Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17

12 November 2006

“Accidentally on Purpose”

            From time to time, I’ve mentioned what I call “words of wisdom” that my Mom gave to me when I was growing up.  Sometimes they would be shared on occasions when she was less than pleased with me.  I have such an example to divulge to you today.

            In amazingly rare circumstances, I would do something that would elicit—how should I put it?—a disciplinary tone of voice from her.  In those circumstances, I might claim, “It was an accident.”  My mother, however, would be dubious.  Rather than agreeing with my assessment of the situation that it was indeed “an accident,” she would conclude that it was “accidentally on purpose.”  Translation:  I had orchestrated events so that it seemed that fate itself had brought about the deed which was now in question.

            It seems that many things in life are done “accidentally on purpose.”  Today’s Old Testament reading, two snippets from chapters 3 and 4 of the book of Ruth, hint at deeds done “accidentally on purpose.”  But first, I should say that lectionary texts can’t replace reading the whole book for yourself.  Too much is left out.

            Last week, I said that the book of Ruth has been called “a perfect example of the art of telling a story.”[1]  There are three main characters in our story.  Last week, Naomi and Ruth were at center stage.  This week, Boaz makes his entrance.

            In chapter 2, Ruth, realizing that somehow food has to be put on the table, offers to go and glean in someone’s field.  She intends to gather what the harvesters fail to collect.  That “someone” just happens to be Boaz, Naomi’s rich relative.  (By the way, the law in Deuteronomy regarding gleaning is in chapter 24 (vv. 19-22).  It was meant to provide a minimum of food security for the poorest.)

            When Boaz finds out who Ruth is, he tells her to stay in his field, so that she won’t be harassed by any young men.  He tells his workers to deliberately drop some grain for her, so that she can gather it up.  Ruth asks why he’s being so kind to her, a foreigner—and not only that, a Moabite.  (I mentioned last week that Moabites are not well liked by Israelites.)  Boaz reminds her of the kindness she’s shown to Naomi, as well as her decision to leave her “native land and [come] to a people that you did not know before” (2:11).

            Here’s an aspect of the story that has not gone unnoticed.  One medieval rabbi said that the book of Ruth was written, not so much about “ritual or legal matters,” but “to teach ‘how great is the reward that [accumulates] to those who perform kindly deeds’ (Midrash Rabbah, Ruth II.14).”[2]

            At the end of that apparently productive day, Naomi asks Ruth where she went to do her gleaning.  When she says she was in the field of a fellow named Boaz, Naomi replies, “Girl, you hit the jackpot!  Cha-ching!”  (Or words to that effect!)

            Ruth comes back with this:  “Oh really?  Well, guess what else happened?  He said he wants me to stay with his people until the entire harvest is over!  What do you think about that?”

            I know what you’re thinking.  “Why, pray tell, would you put the words ‘cha-ching’ in the mouth of Naomi?  What’s so great about Boaz?”  Well, first of all…did I mention that he’s rich?  But more than that, we’re introduced to the Hebrew concept of la'G; (ga’al), which means “to redeem” or “to act as kinsman.”  In the book of Ruth, Boaz is described as one who has this power and right.  The NRSV translates it as “next-of-kin.”

            I mentioned this briefly last week.  This is the law in Deuteronomy 25 which speaks of the need to preserve the bloodline of a man who dies without any sons (vv. 5-10).  Technically, it’s supposed to be the brother of the dead man who takes his wife as his own.  And contrary to what it says in Deuteronomy, here in the book of Ruth, when one guy refuses the right of redemption, no spitting is involved whatsoever!

            At this point, I need to mention a complaint that many women have with the book of Ruth.  And I can definitely understand where they’re coming from.  On the one hand, Ruth and Naomi are two of the few women who are even named in the entire Bible.  And they’re two of the even smaller number who are presented in a positive regard.

            On the other hand, this question of the ga’al, the kinsman redeemer, once again is a reminder that, without their relationship to a man, women have very low status.  You notice that it’s only if the man dies…if there are no sons…that something has to be done.  The woman needs a man to redeem her, to purchase her!  This business of ga’al takes a lot of…gall!

            We come to our reading in chapter 3, and we also come to some of that “accidentally on purpose” stuff I was talking about.

            Naomi tells Ruth to get dressed up and go to the threshing floor.  I’m not intimately familiar with the process of threshing grain, but it’s been noted that “it is the threshing floor which often symbolizes a place of fertility—seed—and in older societies was a time of rejoicing and sexual play when the harvest was finally in.”[3]  It looks like something’s about to happen “accidentally on purpose.”

