Last time on Canonical Mondays, we saw all the hurt and pain of Naomi, an empty mother. Her family escaped from Bethlehem to Moab because of famine. But they couldn’t outrun death. When they get to the fields of Moab Naomi’s family starts dying.

After the deaths of her husband and sons, we see that Naomi is absolutely hopeless. In her painful conversations with Orpah and Ruth, Naomi tells them that she’s as good as a barren woman[1] and has nothing to offer them, being embittered because “the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”

These are the two major problems in the narrative, being highlighted and linked together[2] at the opening of this story: the lack of fertility in the land (famine) and in the womb (Naomi’s childlessness). Death in the land. Death in the womb. 

If the reader can identify the link between the fertility of the land and the fertility of the womb, then he or she can observe that the reversal of famine is laying the groundwork of the hope for restoring life to the womb. In the flow of the story, the famine seems to be quickly reversed[3] yet the reversal of the death of the womb is slowly brought about through the rest of the narratives (chapters 2-4).

To be able to see the need for hope in the story, I think that we who are familiar with the story need to forget the happy ending until we get there. I think that this helps us to feel the suffering of the individuals, which translates into feeling the need for restoration. It makes us search for the seeds of hope that are being planted along the way. The reader who sees the connections, feels the suffering, and looks for hope can ask expectantly, “If the LORD is reversing the death in the ground, will He then reverse the death in the body?”

That ought to be the reader’s expectation, especially after the author’s reiteration of the return of Naomi to Bethlehem at harvest (1:22; chp. 1 starts in famine and ends in harvest) juxtaposed with a male relative[4] suddenly[5] introduced into the narrative (2:1; chp. 1 starts with the death of husbands and chp. 2 starts with a male kinsman).

But Naomi herself doesn’t expect anything yet. She is consumed by bitterness. She doesn’t see the tides turning.

That’s where we ended the blog last time: pain and bitterness and death. But seeing the clues helps the reader to expect something from the committed daughter-in-law and the kinsman who owns the harvest fields. Naomi’s pain and emptiness will be reversed by Boaz and Ruth, a new Adam and Eve.

Now, I say that they are a new Adam and Eve, and before I get to how they work on behalf of the LORD (as His hands and feet; His representatives) for restoring Naomi, I’d like to qualify what I mean by that.

 

A New Adam and Eve

In Canonical Bible study, the student of the text looks for patterns being repeated in order to better understand the theology of the Old Testament. Whether those repetitions are prominent words and phrases, themes, or narrative sequence, they are intentionally inserted into the text to help guide the reader in understanding the Scripture accurately.

For example, I recently wrote a blog series showing how the narratives of Eve, Sarai/Sarah, Abigail, and Esther share striking repetitions in language, in theme, and in narrative sequence. We see that where Eve failed (food and words that lead to death), Sarah, Abigail, and Esther succeed (food and words that lead to life). This helps us to understand that a woman obedient to the word of the LORD uses her resources to bring life to men, which in turn shows that Eve’s failure does not condemn all women forever.

Here in Ruth, we will see similarities between Ruth and Boaz and Eve and Adam:

The first indicator of a pattern is remembering that when God saw it was not good for the man to be alone, He put the man to sleep, and when the man awoke, he sees his wife. In Ruth 3, we see Ruth come to Boaz at night while he is sleeping, and when he awakes, there is Ruth lying beside him. It is here that she asks Boaz to redeem her.

Second, Adam and Eve are placed inside a land full of food from which they can eat their fill. And, this land is well-watered (lots of space is given to describing the waters). Boaz and Ruth meet in the field that is ready for harvest. It is there that Boaz gives her so much food that she is satisfied and has more than enough food to bring to Naomi. Here too, Boaz tells Ruth that she may drink from the water that his servants have drawn.  This is a thematic parallel: abundant food and water for drinking.

Third, the connection between the meeting place (of food and water) between a man and woman to be married is reiterated[6] in the lives of Isaac and Rebekah (Gen. 24), Jacob and Rachel (Gen. 29), and Moses and Zipporah (Ex. 2). The continuation of the betrothal meeting scenes helps us to see the repetitions here in Ruth as a meaningful connection back to Adam and Eve. God’s man meets his wife in the same way over and over, from the beginning in Genesis to here in Ruth.

