Today I was reading the book of Ruth in the Bible. It’s a story I always enjoy reading as it comes at an interesting point in the Scriptures. Up to this point in the Kingdom narrative we have been hearing about the heroes, the mighty warriors, the judges, and the leaders of the Israelites who have travelled, conquered, and fought through ups and downs to establish themselves in the Promised Land. The whole journey is fascinating but one of the tricky parts is that it can be hard to see yourself in any of those accounts – that is unless you are a fearless warrior, judge or hero! When the book of Ruth starts it seems like a completely different narrative to what has preceded it; initially it looks like a wholesome story about some widows in a family who stick together and are rewarded, but as we read on we see that Ruth is as much of a hero, warrior, and a leader as anyone else before her. Not only that; this is an account we can see ourselves in.

This wasn’t really what I wanted to discuss today believe it or not. What stuck out to me in Ruth today was an amazing exchange/deal that happens with Ruth’s soon to be husband, Boaz, and the group of elders in their town right at the end of the book. Before I talk about that let me give you some context to why this caught my attention. You see I have an uneasy relationship with red tape, metaphorically, not literally! I am a pretty structured person, I generally enjoy order, and I believe that rules are there for a reason etc. I couldn’t be described as laissez-faire! However, I do like a little flexibility within these rules and believe that there must be room for the human, relational heart within our structures. I wouldn’t thank you when a faceless rule which makes little or no sense is used to stop good things, I really struggle when people use rules, contracts, and stipulations to justify poor human behaviour, AND I really really really struggle when these kind of things are in the church and people would rather look to them than look to Jesus. The Pharisees illustrate what I am talking about brilliantly in the gospels when they would hold to the rules, most likely formed for the right reasons, but over time the rule strangled the good it was meant to preserve. I hope that makes sense.

So, back to Ruth. In a very summarised version of the story, Ruth, a Moabite, is the daughter in law of an Israelite named Naomi. Naomi had moved to Moab with her husband during a famine in Israel. Over the years both Naomi and Ruth’s husband, Naomi’s son, died. This left both women as widows which was a vulnerable thing to be in the Ancient Near East. Naomi makes the decision to return to Israel to be closer to her relatives, therefore securing a better future for herself. She tells Ruth to stay in Moab, her own country, so she can remarry but Ruth refuses to leave her and comes to live in Israel too, in Bethlehem. Because they were so poor Ruth goes to forage, glean, in the harvest fields (a right of the poor in Israel) so she and Naomi could eat. It was a dangerous job however and often many of the women who gleaned, because they were vulnerable, were mistreated by the harvesters. Ruth ends up gleaning in the field of a man named Boaz who is a relative of Naomi’s husband. Boaz notices Ruth’s hard work as she is gleaning and when he finds out who she is and how honourable she had been to his relative Naomi. So he allows her to stay in his field where she will be safe gleaning and he is also very generous to her and instructs his men to leave more grain for her than they normally would for the gleaning widows. Naomi then realises that Boaz could be a guardian redeemer.

This is not something that is common for us today so let me explain. It was important in those days to preserve family and tribal lines and so each family had close male relatives called guardian redeemers. These redeemers had a legal right, and a responsibility, to buy back family land that might have been sold in times of poverty, they could also redeem any relatives who had been sold into slavery and they were able to marry the widow of a deceased relative in the family. Naomi realises if Ruth could marry Boaz that she would have a secure future and she reckons because he has been so kind to her already that he would fulfil his duty. So, they hatch a plan where Ruth goes and makes a kind of marriage proposal (it looks a lot different than we might imagine it today but anyway) to Boaz. Boaz is very happy about this and agrees to the proposal but because he is an honourable man he reminds Ruth that there is actually another guardian redeemer who is closer to Naomi than he is and the proper thing to do would be to give that man the option first. I just love the way they are honouring this system. This is nearly my favourite part of the story because Boaz goes to the elders of the city to talk with them about this business. Boaz tells the closer guardian redeemer about the situation and offers him the chance to purchase Naomi’s late husband’s land and marry Ruth. He nearly agrees but pulls out when he hears that Ruth is a part of the deal (we haven’t time to discuss why). Boaz therefore now has the right to purchase the land and marry Ruth.

Now, if this all happened today you could imagine the legal proceedings, reports, contracts, references etc. that it would take to make things happen. But just read from the message how the deal was done.

In the olden times in Israel, this is how they handled official business regarding matters of property and inheritance: a man would take off his shoe and give it to the other person. This was the same as an official seal or personal signature in Israel. So when Boaz’s “redeemer” relative said, “Go ahead and buy it,” he signed the deal by pulling off his shoe. Boaz then addressed the elders and all the people in the town square that day: “You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech and Kilion and Mahlon, including responsibility for Ruth the foreigner, the widow of Mahlon—I’ll take her as my wife and keep the name of the deceased alive along with his inheritance. The memory and reputation of the deceased is not going to disappear out of this family or from his hometown. To all this you are witnesses this very day.” All the people in the town square that day, backing up the elders, said, “Yes, we are witnesses. May GOD make this woman who is coming into your household like Rachel and Leah, the two women who built the family of Israel. May GOD make you a pillar in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem! With the children GOD gives you from this young woman, may your family rival the family of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah.” Ruth 4:7-11

Isn’t this amazing? What I love most is that trust, community, honour, and blessing are at the centre of this whole process. It’s not about trying to get what you can, protecting your rights, making sure you get your slice of the pie etc. which is what we too often see today. Yes, Boaz receives something that he desires but he is not driven by greed or accumulation – honour is behind the wheel here. I would love to live in a world where this is how we handled our affairs – I mean I could leave receiving someone else’s shoe – a strong handshake would suffice!

What might it look like today if we dealt with each other in such an honourable way. What if we were dutiful in our actions towards the culture of respect. What if a handshake agreed was as good as a legally binding contract, or someone’s word was as unshakable as an iron clad legal letter? What if the basis of those deals and agreements was the mutual good of each other and the honouring of our fellow human. What if as a community we agreed and blessed each other in these moments rather than arguing over the fine print? I

t might be a dream but it is one in which we can make the small beginnings of in our everyday……..