INTRODUCTION
Even today in the American Jewish community, an Orthodox rabbi will not perform a marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew.[1] Moreover, he will not conduct the wedding ceremony unless the non-Jewish person was converted in accordance with Halakhah, the Jewish law.[2] In Ruth’s book, the storyteller does not give any hint regarding the conversions of Orpah and Naomi into Judaism before their marriage to Naomi’s sons. After a certain point, unlike Orpah, Ruth departs with Naomi even after Naomi’s three repeating appeals. More importantly, Naomi gave up her resistance after she received the confession from Ruth (1:16-17). Does Ruth’s statement toward Naomi is a sign of her conversion into Israel’s faith? In this essay, we will investigate this question by using the plot and the characters used by the storyteller in the first chapter of Ruth’s Book, its wider context within a book and its canonical context.
SETTING UP THE PLATFORM (1:1-5)
The narrator sets a stage on Ruth 1:1-5, introduces six of the characters and building a base for the story to unwrap.[3] The first verse informs us the events took place at the time of Judges (1:1). It is a time of political uncertainty, religious apostasy, economic catastrophe, lawlessness and anarchy.[4]
The story opens with a journey from Bethlehem to Moab. A man named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion were the migrants. On the one hand, Elimelech is from a subgroup of the tribe of Judah from Bethlehem (meaning ‘House of Bread’) became a place of famine.[5] On the other hand, Moabites are the children of “an incestuous union between the Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:30-38)” and they were prohibited forever to take part in the assembly of Yahweh (Deuteronomy 23:3-4).[6]
Elimelech (meaning ‘My God Is King’) died in Moab after some time of their arrival (1:3).[7] His sons Mahlon and Chilion died too after their ten years of childless married life with Moabite women Orpah and Ruth respectively (1:5). Naomi and her daughters-in-law in a near-demise situation and no men in the family leave them with no identity.[8]
RETURNING TO JUDAH (1:6-18)
Now, the story takes the opposite direction even in geographically. This section starts that Naomi heard about the current situation in Israel of Yahweh provided food to the people (1:6). She decided to go back to Bethlehem.
In the first negotiation, verses 8-10, with a farewell prayer, Naomi dismisses her daughters-in-law to go back to their fathers.[9] But both Orpah and Ruth resisted their mother-in-law’s attempt to send them away. The journey of the trio continues.
In the second dialogue (1:11-14), Naomi asks “Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands?” (1:11). She here refers explicitly to the practice of yibum, a levirate marriage.[10] For instance, the story of Tamar in Genesis 38.[11] Orpah (meaning “neck” or “fawn”) looked at her situation and made the necessary decisions by using exactly the same logic that Naomi had followed earlier: the fields of Moab looked far greener than the land of Israel.[12] With that simple, sensible choice she marched off, out of the pages of the Bible, however, Ruth clung to her decision.[13]
Naomi makes one last attempt to send Ruth away using Orpah as an example (1:15). She responded as “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” (1:16-17)
Many modern-day scholars question whether or not verses 16-17 represents the conversion process of Ruth into Israel’s faith.[14] There was no question about Ruth as a proselyte (a new convert; especially a gentile converted to Judaism) within Rabbinic tradition.[15] The prototypical framework for the conversion or would-be proselyte is provided in the first chapter of Ruth with the help of Rabbinic interpretation.[16]
When Ruth and Orpah declare that they will go back with Naomi to her home country, they state that their purpose is to become followers of her God.[17] And they said to her, “No, we will not return to our people and our god, but rather we will return with you to your people to become proselytes.” (TgRuth 1:10)[18]
Ruth’s declaration “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you” is interpreted as follows, “Do not entreat me’ – She said to her: do not sin against me, do not turn your misfortunes (from the verb paga , translated here as ‘entreat’) away from me … I am fully resolved to convert, but better at your hands than at those of another. When Naomi heard this she began to set in order before her the laws of conversion.” (Ruth Rabbah 2:22)[19]
Traditionally, how to receive a potential convert with reluctance was recorded in Ruth Rabbah.[20] In the first chapter of Ruth, Naomi practices three times to send away her daughters-in-law using the same Hebrew term ‘shovnah’, turn back.[21] “Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani in the name of Rabbi Yudan son of rabbi Hanina [said]: In three places it is written here, ‘shovnah, shovnah, shovnah’, ‘turn back, turn back, turn back’ corresponding to the three times they push the potential convert away. But if he persists more than this they accept him.” (Ruth Rabbah 2:16)[22]
Murray forces, “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” gets a central place among Ruth’s statement.[23] Additionally, by taking an oath by Yahweh, reveals her as a true convert of the God of Israel.[24] Since it contrasts with the description given to Orpah in verse 15, “Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods.” Admittedly, the conversion process represented by following the order of placing ‘people’ first, and only then succeeded by ‘God’.[25] The commitment first made toward national community, naturalisation, and only then, as an expected result, religious commitment.[26]
Ruth’s concluding vow varies from the usual formula as she uses the divine name (Yahweh) rather than the more general term (God) normally used in vows.[27] This emphasizes that it is indeed Yahweh, the God of Israel, in whom she trusts.[28] Thus, the narrator makes a point of saying that Naomi became speechless when she notices the resolution of her daughter-in-law to go with her.[29] As Tribe discerns, “From a cultural perspective, Ruth has chosen death over life. She has disavowed the solidarity of family; she has abandoned national identity; and she has renounced religious affiliation. In the entire epic of Israel, only Abraham matches this radically, but then he had a call from God (Genesis 12:1-5).”[30]
INTERIM CONCLUSION
To sum up, according to Rabbinic traditions, original receivers and even after the time of Jesus, Ruth’s confession was seen as a process of conversion into Israel’s faith. Moreover, Naomi’s compelling act also was a sign of proselyte initiation with her daughters-in-law. Overall, Ruth passed the test by resisting Naomi’s three repeating persuasions but Orpah chose not to do, made a decision which she felt was sensible to her.
