I think it was by way of Rabbi Sacks’s book To Heal A Fractured World that I learned ruth used to be a word in common usage. It means ‘kindness.’ Bring to mind your most vivid image of ‘ruthless’ and its precise opposite would be ‘ruth.’
If Ruth is a true exemplar of her name (as I think she is), then I think we need to rethink what we mean by the word kindness. This story enriches ‘kindness’ with shades of deep affection, loyalty, and generosity.
This is my favorite passage:
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. And [Naomi] said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. (Ruth 1:14-18, RSV)
I would like to start off by saying that Orpah did nothing wrong. I don’t think she was lacking in virtue or love for her mother-in-law. She was following Naomi’s wishes which were only concerned with the good of both Orpah and Ruth. They would be much more likely to find new husbands if they stayed in Moab than if they came with Naomi to Bethlehem. Besides, after Naomi’s sons died they no longer had any obligations to Naomi. Orpah did the normal thing. Ruth is just a little bit crazy, and that’s why the story is about her.
I do not know what motivated Ruth to make the choice to follow Naomi. Do we ever know the internal mechanism that inspires loyalty like that? It is more than just a filial bond, because Orpah had that much too. It makes me think of Penelope and Odysseus. Homer tells us that the two enjoyed a harmony of mind and soul which transcended twenty years of absence. Ruth’s declaration to Naomi is another note of that Homeric harmony.
I wonder about Naomi’s silence. Was it outwardly begrudging and inwardly grateful? I kind of think so. Naomi does not appear to have come across the idea “the power of positive thinking,” as the next verses make clear. They arrive in Bethlehem and Naomi declares to everyone that they should call her Mara now, which means ‘bitter’ “for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.” (‘Naomi’ means ‘pleasant.’) Her self assigned new name does not reappear, and I take this as a signal from the author that things are going to turn out pleasantly for Naomi after all, which they do. Despite her tendency towards despair, I think Naomi was probably deeply grateful for Ruth’s company. Ruth is a do-er rather than a complainer; the sort of woman who makes a good companion when the journey is bound to be long and the result uncertain. She keeps her focus on the task at hand, on what she can do, in order to keep nagging worries at bay. Naomi seems likely to get overwhelmed by the difficulty of a situation and thereby rendered helpless. So Ruth is a nice counterweight.
Ruth is both bold enough and humble enough to believe that others will be kind to her just as she is kind to them. That’s the disposition behind Ruth’s choices throughout the whole tale, and it results in the generosity Ruth showed to Naomi at the beginning being returned to her tenfold through the generosity of Boaz by the end.
gloria ad Deum.
(P.S. I highly recommend To Heal A Fractured World. Not only does Rabbi Sacks break open some of the Bible’s best name games, he writes beautifully about how we can live the Bible’s ethic of social responsibility today.)
Luke 2:19 