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Wherever you go, I will go
Wherever you live, so shall I live
Your people will be my people
And your God will be my God too.
Wherever you die, I shall die
And there shall I be buried beside you.
(Music by Petr Eben, 1970)
The “Song of Ruth” is a simple song with simple lines and simple melody. Yet, if you’ll listen to it closely, you’ll realize the solemnity of its promise. And so it has become a popular love song performed during weddings.
I wonder if present-day brides and grooms realize that Ruth is a widow? What is so captivating in a widow’s romance?
Ruth is the biblical foreign bride from the country of Moab who marries a Jew from Bethlehem, not once but twice! But she does not utter her lyrical vow of faithfulness and loyalty to either husband during their wedding. Instead, she makes the vow as a young widow to Naomi, her old and widowed mother-in-law.
Where is the romance in that? Let me give you a little back story. Naomi, together with her husband Elimelech and her sons Mahlon and Chilion, had left Bethlehem to escape a famine. They settled in Moab, a pagan country which welcomed them and gave them work, perhaps, as lowly-paid farm hands.
Just a little after settling in his family in Moab, Elimelech died. His sons Mahlon and Chilion married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. After 10 years, Naomi’s two sons died too without leaving any children. What was Naomi, an old widow, going to do? How would she and her two widowed daughters-in-law support themselves?
Three widows with no resources and no family? What a bitter life!
Naomi had heard that Bethlehem had overcome the famine and was thriving again. She decided to go back to her homeland with Orpah and Ruth. Didn’t Elimelech have a piece of land in Bethlehem? Perhaps, she could redeem it… It was a far-fetched hope, but hope just the same.
While trekking back to Bethlehem from Moab, Naomi changed her mind about taking the young widows Orpah and Ruth with her. Selflessly, she thought it would be better for them to go back to their respective parents’ homes and, perhaps, remarry.
Women during those days were not career women who could earn their own keep. Women depended on fathers, husbands, and sons.
Orpah was easily persuaded, but not Ruth. She wept and uttered that poetic vow of faithfulness and loyalty. And so Ruth went to Bethlehem with Naomi. It so happened that it was harvest time.
Let’s get on with the romance, Ruth’s love story.
Ruth, the younger and stronger woman, tells Naomi that she will glean after the harvesters in the fields. Landless folk are allowed to pick up whatever the harvesters leave behind. By gleaning in the fields, Ruth will be able to gather enough food for Naomi and herself.
Thus gleaning in the fields, Ruth is noticed by Boaz, the landowner and a rich kinsman of Elimelech, Naomi’s late husband. Boaz asks his foreman about the foreign woman. When Boaz learns about Ruth’s sacrifice for her mother-in-law, he regards her with kindness and admiration.
Naomi is overjoyed when she learns from Ruth that the field where she is working belongs to Boaz, a kinsman who can redeem Elimelech’s piece of land. Ruth continues to glean in Boaz’s fields till the end of the wheat and barley harvests.
Naomi hatches a plan to ensure that Ruth will have a home and a prosperous future. She tells Ruth to bathe and perfume herself, then put on her best clothes. And when Boaz retires for the night at the threshing floor, Ruth must lie down at his feet.
Seduction? Well, not quite. Boaz is an upright man, just like Joseph, the would-be foster father of Jesus. Let’s take a close look at Ruth’s exact words: “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread the corner of your cloak over me for you are a kinsman with right of redemption over me” (Ruth 3: 9).
Based on Jewish law, Ruth is asking Boaz to rescue her and her old mother-in-law from poverty and obscurity by redeeming the piece of land which belonged to Elimelech and by marrying her. If Ruth’s marriage to Boaz is blessed with an offspring, Ruth’s child will bear the name of Elimelech and his blood line will continue.
What is Boaz’s reply to Ruth’s romantic proposal? Did he think it was indecent?
Here’s what Boaz said: “May Yahweh bless you, my daughter. This kindness of yours now is even greater than that which you have shown earlier, for you have not gone after young men, rich or poor. Have no fear, my daughter; I will do for you all that you ask, since all my townsmen know that you are a worthy woman” (Ruth 3: 10-11).
In short, Boaz redeems the piece of land which belonged to Elimelech and takes Ruth as his wife. Yahweh blesses their union with a son whom they call Obed. Obed becomes the father of Jesse who becomes the father of David. Thus, the prophecy is fulfilled that a foreign woman will be the Messiah’s ancestress.
Ruth’s love story is a widow’s romance. What is so captivating in it? At the human level, it assures us that we can have a second chance at marital happiness and stable family life.
At the spiritual level, it assures us that, with God himself as Cupid, we can experience unconditional love, incredible love, and amazing grace. This universal love is inclusive – rich and poor, young and old, singles and widows, natives and foreigners!
Ruth’s love story, a widow’s romance, is the love story of the universal church. It is about the gift of faith!