"Your people shall be my people" - Reflections on the Book of Ruth for Shavuot

 

"Ruth replied, “Do not plead with me to abandon you, to turn back from following you. For 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, and worse, if anything but death comes between me and you!”" Ruth 1:16 - 17

Listen to a beautiful song by Alicia Jo Rabins telling the story of Ruth here

The Festival of Shavuot celebrates the harvest of the first fruits, and the giving of the Torah by God on Mount Sinai and its acceptance by the Jewish people. At the centre of this covenant for living together in right relationship is the concept of hesed of loving kindness or steadfast love. 

Shavuot celebrates the Torah as the first fruits of the relationship between God and his people, and the first fruits of the land, in the barley harvest. The Book of Ruth is read in synagogues as part of the Shavuot services. Part of the story includes the barley harvest, and it is also a story of hesed in action – it is about people living in right relationship.

The Book of Ruth centres around the relationship between Naomi, a woman from Bethlehem, in Judah, and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, from Moab (present-day Jordan). It is one of only two books of the Bible to be named after a woman, and the only one to have female friendship at its core.

Ruth is set in the time of the Judges, a chaotic and tumultuous time in Israel's history before the establishment of a monarchy in approximately 1020 BCE. The themes of the story include return, restoration, and redemption, which makes it likely that it was written in the time of the Babylonian exile or shortly after the return, between 586 and 500 BCE. 

Ruth is a very human story. There are no miracles, no burning bushes, no voices from the storm. God works through the actions of people caring for each other. It is only ever implicit, rather than explicit, in the text, that God is behind the reverse of fortunes for the two women. 

Naomi and her husband and sons travel from Bethlehem to Moab to escape famine. In Moab their sons marry Moabite women. In the next few years, all the men of the family die, leaving Naomi with her daughters-in-law. Naomi urges them to return to their birth families, but Ruth refuses, declaring her loyalty to Naomi, saying, “Your people will be my people and your God my God.” Naomi and Ruth return to Judah, where Boaz, a wealthy landowner and relative of Naomi, shows Ruth kindness and provides for her, and ultimately marries her. Ruth then becomes the great-grandmother of King David, and thus the ancestor of Jesus. 

On the surface, Ruth is a simple story of faithfulness and kindness, but there are several layers to it. Let us look first in detail at the human level. Shavuot commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, and its acceptance by the Israelites. At the heart of this covenant or moral code for living in community is the injunction to treat each other kindly – to love your neighbour as yourself. In the story of Ruth we see this enacted in everyday life.

All three major characters embody “hesed” - this Hebrew word, which often refers to one of the characteristics of God, is difficult to translate into English. It is translated variously as “loving-kindness”, “steadfast love”, “mercy”, “faithfulness”, or simply “love”. Most biblical commentators agree that none of these translations fully express “hesed”, but touch on components of it. Naomi, Ruth and Boaz all respond to kindness shown them with acts of loyalty and generosity that go beyond the obligations of simple reciprocity. 

The 12th century Jewish philosopher Maimonides wrote of hesed that it, “includes two notions, one of them consisting in the exercise of beneficence towards one who deserves it, but in greater measure than he deserves it. In most cases, the prophetic books use the word hesed in the sense of practising beneficence towards one who has no right at all to claim this from you.” (Guide for the Perplexed)

In our week ahead, perhaps we might like to reflect on how such kindness, loyalty and generosity manifests in our lives. When have others taken risks and gone the extra mile to help us? How do we give generously of our resources to help others?

There is also a national or political layer to the story of Ruth. With its positive portrayal of Ruth as a foreign convert, the book may have been written as an antidote to those voices who were discouraging intermarriage in the post-exilic period. Ruth takes a risk to follow the call of her love for Naomi, in leaving her homeland, her people, and going to live in a foreign land, where she is unsure of how she will be received or whether she will be cared for. She puts her trust in Naomi, and in her people and her God.

Let us reflect on how we build relationships with people of different cultures and backgrounds to ourselves – personally as a society – how do we welcome the stranger? How do we make sure that those in need are provided for and cared for?

There is an even bigger picture in Ruth – a cosmological layer – one that relates to humanity as part of Nature.  Ruth's journey mirrors the journey of the first half of the year from winter to summer – from famine to feast, from fallow to fertile. This is one of those stories which for me illustrates the saying that the world is God's body – and we are God's hands and feet. In Ruth, the Divine Plan is fulfilled through human actions. It says, when we bless the world with our kindness, we are blessed in return. The Law of Reciprocity again. 

In the early medieval biblical commentary known as Midrash, Rabbi Zeira wrote of Ruth, “This scroll tells nothing either of cleanliness or of uncleanliness, neither of prohibition or permission. For what purpose then was it written? To teach how great is the reward of those who do deeds of kindness.” (Midrash Ruth Rabbah 2.13)

What does our experience teach us? Do we believe that kindness will be rewarded by blessings? Do we believe that the universe is ultimately a friendly place? Do we trust in the God of our understanding or Life? Is there Love at the heart of things? 

Give All to Love by Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Give all to love; 

Obey thy heart;

Friends, kindred, days, 

Estate, good-fame, 

Plans, credit and the Muse,—

Nothing refuse.

’T is a brave master; 

Let it have scope:

Follow it utterly, 

Hope beyond hope.

It was never for the mean; 

It requireth courage stout.

Souls above doubt, 

Valor unbending, 

It will reward,—

They shall return 

More than they were, 

And ever ascending."