Ruth & Naomi ........

In the Sexual Awareness Month series this year you may have noticed I took a more biblical approach and the Ruth & Naomi story is the latest one I’ll try to tackle. Thanks to the bloggers who joined in the discussion which at times got rather vibrant. There had been some speculation about the closeness of the relationship between the two women suggestion there had some lesbian contact but the evidence of that is simply not there as some more persons where a more liberal reading still hold on to that thinking but it was more about women in their version of a support system given how women were treated. Chapter three of Ruth is where it is in this installment as two widows interact with each other in the patriarchal society in Jewish culture. Human relations and choices made either due to finding themselves in position of power and advantage or disadvantage who often end up in the line of abuse on many levels. Effectively Naomi an elderly widowed mother-in-law who encourages her widowed daughter-in-law to make herself available to a powerful rich man named Boaz to marry her. 

The book of Ruth is a short story recording an incident during the period of the Judges. An Israelite family moved from Judah to the land of Moab during a famine, the husband died, the two sons married foreign women but also die and she (Ruth) accompanied her mother-in-law and adopted Israelite faith as her own. Ruth eventually marry Boaz but not after a series of seductions as instructed or groomed by Naomi and she ended becoming the grandmother of David. The book of Ruth also shows the absorption of foreigners into Israelite culture thus pre-configuring the Christian gospel by which Gentiles are brought into God’s church. Ruth is a Gentile (Moabitess) in the ancestry of Jesus.

Ruth 3 King James Version (KJV)

3 Then Naomi her mother in law said unto her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee?

2 And now is not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he winnoweth barley to night in the threshingfloor.

3 Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the man, until he shall have done eating and drinking.

4 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 shalt do.

5 And she said unto her, All that thou sayest unto me I will do.

6 And she went down unto the floor, and did according to all that her mother in law bade her.

7 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.

8 And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet.

9 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.

10 And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich.

11 And now, my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou requirest: for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman.

12 And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman: howbeit there is a kinsman nearer than I.

13 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.

14 And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor.

15 Also he said, Bring the vail that thou hast upon thee, and hold it. And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her: and she went into the city.

16 And when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who art thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her.

17 And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto thy mother in law.

18 Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.

Naomi has been effective being seen as a ‘pimp’ by grooming and encouraging Ruth towards Boaz but bearing in mind that a kind of permitted incest was the order of the day despite the laws that protected strangers and widows but with all that her body was still the route to access. To again access to Boaz did not come as easy as today it came by women availing themselves sexually; sex used as transactionally some have said and although Boaz ended up marrying Ruth the assault in my eyes is an older woman pushing a younger woman on a rich man to secure. Naomi knew how to work the system even though laws then offered some protection to widows and strangers coming from the Sodom & Gomorrah days.

(Un)intended seduction may be the challenge here of the benefactor, the search specific nature of the grooming exercise by Naomi pushing on Ruth using femininity; unlike the Lot story of the ‘rape’ of him by his own daughters for purposes of continuing the bloodline here in this episode is about gaining wealth and security on the pretext of a seductress or in supplication, to bring it forward to today for a moment how many times have we seen mothers or guardians literally pimping out those in their charge to gain or take in income for the household. Ruth may have not even wanted to go to Boaz but in obedience to the older woman (Naomi) she obeyed the instructions, consent is another layer in this while she may have ‘offered’ herself to Boaz to eventually seduce him and the outcome showed no outright abuse.

The continuation of the bloodline so to speak and or to provide the kind of security similar to the Lot and his daughters case comes into play, the oldest male or closest male in the family has the responsibility even in a kind of permitted incest to interact with female, Naomi therefore understood the cultural nuances and encouraged Ruth albeit a foreigner into the culture. Naomi obviously was no fool in as far as the grooming of Ruth was concerned, she was looking out for what was supposedly best for her daughter in law; Ruth had done so much for Naomi prior that Naomi may have felt obligated in a sense and also knowing full well that she would get some spin-offs from the arrangement, Boaz was not the first choice so to speak but Naomi seemed sure that arrangement would have worked; I don’t think she was malicious but to instruct Ruth as to the very actions ought to do when she encouraged her to effectively seduce her; Boaz had already found some favour in Ruth as outlined in Chapter 2 of Ruth. How does someone who does not have access directly to their rights via a decision making process.

The business of survival comes into play and that women effectively had to do what they had to do; bearing in mind that the very translators of the bible wrote the thing from a patriarchal perspective.

The levirate marriage concept comes into play, a practice outlined in Deuteronomy 25 v 5 – 10 if a woman is childless after a previous marriage or with children and the husband dies the brothers of the dead husband is obligated to marry her and carry on the heritage and the children as products if that marriage legitimises the respect in the community.

Deuteronomy 25:5-10 New International Version (NIV)

5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 

6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.

7 However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” 

8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” 

9 his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” 

10 That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

Boaz in a sense realised he got caught or ‘ketch’ and he tried to worm his way out of it by differing Ruth to the other choice as he was closer in the lineage to the bloodline’ even after Ruth spends the night with Boaz he asks her not to let the other women in the circle know as if to suggest that at risk will be some compromised integrity or ethics, despite the cultural customs called for the powerful man to ensure his heritage. His strategy however was not an aggressive one and he seem to have tried to play it cool even though he knew that there was someone else with a superior claim. While Ruth did not end up in an abusive relationship how many times in contemporary reports we have heard of the pimping aspect of older women sending out their own daughters to bring in the bacon.

The rapid succession of disturbing reports of privileged pastors and church leaders who prey on vulnerable can easily be cited in this story hundreds of years old. The attachment to materialism is a major factor and some feel justified to lay themselves bare to ‘eat-a-food’ and easiest way to get to some wealth; this is not only limited to lower classes but professional persons as well for the most part to keep up appearances, the nice apartment must be maintained, the car must look a certain way or even the tertiary level fees have to be found somewhere, trouble is that sometimes the arrangement gets abusive and the privileged individual turns into a monster thinking he has a right so to do. In what are supposed to be legitimate marriages the power differentials play out, the wife may have married for some sort of security especially if she is expected to be a housewife or a stay at home mother and she must know her place; no talk of a job or continuing education under pain of losing certain benefits or gifts or how she in treated in the marriage, and sex by the way is a given whether or not she is in the mood.

More anon

Peace & tolerance

H