IMMEDIATE LITERARY CONTEXT AND THE CONTEXT OF THE BOOK
The title of the Book of Ruth gives a hint that Ruth is a central figure of this book. However, this argument alone does not answer the question the confession of Ruth to Naomi is a sign of real conversion into Judaism. Soon, in chapter two, the narrator introduces a character, Boaz.
When the Targumist enlarges Ruth’s humble biblical image, it shows her developing knowledge of Torah.[31] First, Ruth is recognising that her state as Moabite ought to make her particularly disgusting, at the same time, she is not just questioning his generosity and the recognition of her foreignness(2:10).[32] She is remembering the verse Deut. 23:4, “No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” The Targum of Ruth addresses this concern by Boaz’s reply to Ruth in 2:11-12:
Boaz replied and said to her, “It has surely been told to me concerning the word of the sages that, when the Lord decreed concerning them, he did not decree against any but the men… because you have supported your mother-in-law after your husband died and you forsook your god and your people [and your father and mother] and the land of your birth and went to become a proselyte and to dwell among a people who were not known to you before. May the Lord repay you a good payment in this world for your good deeds, and may your reward be perfect in the next world from before the Lord, the God of Israel, to whom you have come to become a proselyte and to shelter under the shadow of his glorious Shekinah…” (TgRuth 2:11-12)
According to Mosaic Law, if a man dies without children, his brother should marry his widow (Deut. 25:5-10). This type of marriage is called levirate marriage (from the Latin levir, which means husband’s brother).[33] Another practice in Israel was land cannot be sold permanently as it belongs to the Lord (Lev. 25:23).[34] But in some cases, the poor can sell their property, it can be redeemed by his uncle or a cousin or other blood relative acting as a goel (meaning “kinsmen-redeemer” or “guardian redeemer”).[35]
Naomi plans these two practices on Ruth with Boaz. When Ruth approaches Boaz to be redeemed (Ruth 3:10), he accepted it and arranged redemption in the next day morning (Ruth 4:12). Followed by it, Boaz marries Ruth.
The first chapter ends with Naomi calling herself “empty” and “bitter.” But the conclusion of Ruth’s Book turned out to be the reversal of its introduction, showing how the Lord redeemed Naomi’s life through Ruth’s love (Ruth 4:15).[36] The childless widow Naomi became the grandmother of Obed (Ruth’s son).[37] Nevertheless, Ruth is the great-grandmother of King David, a descendant of Obed.
CONTEXT OF THE CANON
Similar to Ruth’s story, in verses Genesis 38:6-6, Judah attempted a levirate marriage on Tamar his daughter-in-law. Tamar and Ruth were childless widows.[38] Though no information on Tamar’s background is provided, it is likely that she was a Canaanite.[39] The Book of Ruth clearly shows, Yahweh chooses a foreign woman Ruth as an ancestress for David (Ruth 4:22) although it contradicts with “No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the Lord. (Deut. 23:4)”[40]
Similar to Ruth, Rahab in Joshua 2:9-11, confesses her faith in Yahweh. She briefly summarised Israel’s history from the oppressive bondage of Egyptians to their victory over kings and nations that threatened them. Rahab exalted God, confessing that “the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11) Rahab offered to help the Israelites and remained faithful to her task despite the fact she was risking her life (Joshua 2:3). She is the mother of Boaz, Ruth’s husband.[41]
Among gospel writers, Matthew’s genealogy differs from Luke’s genealogy as it includes four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. In Jewish culture, it is unusual to include women in the genealogy, especially, three of these women are gentiles not even Jewish.[42] Bathsheba’s first husband was a Hittite, thus not Jewish (2 Samuel 11:3).
