story of Ruth that the story ends as it does, and that it is as compelling, as beautiful, and as powerful as it is. When we exhibit qualities in our own lives that help others express and use good qualities in theirs, our lives can become remarkable stories, also.