Fourth, when Adam sees Eve for the first time after his sleep, he exclaims, “this one at last is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” He sees himself in her. He sees their sameness. Now, when Boaz sees Ruth after his sleep, he does not proclaim their sameness on a physical level, but on a moral level.  Boaz is introduced a “mighty man of valor” (אִישׁ גִּבּוֹר חַיִל), and after awaking to Ruth and her proposition of marriage, he says, “everyone knows that you are a woman of valor” (אֵשֶׁת חַיִל). He sees that she is like himself.

Finally, the stories are connected through a special son being born, given through God’s explicit working. After the death of Abel, God gives Seth to Eve (Gen. 4:25, “God has given me another seed in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”), and Obed is given to Ruth and Boaz (R. 4:13, “God gave conception to Ruth.”). Again, this connection between Eve and Ruth is backed up through the other marriage stories and those texts giving direct credit to God for enabling barren Sarah to conceive, for barren Rebekah to conceive, and for barren Rachel to conceive (God directly enables Leah, too).

Why does it matter that we see Boaz and Ruth as a new Adam and Eve?

I think that there are several reasons, but I will present three here:

First is for hope. There is a lot of failure in the Old Testament. In the stories of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there is failure in the family, between the husband and wife and/or children. There’s the breaking of the marriage bond (Abraham and Hagar; Jacob with two wives; see the blog series on polygamy to better understand these problems). There’s deceit, and in-fighting, and family division.  There doesn’t seem to be a lot of hope for God’s people to live the way that He intended them to. But Ruth and Boaz are a picture that individuals acting in faith and obedience to God can live in blessing.

The second reason is that when we see the links between narratives, we are better prepared to see how Jesus Christ is the new and better Adam (and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and David, etc.). Through the failures of Old Testament patriarchs, readers that see the interconnectedness of these narratives are anticipating the coming of the Messiah, of Jesus, who will be unlike all of God’s chosen men before Him. He perfectly obeys, perfectly trusts, is raised from the dead, and restores His people to life.[7]

Third, if we see Boaz and Ruth as a new Adam and Eve, we see a new picture of God’s representatives to the world.  Importantly, here in Ruth, the man and woman succeed in every way. Adam and Eve failed to trust and obey God. But Ruth and Boaz are never shown to fail in faith or obedience.

So, not only do they look like a new Adam and Eve (evidenced by narrative parallels), they are a better Adam and Eve, acting as God’s man and woman ought to act.

And that means something for us today. We who believe in Jesus are also new representatives of God. So this means that if Ruth and Boaz are good pictures of how God’s representatives ought to act, then we can learn something about how we ought to behave and treat others by studying their story.

 

Next time on Canonical Mondays, we’ll develop that thought further, seeing how the actions of Ruth and Boaz produce results that reverse death and restore life to Naomi.

 

Notes:

[1] Ruth 1:11

[2] These two issues are tied up together. The LORD is given explicit credit for only two events in the book of Ruth (the rest of His credit comes through the irony of “chance” or “happenstance.”). He gives (נָתַן) His people bread in 1:6 (food in the ground after famine) and He gives (נָתַן) Ruth conception (child in an empty womb) in 4:13. There is also the thematic connection between “seed” being used in the land and in the womb. For further analysis of these interrelated concepts in Ruth, see Talia Sutskover’s article “The Themes of Land and Fertility in the Book of Ruth.”

[3] The narrator quickly moves through the set up the story – all the death experienced is summarily presented. Even though Naomi is in Moab for 10 years, it only takes 5 verses to explain the famine, their move to Moab, the death of her husband, the marriages of her sons, and her sons’ deaths. Then, in verse 6 we get the reversal of the famine by the LORD.

[4] Expectation that he will provide for them as a kinsman.

[5] I say “suddenly” because he is rather awkwardly introduced into the text. The women arrive at harvest time and then Boaz is introduced to the reader, but he doesn’t become an active participant—or show up on “scene”—until Ruth is in his field, which is a few verses later.  The narrative picks right back up after his intro to the reader with Ruth asking Naomi to go gleaning in the fields.

[6] It’s not only the meeting place that connects all these stories! There’s the need to find the right family member, the flow of the narrative: meeting in a foreign land, praise to God, hospitable feast, marriage and barrenness that is overcome through God’ giving conception.

[7] Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and King David were all God’s chosen men and given blessings, but they all fail to completely trust and obey God. They can’t restore Eden to God’s people. Even good men, faithful and successful men like Joseph and Boaz die (a consequence of sin). So, these chosen men are a line of failed Messiahs that point us to the true Messiah – God’s own Son – who will not fail and leads His people back to life.