After Boaz has had plenty of food and drink, Naomi tells Ruth to do something that will “just happen” to put her in a compromising position.  She instructs her to “uncover his feet and lie down”—a euphemism for exposing someone’s private parts.  But the story is vague as to what actually goes on.

That is no accident, according to Edward Campbell.  In his commentary on Ruth, he says that the author “establishes and develops a marked sense of mystery, secrecy, privacy.  This is the only episode in which Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz have the stage to themselves.”[4]  None of the other characters are present.

“The three key figures are in charge:  they plan and carry out their actions apparently so much on their own initiative that the audience may well wonder—and this is important—whether even the God who works from the shadows has for the time being averted his gaze and is not in control of what is going on.”[5]  Such is the power of good story telling, even inspired story telling.

In chapter 4, one troublesome issue gets resolved.  It turns out that Boaz is not the closest male relative to Naomi; there is someone else.  Evidently, it slipped her mind to notify Ruth on that point!  I wonder why?

In any event, Boaz approaches the man and lets him know that he’s first in line to redeem, to purchase, the property belonging to Elimelech’s widow, Naomi.  The man agrees to the transaction.  Then Boaz comes back with this:  “Oh, I almost forgot!  It seems that whoever takes the land also gets a Moabite woman named Ruth.”  I wonder why Boaz neglects to mention Ruth at the beginning of his negotiations!

The man says, “You know, come to think of it, right now probably isn’t the best time for me to make a deal like this.  Certainly, I wouldn’t want to hinder you from such a praiseworthy endeavor!”

As we see in verse 13, “Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.  When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son.”  Verse 17 tells us that his name was Obed, and “he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.”  And they lived happily ever after.

We’ve seen things that happen “accidentally on purpose.”  We’ve seen ways in which people and circumstances are manipulated.  Ruth and Naomi manipulate Boaz.  Boaz, in his own way, manipulates the closest kinsman redeemer, the closest ga’al.

Still, these actions aren’t presented as done with malice.  They’re presented as done by faithful people.  Ruth is sometimes compared to Abraham, who also left his homeland and traveled to a place he didn’t know.  Naomi, who has suffered such great loss, does what she can to guarantee security for herself and for her daughter-in-law.  In a society that provides her few options, she turns a bad situation into something good.

And Boaz, who praises Ruth for her kindness and the fact that she didn’t go after young men, is remembered as the one who restored Naomi’s heritage and as a progenitor of David.  Besides that, Boaz dares to choose love over social standards.  By marrying a foreigner, a Gentile, many believe he is wrong.  They believe such a marriage cannot be blessed by God—and is unacceptable.

Last week, I asked what our scripture reading in Ruth had to do with All Saints’ Sunday.  Well, the question could be asked, “What does today’s reading in Ruth—or the book of Ruth in general—have to do with us?”  We can speak of Ruth as a love story, a story of kindness and faithfulness, a story of devotion to family.  But I still hear that phrase spoken by my mother echoing in my head:  “accidentally on purpose.”

Sometimes it feels like we stumble through life, hoping that something good can come of it.  We can’t see our way clearly; it’s like trying to drive a car in the midst of a whiteout.  It can feel like no one cares.  Even God seems to be trillions of miles away.

Naomi must have felt that way when she and Ruth returned to Bethlehem.  As they drew near, “the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, ‘Is this Naomi?’  She said to them, ‘Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me’” (1:19-20).  Remember what I said last week:  all these names have symbolic meaning.  So while people are excited to see her, she says, “Don’t call me Pleasant; call me Bitter.”

            Even in times like that—especially in times like that—faith doesn’t pretend to have all the answers.  What faith does is to trust the one who leads us.

            Consider the haphazard array of events that goes on in the book of Ruth:  famine, deaths, a daughter-in-law clinging to her mother-in-law, meetings by chance, accidents on purpose.  At any point along the line, something could go one way instead of the other.  Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz can’t foresee the future.  But they are grounded in faith to God.  It may be easier to see that in Ruth, the Moabite, but it’s nonetheless present in all of them.

            The same is true for us.  None of us can foresee the future.  And some say that faith provides a pretty shaky foundation.  I would agree, if we’re talking about faith in our beliefs, faith in a church, faith in any created thing.  But faith in the one who leads us, Jesus Christ, is the surest of foundations.

            That’s the faith that guides us through those accidents on purpose.

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