Ruth 3

Day 13: June 30, 2009

Today was another day full of class and study. So, there are no pictures. However, I will share with you another item that we have been learning.

During class we previewed our next portion for study, Ruth 3. When we got to the end of the chapter, our teachers asked us (in Hebrew, of course) a very important exegetical question, one that you should ask often: "Why is chapter three written? Overall Ruth serves to establish the lineage of David (see the last few verses), but this is actually accomplished with chapters 1, 2, and 4. Chapter 3 is not needed for this. Hence, the question, 'Why is Ruth 3 written?'"

My daughter actually asked me why the book of Ruth was written shortly I left to come to Israel. It's quite an excellent question. I gave her the answer about David's lineage, but did not go into much detail, because I didn't know it. Now I have learned more.

I've mentioned that we looked at related texts to the Ruth story: Gen 19 (origin of the Moabites)
and Num 25 (the Moabite women leading Israelite men into cultic prostitution). Both of these stories paint the Moabites in a very bad light, especially the immoral women. This reputation forms part of the background to the book of Ruth. Today we added another one, Deut 23:4-7. Here in these final words of Moses before the Israelites are to enter Canaan, the Lord tells the Israelites that thy are to regard as enemies both the Ammonites and the Moabites, because (1) 39 years earlier they did not give them food and water when the Israelites asked to pass through after the exodus, and (2) Moab hired Balaam to curse Israel.

In particular, Ruth ch 3 echoes Gen 19. A helpful technique in Bible study is comparing and contrasting. You can observe many things between these two chapters. The bottom line is that Ruth is the antithesis of the reputation and very origin of the Moabites. Boaz is the antithesis of Lot. Both of them together are the antithesis of the faithless Israelites during the time of the judges (Ruth 1:1). In ch 3 , Ruth the Moabitess forms a foil to the daughters of Lot. Her character and faithfulness to the God of Israel is rewarded by having a place in the lineage of David and, in turn, of the Messiah. She is a model for us in our faith.