Page 67 - Advanced OT Survey Student Textbook

Message: In the face of exile and emptiness, with no escape evident, God used a faithful foreigner to
providentially preserve Naomi, secure the royal line (David/Messiah) Exigencies Exiled? Empty? Escape?

Full to Empty (1:1-6) - Set in the Judges period, the story opens with an Israelite family moving to Moab
temporarily due to famine. In a short time, Naomi’s husband and two sons die. As a result, Naomi is left
far from the patrimony of her husband’s family, with no husband, no sons, and no grandchildren. In the
Israelite mind, this family has become an ‘unfamily’ and this woman is in dire straits. Naomi is left exiled
(Moab), empty (no provider), and no evident escape (no male heir). But she hears from Moab that
YHWH has taken notice of His people, giving bread the ‘house of bread.’ (Bethlehem). Yet the question
remains whether Shaddai will protect and provide for Naomi and Ruth. Does He care for individuals?
Will He fill Naomi’s emptiness?

Levirate Marriage and the Sandal Ceremony

Levir is the Latin word for “brother-in-law.” The levirate marriage is described in the legal text of
Deuteronomy 25:5-10. If a man died without leaving a male heir, his widow was to marry within the
husband’s family. Moreover, the husband’s brother (the brother-in-law of the widow) was required to
perform the duty of the levir; that is, marry the woman and produce a son (an heir).

Preserving the family line was important in Israel. The levirate marriage was linked to the laws of
inheritance, so any offspring from the husband’s brother were considered children of the deceased. The
firstborn son would take the name of the dead former husband.

If the brother-in-law refused to perform the levir’s duty, the woman was to perform the ceremony of
the removal of his sandal (Deut. 25:8-10). A woman had a right to bear children to her deceased
husband. If the brother-in-law refused her that right, she could publicly humiliate him. She was then
allowed to marry outside of the family to whom every she chose.

The primary purpose of the levirate marriage law was to protect the widow and help compensate the
deceased husband’s family for their personal loss. In Naomi’s case in the book of Ruth, since she was
beyond childbearing age, the levirate marriage would be to her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth.
Naomi’s closest relative was not willing to assume this obligation (Ruth 4:6). Perhaps he considered that
if he had a son by Ruth who become his only surviving heir, all his property would belong to the family
of Elimelech, Naomi’s deceased husband.

In the sandal ceremony of Ruth 6:6-8 there seems to be no disdain for the relative who declined to
perform the duty of the levir. The significance of taking off the sandal seems to imply the passing of
one’s legal rights to another. Boas thus gained the right to clear the property against any future claims,
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and marry Ruth (4:9,10).

Chapter’s 1:7-22 focus on the return from exile of Naomi. Soon after Naomi and her two daughters-in-
law set out for Judah, she urges them to go back to their families, praying YHWH would deal kindly with
them, giving security and rest that she can’t provide. Orpah agrees, but Ruth pledges loyalty, forsaking
her family/land to identify with Naomi’s people/God. When they returned from exile, Bethlehem was
stirred up joy or shock? Overwhelmed with grief, Naomi testifies to YHWH’s sovereignty but questions
His goodness. “Shaddai has dealt bitterly with me…. YHWH has testified against me, Shaddai has brought

56 So That’s Why, Bible. Thomas Nelson, Inc. p. 340.
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