Ruth 2: what kind of tribe?

Read: Ruth 2

We have already seen, in Ruth, a woman who would have challenged the expectations of many a native-born Israelite.  Natural human tendency is to stick to ones 'tribe' (whether that's in the literal sense of family and ethnicity or a wider meaning of the term with shared culture, interests or politics) and to view 'outsiders' who come into 'our space' with anything from suspicion to outright hostility.  It's a pattern we see repeated again and again throughout history.  But much to Ruth's surprise, she does not see this pattern repeated.

However, before we go into that, we must start with a little cultural context.  Having come to Bethlehem with Naomi, Ruth, with her 'get up an go' personality, decides to go out to find work.  However, let me go and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone whose eyes I find favour (Ruth 2:2) sounds a bit of an odd way to do that to us.  If I didn't know the context, it might seem to me like going and sneakily raiding the bins outside the supermarket for any decent (or otherwise) unsold food.  Or maybe it would even conjure up images of my grandfather being sent out to find discarded cigarette ends as a boy so that his father could have a smoke.  

However, this was an activity that was meant to be neither covert nor undignified.  Leviticus 23:22 says this: “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.”  The gleanings were the bits that were not picked up in the initial harvest, and Ruth was going to 'glean' along with other women.  This was part of the Old Testament welfare system.  Any landowner who followed this command was similar (morally) to one in the modern day who pays their proper share of corporate tax, which can be used to fund support for those unable to meet their own needs.  To reap to the edges of the field and go over again to pick up all the stray bits would be similar to tax evasion!  And so, under this system, those without land (including foreigners like Ruth) are able to harvest their own food and eat (and Ruth harvests a decent amount - Ruth 2:17).  By some amazing coincidence (or 'God-incidence' as my husband calls them), Ruth ends up in the field of Boaz, a wealthy man who is also a relative of her late father-in-law - but more on that relationship later.

Nonetheless, whilst the system was designed for safety and dignity, it was implemented by sinful human beings, and one can well imagine how Ruth would have been vulnerable to abuse.  Her interactions with both Boaz and Naomi imply an alternative of danger and disrespect, as a woman and a foreigner:

So Boaz said to Ruth, ‘My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me.  Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.’

At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, ‘Why have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me – a foreigner?’  (Ruth 2:8-10, see also verse 22)

The writer of Ruth certainly does not portray Ruth in a negative light, and yet her ethnicity and 'foreigner' status is mentioned five times in the chapter!  It's as if the writer does not want us to miss this important point - she's a Moabite, a foreigner, an outsider!  An outsider who was welcomed in by a good man,  An outsider who had faith to leave her homeland and follow Yahweh.  An outsider through which God would achieve his purposes.  In Boaz we see someone who welcomes the vulnerable 'other', obeying not just the letter of the Levitical laws, but also their spirit.  

And when this happens, as both our redeemer and our representative, Jesus is present.  In the famous 'Parable of the Sheep and the Goats', the 'righteous' ask Jesus: ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’. Jesus answers: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:37-40)  Ruth may have been tenacious, but she was still 'made vulnerable' by the society in which she lived.  He would have said this to Boaz, who in welcoming Ruth, welcomed Jesus.  We should do the same.

We're able to look at Ruth from out vantage point and see her as a hero of the faith, but how would we have regarded her if we were Boaz, or one of the men or women harvesting the fields?  What preconceptions might we have bought?  And now, sitting in our own context, what heroes of the faith might we be a risk of shutting out?

I have mentioned the issues of 'tribalism', but of course, being part of God's people is to be part of a 'tribe'. Ruth's faith shows that, unlike common conceptions of the Old Testament, this tribe is one that is not simply drawn by ethnicity (although, human nature being what it is, Ruth would have doubtless encountered the opposite view by some). But is also more than that: when God called Abraham and promised to make him into a great nation, the plan was for the whole world to be blessed as a result: all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3).  It's a sentiment echoed by the famous Archbishop William Temple, reported to have said: the church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.  This is the kind of tribe to which we should belong - one that seeks to welcome others, and where in Heaven there will be a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language (Revelation 7:9).

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