If Ruth is not, strictly speaking, the heroine of the book that bears
2. RUTH: LOYALTY
If Ruth is not, strictly speaking, the heroine of the book that bears her name, she is certainly the "co-heroine." Like her mother-inlaw, Naomi, Ruth is a woman of excellent character (Ruth 3:11) and exhibits many of the good characteristics of the older woman as well as others of her own. As a result, Ruth holds a very special place in the stories of the Bible. She is the only convert from a pagan society to have a biblical book named after her, and, with Esther, she is one of only two women to have been honored in this way.
There are actually many additional similarities between the stories of Esther and Ruth. Both individuals were foreigners living in a land that was not their own. Both were women of integrity who found favor in the eyes of others. Both dressed in special garments to accomplish their goals. In both books the turning point of the story is a wedding – in both cases between an Israelite and a nonIsraelite. Most importantly, both individuals were women through whom God acted. Through Esther the Jewish people were saved physically, and through Ruth a single family line was saved. But, as we will see, it was the line through which a much greater salvation would eventually come.
When we read the story of Ruth it is easy to presume that she was a gentle, clinging type, because the story tells us early on that she "clung" (Ruth 1:14) to her mother-in-law when Naomi wished to return to her original home. Yet Ruth's strength and loyalty are evident in that, unlike her sister-in-law, Orpah, she chose to go with Naomi despite the fact that the journey might be extremely dangerous and that she would be going to a strange land with no other friends or relatives and would be left alone and destitute if anything were to happen to Naomi.
Ruth's name means "companion" or "friend," and she exemplifies the loyalty of the true friend in staying with Naomi. But we must remember the conditions extant at the time of the Judges
to realize the strength of loyalty behind Ruth's decision. Ruth's first recorded words – among the most memorable in the Old Testament – are to Naomi and show this attitude:
… Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me. (Ruth 1:16-17). In this regard Ruth is like the Good Samaritan of the New Testament – a non-Jew from a group despised by many Jews – who acted with great courage and kindness toward a Jewish person. Just as in Christ's parable the Samaritan stopped to assist the injured Jew in a dangerous area when even other Jews quickly "passed by" (Luke 10:30-33), so Ruth chose to stay with and assist the vulnerable Naomi on her journey.
The comparison is an apt one because Ruth, as a Moabite, also represented a group disliked by many Jews – the Old Testament equivalent of the New Testament Samaritans. This was because at the time of Israel's journeying from Egypt to the Promised Land, the people of Moab afflicted the Israelites in three ways. Not only did they refuse to supply the Israelites with food (Deuteronomy 23:4), but their women were also used to seduce Israelite men to sexual immorality and idolatry (Numbers 25:1-3), and the people of Moab also hired the prophet Balaam to attempt to bring a curse on Israel (Numbers 22:1-6). Because of these actions, the Israelites were commanded to not allow Moabites into their congregation to the "tenth generation" (Deuteronomy 23:3).
In Ruth's case, she was allowed to become part of the people of Israel because she had accepted Israel's God (Ruth 1:16). So we see in the Hebrew that Ruth progresses in the story from foreigner (Ruth 2:10), to maidservant (Ruth 2:13), to handmaid (Ruth 3:9), to wife of an important Israelite (Ruth 4:10), and to being the ancestor
of Israel's greatest king (Ruth 4:17). Even so, her Moabite background was of no small importance, and Ruth is referred to not once, but six times as "Ruth the Moabite" in the book named for her.
But in Ruth we see the mutual hatred between the Jews and Moabites overturned. Ruth becomes the antithesis of her Moabite heritage, reversing the pattern of all three of the evils Moab brought on Israel. Not only does she supply Naomi with food, but also she does not use seductive methods to win Boaz (as we will see in Chapter 4), and her actions lead to great blessings upon Naomi and ultimately, through her descendants, on all of Israel.
Once Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem, Ruth's devoted loyalty is seen once more in her willingness to volunteer to go out, alone, to forage for food for herself and Naomi (Ruth 2:2). Again, we must remind ourselves of the uncertain and often dangerous times in which this story occurred to appreciate that Ruth, like Naomi, was a woman of strength, as well as a deeply loyal daughterin-law and friend.
Beyond her great loyalty, Ruth demonstrates many virtues reminiscent of the description of the "perfect wife" of Proverbs 31. In fact, this is a comparison that merits reflection. In our English Bibles the book of Ruth is included in the historical books – as a bridge between the stories recorded in the book of Judges and the life of David that is recorded in First Samuel. But in the original order in which this book was placed in the Hebrew Bible, Ruth is set directly after the book of Proverbs. In this position the book provides a perfect example of the kind of woman Proverbs extolls in its closing chapter. Her behavior is loving, loyal, respectful, diligent and strong, just as is that of the perfect wife of Proverbs 31.
For example, Ruth displays the kind of loyalty the perfect wife does (Proverbs 31:11-12). Like the perfect wife of Proverbs, she "dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong" working from early in the morning and accomplishing a great deal each day (Proverbs 31:15, 17 and Ruth 2:6-7). Beyond these physical traits, Ruth virtuously "opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue
is the law of kindness" (Proverbs 31:26 NKJV and Ruth 3:10, etc.). We will see that Boaz particularly noticed this trait of kindness.
The extent to which the "virtuous woman" of Proverbs 31:10 is so perfectly exemplified by Ruth is seen in that this is exactly the same phrase that Boaz uses of Ruth in Ruth 3:11. In fact, it is possible that the description of the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 was actually inspired by the story of Ruth. Whatever the case, Ruth remains one of the Bible's most beautiful examples of humility, integrity, bravery, and above all, loyalty.