3 Key Themes in the Book of Ruth

Several themes appear in the book of Ruth and figure in its interpretation.

1. The Kinsman Redeemer

The book provides the only clear biblical enactment of the Mosaic law concerning the “kinsman redeemer”—or, as the process is otherwise designated, “levirate marriage”—described in Dt 25:5-6 (where “brothers” probably signifies the closest male relations). According to this law, the closest male relative (yet in post-biblical practice only actual paternal brothers) of a woman’s dead husband is obligated to marry that widow if she has no son (yet in post-biblical practice no child, so that if she has a daughter the law does not apply). The practice of levirate marriage is well attested and legislatively expanded among post-biblical (including contemporary religious) Jewry. This law represents God’s compassionate codification and refinement of the pre-Mosaic custom attested in Gn 38:6-14, 26 (hence the comparison in Ru 4:12). It was intended to ensure that (1) the woman’s needs would be supplied in a proper way by a male provider, and (2) the “name” (i.e., reputation and inheritance; see comments on Gn 11:1-4, 1026) of the deceased husband would endure (i.e., “not be blotted out from Israel,” per Dt 25:6).

This law and its exemplification by Boaz is also significant as a further enhancement of the biblical image of God as “Redeemer,” since the legal term for “kinsman-redeemer” (go’el)—and hence the term applied to Boaz (in Ru 2:20; 3:9, 12; 4:14)—is also applied in the Bible to God. This occurs especially in the book of Isaiah with reference to His complete (i.e., spiritual and material) work of redemption, as in Is 49:6-7: “‘It is too small a thing that you should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make you a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’ Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer [go’el] of Israel and its Holy One . . .” (cf. also Is 44:24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:26; 54:5-8; 59:20; 60:16; 63:16; Jb 19:25; Ps 19:15; Jr 50:34).

2. The “Woman of Valor”

As noted above, in the predominant Jewish tradition of biblical organization (following the early tradition of Jews living in the land of Israel), the book of Ruth immediately follows Proverbs, thus highlighting the canonical-thematic link between the last pericope in Proverbs describing the ideal “woman of valor” (ēshet hayil; Pr 31:10) and Ruth. She is the only real biblical woman to whom that expression is applied (Ru 3:11).

As therefore might be expected, the various positive qualities and actions that characterize the “woman of valor” in Pr 31 are associated with Ruth at various points throughout the narrative, in some instances even employing the same terminology. Thus the woman of valor rises early in the morning to set about her work (31:5), as does Ruth (2:7; 3:14); the woman of valor works with dogged industriousness (31:27), as does Ruth (2:7, 17); the woman of valor is not dissuaded from difficult tasks, but rather “girds herself with strength” (31:17), as does Ruth (2:17-18, see comments); the woman of valor always takes thought to supply her family’s needs (31:15), as does Ruth (2:14, 18); the woman of valor is characterized by “the teaching” (i.e., the exemplary doing) of hesed (“lovingkindness”; 31:26), as is Ruth (1:8; 3:10); the woman of valor is blessed by her husband (31:28), as is Ruth (by her husband-to-be; 3:10); and because of her works the woman of valor is praised “in the gates” (i.e., by the city; 31:31), as is Ruth (3:11).

Considering Ruth’s background, moreover, the practical challenge of this canonical link and unique distinction is clear: If Ruth could achieve this status in the face of her many disadvantages (raised outside the community of faith, a new convert, a widow, and beset by poverty), how much more so should the Israelite (or Christian) woman behave who is not beset by these cumulative disadvantages?

3. The Doing of Chesed

One of the key words in the book of Ruth is the Hebrew term chesed, which may be variously translated/understood as “lovingkindness,” “kindness,” “favor,” or “grace.” Perhaps it is best described by the preeminent medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides (late 12th century): “the doing of good to one who is not entitled to it from you at all…[or]the doing of more good to one than that to which he is entitled . . . for which reason every good thing deriving from the Exalted One is designated chesed” (Guide of the Perplexed, ed. Qafih, §iii.53).

Significantly, of its three occurrences in the book of Ruth, Ruth herself is the doer and/or recipient of the chesed. Thus, in 1:8 Ruth and Orpah are presented as the past doers and potential recipients of divine chesed in Naomi’s statement, “May the Lord treat you with chesed just as you have treated those who are (now) dead and me.” Also, in 2:20 Ruth and Naomi (i.e., “the living,” which is plural); as well as Elimelech and Ruth’s husband Mahlon (“the dead,” likewise plural) are identified as the recipients of divine chesed in Naomi’s statement, “May he [i.e., Boaz] be blessed of the Lord who has not withdrawn his [chesed] to the living and to the dead.” Further, in 3:10 Ruth is presented as the doer of chesed in Boaz’s declaration, “You have shown your last [chesed] to be better than the first . . .” This consistent presentation of Ruth as the doer and/or recipient of chesed is both rooted in and reflective of the larger purpose of the book: to emphasize the extent of application (i.e., for Gentiles as well as Jews) of true faith and the blessing that attends it.