Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Ruth 4

I don't really like the stuff that is going on in the next bit of the Book of Ruth with the blatant women-are-property-but-not-only-that-they-are-a-real-estate-entanglement-like-the-anti-dowry-of-this-awesome-land-that-for-some-reason-Naomi-can't-run-and-manage-and-sell-for-herself stuff going on.

HOWEVER, I do love the story of how once Boaz and Ruth do get married (which we, the watchers of the modern rom-com knew from the minute he first asked who this pretty woman gathering the strays from his field, knew was coming) it finally bring Naomi back to life and everyone (who has not been calling her Mara as far as I can tell, despite her request) turns to Naomi and says, "Your life is blessed, be happy!" They tell her Ruth is worth more than all that she lost and now "Naomi has a son" which is the point where perhaps the most impressively laidback, loving daughter-in-law thing that Ruth endures in this story.

No really, reading the book, I am somehow most impressed by how laidback Ruth is portrayed as being when she goes about nailing down Boaz, not to mention going to the field in the first place. Considering how well she expressed herself on the road, the fact that Naomi tells her exactly what to say and do for the rest of the story seems just...off to me.

But since I'm not sure what to do with any of that, perhaps I can have Ruth describe Naomi holding Obed (the father of Jesse, father of David, the book of the Ruth ends by telling us, thus part of the line leading to Jesus).

RUTH

I didn't know quite what to make of all the hoops Naomi and Boaz seemed to think we had to jump through. All of my life there were still customs of my new people that would seem strange to me, and if it wouldn't have given away the place where I had hid to watch his negotiation, I would have laughed aloud when Boaz removed his sandal to seal a land and marriage contract.

But any amount of nonsense was worth the price of knowing so clearly that Naomi's God, my God, sanctioned my marriage into his family. That this time, He was welcoming me as a fellow child, not a Moabite wife of a lost lamb in His flock. Perhaps that was even the point of it all, laying at Boaz's feet on the threshing floor, the lines about the cloak, the sandal swap before the elders of the community. Strange little things we do because the mind of God is unfathomable. Strange little things that remind us He is watching over us.

And when my son was first put into her arms, I saw the light inside Naomi rekindle. Like someone struck flint. It flickered a moment, but then at last it shone out, proud and strong again. Everyone who clustered about her, saying I was worth seven sons, saying the guardian redeemer of our family had not left her, saying God was still blessing her, I had worried they but reminded her of the times God had not seemed to be there. As my womb grew quick all those around her fluttered to tell her she was blessed, her life was sweet. No one agreed to call her Mara any more.

But when Obed was put into her arms, she lit up again. We called him Obed, it means a worker. Because even in his first moments, he did the work of God.