In both Greek and Jewish culture, a woman had no legal rights.[43] She could not inherit property or give testimony in a court of law.[44] She was completely under her husband’s power and was seen less as a person than as a thing.[45] Being not created as a slave, a gentile or a woman was part of a daily thanksgiving prayer for a Jewish man.[46] And yet there are four women in Jesus’ genealogy. Matthew might have chosen them precisely because their presence in Jesus’ ancestral line is consistent with the understanding that Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham that people from all nations would be blessed through him and his descendants.[47]
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, indeed Ruth’s
confession to Naomi was a confession of faith in Yahweh. Her confession was
understood in its original context as a symbolism of conversion. Moreover, Boaz
confirms Ruth as a proselyte in Judah, and he redeems and marries her as per
tradition in a wider setting. Finally, Ruth’s name placed among the other three
women in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus professes the promise of universal
blessing made to Abraham. Through Ruth, the line of Abraham and Lot came
together.
[1] Steven Riskin, “CONVERSION IN JEWISH LAW,” Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought 14, no. 2 (1973): 29–42.
[2] Riskin.
[3] Carolyn Pressler, Joshua, Judges and Ruth (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 265.
[4] Chris Wright and Ajith Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary, ed. Brian Wintle et al. (Rajasthan etc.: Open Door Publications Pvt Ltd., 2015), 332.
[5] Jeremy Schipper and John J. Collins, Ruth: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, First Edition edition (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016), 97.
[6] Pressler, Joshua, Judges and Ruth, 266.
[7] Debra Reid, Ruth and Esther: Put Your Life in the Lord’s Hands (Leicester: Crossway Books, 2000), 34.
[8] Wright and Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary, 333.
[9] Pressler, Joshua, Judges and Ruth, 269.
[10] “Levirate marriage” – When a husband dies, leaving no male offspring, one of his brothers is obliged to marry the widow and beget children with her, serving as a kind of proxy for his deceased brother. See, Robert Alter, trans., Strong As Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel, A Translation with Commentary, 1 edition (W. W. Norton & Company, 2016), 72.
[11] Alter, 72.
[12] Iain M. Duguid, Esther & Ruth: Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2005), 149.
[13] Duguid, 150.
[14] Christian M M Brady, “The Conversion of Ruth in Targum Ruth,” The Review of Rabbinic Judaism 16, no. 2 (2013): 133–46.
[15] Brady, 133–46.
[16] Brady, 133–46.
[17] Brady, 133–46.
[18] “TARGUM” – Early translation of the Bible into Aramaic, also include a large amount of biblical commentary. See, Chad Brand, Eric Mitchell, and Holman Reference Editorial Staff, eds., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Revised, Revised and Expanded edition (Holman Reference, 2015), 1531.
[19] “Ruth Rabbah” – is an exegetical Midrash which expounds the Book of Ruth chapter by chapter, verse by verse, and, sometimes, word by word. See, “Ruth Rabbah,” accessed June 15, 2019, https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ruth-rabbah.
[20] Jonathan Magonet, “RABBINIC READINGS OF RUTH,” European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe 40, no. 2 (2007): 150–57.
[21] Magonet, 151.
[22] Magonet, 151.
[23] Murray D.Gow, The Book of Ruth (Leicester: Apollos, 1992), 37.
[24] D.Gow, 37.
[25] Magonet, “RABBINIC READINGS OF RUTH,” 152.
[26] Magonet, 152.
[27] D.Gow, The Book of Ruth, 38.
[28] D.Gow, 38.
[29] D.Gow, 38.
[30] Phyllis Trible, God and Rhetoric of Sexuality, 2d ptg. edition (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 173.
[31] Brady, “The Conversion of Ruth in Targum Ruth,” 140.
[32] Brady, 140.
[33] Wright and Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary, 335.
[34] Wright and Fernando, 335.
[35] ESV Bibles by Crossway, ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2008), 482.
[36] Crossway, 483.
[37] Crossway, 483.
[38] Wright and Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary, 1223.
[39] Wright and Fernando, 1223.
[40] Wright and Fernando, 1223.
[41] Wright and Fernando, 338.
[42] Wright and Fernando, 1223.
[43] Crossway, ESV Study Bible, 721.
[44] Crossway, ESV Study Bible, 722.
[45] Crossway, 722.
[46] Crossway, 722.
[47] Wright and Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary, 1224.