Ruth (NICOT) by Robert L. Hubbard

Author:Robert L. Hubbard [Hubbard, Robert L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Religion, Biblical Commentary, Old Testament
ISBN: 9780802825261
Google: wJQvoHg91QkC
Goodreads: 165687
Published: 1988-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Whether both the verb and the adjective derive from the same root is a matter of dispute.57 In any case, the pun might be rendered “You have noticed the unnoticed”58 or “recognized the unrecognized.” The statement betrayed Ruth’s strong feeling of vulnerability as a non-Israelite. Her survival was totally dependent upon the goodwill of Israelite farmers. At the same time, it implied awareness of some sort of acceptance into Boaz’s clan, perhaps even into his family.59 She was not family, but Boaz had treated her as if she were. Though such treatment came as quite a shock, it sounded the faint, opening strains of a new theme—the integration of Ruth into Israel. Boaz had unexpectedly welcomed this stranger to Israel through association with his workers. It remained to be seen how subsequent events would develop this theme.60

11 Boaz answered Ruth’s question but only indirectly. He alluded to a prior briefing by an unnamed source (I have in fact been told).61 Hence, he knew Ruth by reputation, not by sight. Evidently, she had become the subject of conversation, though the storyteller left the precise circumstances unstated. Has Boaz had his eye out for Ruth since hearing of her? Did curiosity (in part) motivate today’s visit to the field? Did delight at meeting the person behind the reputation spark the generosity (vv. 8–9)? Whatever the case, he heard about all that you did for your mother-in-law. The idiom you did for (ʿāśîṯ ʾeṯ, lit. “you did with”) corresponds to the idiom in 1:8 and 2:19 (ʿāśâ ʾim).62 Ruth’s family loyalty toward Naomi had obviously impressed Boaz. The chronological stipulation (after the death of your husband) makes clear that Boaz was referring to the events subsequent to 1:5 By such clever allusion, the narrator reminded his audience—preoccupied with the implications of this conversation—of the events of ch. 1. Thus, he literarily linked the past to the present and, in so doing, implied that Boaz’s actions constituted some sort of reward. One good turn deserved another.

Further, Boaz explained himself (specifically) by summarizing ch. 1 in two phases. First, he pointed out what Ruth had left behind (root ʿzb): not the pleading mother-in-law, Naomi (cf. ʿāzaḇ, 1:16) but your father and mother The expression ʿāzaḇ ʾāḇ weʾēm (“to leave father and mother”) occurs only here and in the well-known marriage passage (Gen. 2:24). On the surface, it praised Ruth’s sacrifice of her dearest, closest family circle (cf. leḇêṯ ʾimmāh, 1:8; cf. also 1:14). In the light of Gen. 2:24, however, does it imply that her migration might somehow involve a marriage? She also gave up her native land (ʾereṣ môlaḏtēḵ, lit. “the country of your kindred”).63 This geographical term occurs six other times in the OT (Gen. 11:28; 24:7; 31:13; Jer. 22:10; 46:16; Ezek. 23:15) and denotes the land where one’s clan lived. Hence, it meant the place of strong family ties, the place where one belonged. To leave it was to suffer the sad uprootedness of exile (Jer. 22:10; cf. ʿāzaḇ ʾereṣ, 2 K. 8:16; Jer.

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