About St. Ruth

I chose to study St. Ruth this week in honor of the birthday (Wednesday) of my dear Aunt Ruth, who passed from this life in July of 2008. She was always an important part of my life. In fact, for my confirmation I chose her to be my sponsor, and I took her name for my confirmation name. So I know I read about St. Ruth back then, but I must admit, I don’t remember much. I think that makes this examination of St Ruth that much more meaningful for me.

Ruth, the Widow

St. Ruth is the biblical figure whose life is portrayed in the Old Testament Book of Ruth. It’s not a really long book, just four chapters, but it shares her important role in the lineage of Jesus Christ.

A man named Elimelech and his two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, died leaving three widows. Ruth is the widow of Mahlon. Elimelech’s widow, Naomi, cares a great deal for her daughters-in-law, and she encourages them to return to their parents. As you might be aware, in those times a widow was basically destitute.

Ruth refused to return to her parents because she had become devoted to Naomi and to her new faith. Ruth was raised in a pagan family, but her husband’s family was Jewish. She was drawn to remain in the Jewish faith so much that she was willing to risk starvation to stay with Naomi. So she went with Naomi to Bethlehem.

Her Life in Bethlehem

In Bethlehem, Ruth began gleaning in the fields of Boaz, a distant relative of her late husband. Evidently, gleaning is a process of going through fields that have already been harvested and collecting what the harvesters did not gather. It was part of the Jewish tradition that the poor and widows would be granted permission to glean the fields to get their food.

I don’t fully understand the culture of that time, but I know there was a tradition that male relatives of deceased men have some responsibility to marry a widow to raise a family on behalf of the deceased man. I’m not sure if that was the entire motivation, but Boaz seemed to take an interest in Ruth, telling the others to treat her well and help her. Then Naomi encouraged Ruth to pursue Boaz.

Marrying Boaz

It turns out that Boaz knew of another relative who was ahead of him in line to buy Elimelech’s land from Naomi and take responsibility for Ruth, so he  informed the other relative. That man declined, allowing Boaz to marry Ruth.

“I also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, as my wife, in order to raise up a family for her late husband on his estate, so that the name of the deceased may not perish from his people and his place.” (Ruth 4:10)

Ruth and Boaz have a son, Obed. Obed is the father of Jesse, and Jesse is the father of David. And so Ruth and Boaz are part of the lineage of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

This week we will think about Ruth’s life experiences and the importance of her story in the message of the Old Testament. As far as I can tell, Ruth has not been officially named as the patron saint of anything in particular. So I think we will have a wonderful week exploring the interesting themes that are generated by her story in the Old Testament.