Judges, adieu! and Ruth... the Moabitess!

Well... a bit of a relief to be through with Judges... The cycle has continued (the people did evil in the sight of the Lord... the Lord handed them over to foreigners to be oppressed...the people cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up a Judge to liberate them, and they behaved well (usually) until that Judge died...). And as the cycle has continued the Israelites have gotten worse and worse...the cycle is definintely a downward spiral... 

And the treatment and portrayal of women has gotten worse and worse... Jepthah's daughter gets sacrificed as a burnt offering (did you want to shout, "Jepthah! No!" when he pledged that whoever was first out to meet him would be sacrificed? She was his only child-- so it would likely be her or his wife. Good grief...)  Delilah is the undoing of Samson (though he rather asked for it...)...then the Levite's concubine, who is gang raped and then cut to 12 pieces and sent to the 12 corners of the land to rally the troops against the Benjaminites... Charming.  And those women in the field for the festival who are kidnapped to help re-populate Benjamin since they killed off the Benjaminites. Lord have mercy!

Well... now we are in Ruth. And what a relief.  Ruth was my favorite of the post-exilic texts to study in seminary. That's right-- post-exilic. It is set in the time of the Judges, which is also why it is located where it is in our Bibles. But for all sorts of linguistic reasons ("aramaisms" that are way too late to be from the time of Judges) and societal-cultural reasons, most scholars place Ruth's authorship in the post-exilic era. 

So... looking ahead to Post-Exilic Israel... Ruth is, in essence, a counter-argument to the Deuteronomistic Historians who, also writing and editing after the Exile, cast their stories in the theme of, "You were unfaithful to God and worshipped foreign gods and even married foreign women... and that's why the destruction and exile happened..."  Ruth is also very pointedly speaking out against the policies we will read about in Ezra and Nehemiah, in which Israelite men who had married foreign women had to divorce their wives and abandon their families...

Enter Ruth...the Moabitess... a foreign woman who proves to be incredibly faithful, valiant, brave, resourceful... The refrain, "Ruth, the Moabitess" happens so many times in the telling of this story, that it reads like a call and response narrative that may be echoing its earlier life in the oral tradition...every time the story teller says, "Ruth...." the crowd answers, "the Moabitess!" 

And Ruth the Moabitess is something! I hope you enjoy this story. It's a gem. A delightful biblical morsel along the way. And it has a wonderful punch line--enjoy finding out about Ruth's most famous grandson (or second-famous, if you count his great-great-grandson....) when you read chapter 4 tomorrow. (Take that, Ezra and Nehemiah!) 

Oh, and a little Hebrew idiomatic note... "feet" as used in Ruth are a euphemism for a more likely body part that makes this story a whole lot racier. She wrote. Euphemistically.

Meanwhile, while we walk through Holy Week together we find ourselves in the farewell address in the Gospel According to John, and will find our reading lives and our worship lives rather replete with Passions and Resurrections... then more Passions as we return to our reading on Monday. Enjoy the richness of it all-- and  notice how John portrays Jesus crucifixion as his "glorification," how he carries his own cross "by himself"-- John is quite clear on this-- no Simon of Cyrene to carry it for him... Also hear the pain of the evangelist and his community, which has been exiled from the synagog as you hear the words "the Jews" used over and over, and with such anger and hurt.

Looking ahead... On Monday I will be heading to Florida to teach a week-long class. My intention is to continue my reading, and to chime in with all of you as things arise in our Bible Challenge.  I am working-- so please do not hesitate to email me with your questions, wonderings and insights. I will happily share them with the group... I'll just be three hours ahead of you...

Thank you, as ever, for being on this journey.

Paige+