It came to pass during a famine that a certain man went to sojourn in
the country of Moab with his wife, whose name was Naomi, and two sons.
The husband died there and the two sons also, having married, died
after ten years, leaving Naomi a widow with two widowed
daughters-in-law, whose names were Orpah and Ruth. She decided to
return to the country whence she had come, but advised the younger
widows to remain and go back to the families of their mothers. I am
too old, she said, to bear again husbands for you, and even if I could
do so, would you therefore tarry till they were grown? Orpah thereupon
kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her people; but Ruth clave
unto her and said "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou
lodgest, I will lodge.... Where thou diest, will I die." So the two
went until they came to Bethlehem, in which place Naomi had a kinsman
of her husband, a mighty man of wealth, whose name was Boaz. They
arrived in the beginning of the barley harvest, and Ruth went and
gleaned in the field after the reapers. Her hap was to light on the
portion of the field belonging to Boaz. When he saw her he asked the
reapers "Whose damsel is this?" And they told him. Then Boaz spoke to
Ruth and told her to glean in his field and abide with his maidens,
and when athirst drink of that which the young men had drawn; and he
told the young men not to touch her. At meal-time he gave her bread to
eat and vinegar to dip it in, and he told his young men to let her
glean even among the sheaves and also to pull out some for her from
the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean and rebuke her not. And
he did all this because, as he said to her,
"It hath been shewed me, all that them hast done to thy
mother-in-law since the death of thine husband: and how thou
hast left thy father and mother, and the land of thy
nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not
heretofore."
So Ruth gleaned in the field until even; then she beat out what she
had gleaned and took it to Naomi and told her all that had happened.
And Naomi said unto her,
"My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it
may be well with thee? And now is there not Boaz our
kinsman, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he
winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing-floor. Wash
thyself therefore, and anoint thee and put thy raiment
upon thee, and get thee down to the threshing-floor;
but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall
have done eating and drinking. And it shall be, when he
lieth down, that thou shalt mark the place where he
shall lie, and thou shalt go in, and uncover his feet,
and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou wilt
do."
And Ruth did as her mother-in-law bade her. And when Boaz had eaten
and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of
the heap of corn; and she came softly and uncovered his feet, and laid
her down. And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid
[startled], and turned himself; and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.
And he said, "who art thou?" And she answered, "I am Ruth thine
handmaid; spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou art
a near kinsman." And he said,
"Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter; thou hast
shewed more kindness in the latter end, than at the
beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men,
whether poor or rich. And now, my daughter, fear not; I
will do to thee all that thou sayest; for all the city
of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.
And now it is true that I am a near kinsman: howbeit
there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night, and
it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform
unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the
kinsman's part; but if he will not do the part of a
kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman
to thee, as the LORD liveth: lie down until the
morning."
And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one
could discern another. For he said, "Let it not be known that the
woman came to the threshing-floor." Then he gave her six measures of
barley and went into the city. He sat at the gate until the other
kinsman he had spoken of came by, and Boaz said to him,
"Naomi selleth the parcel of land which was our brother
Elimelech's. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it; but if
thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may know;
for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am
after thee. What day thou buyest the field of the hand
of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth, the wife of
the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his
inheritance."
And the near kinsman said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I
mar mine own inheritance; take then my right of redemption on thee;
for I cannot redeem it. Buy it for thyself." And he drew off his shoe.
And Boaz called the elders to witness, saying,
"Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I
purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the
dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be
not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate
of his place."
So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife.
How anyone can read this charmingly told, frank, and realistic tale of
ancient Hebrew life and call it a love-story, passeth all
understanding. There is not the slightest suggestion of love, either
sensual or sentimental, on the part of either Ruth or Boaz. Ruth, at
the suggestion of her mother-in-law, spends a night in a way which
would convict a Christian widow, to say the least, of an utter lack of
that modesty and coy reserve which are a woman's great charm, and
which, even among the pastoral Hebrews, cannot have been approved,
inasmuch as Boaz did not want it to be known that she had come to the
threshing-floor. He praises Ruth for following "not young men, whether
rich or poor." She followed him, a wealthy old man. Would love have
acted thus? What she wanted was not a lover but a protector ("rest for
thee that it may be well for thee," as Naomi said frankly), and above
all a son in order that her husband's name might not perish. Boaz
understands this as a matter of course; but so far is he, on his part,
from being in love with Ruth, that he offers her first to the other
relative, and on his refusal, buys her for himself, without the least
show of emotion indicating that he was doing anything but his duty. He
was simply fulfilling the law of the Levirate, as written in
Deuteronomy (25:5), ordaining that if a husband die without leaving a
son his brother shall take the widow to him to wife and perform the
duty of an husband's brother unto her; that is, to beget a son (the
first-born) who shall succeed in the name of his dead brother, "that
his name be not blotted out of Israel." How very seriously the Hebrews
took this law is shown by the further injunction that if a brother
refuses thus to perform his duty,
"then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak
unto him: and if he stand and say, I like not to take
her; then shall his brother's wife come into him in the
presence of the elders, and loose his shoe off his
foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and
say, so shall it be done unto the man that doth not
build up his brother's house. And his name shall be
called in Israel, the house of him that hath his shoe
loosed."
Onan was even slain for thus refusing to do his duty (Gen. 38:8-10).