Providence

We’ve been studying through the book of Ruth in our community group at Quest. One dominant theme running throughout the book is Providence – God’s active care for his creation. Yahweh is recognized in this role such to the degree that Naomi attributes her misfortune – death of husband, death of sons, lack of heir, famine, poverty – to God. In 1.20 she says, “No longer call me Naomi. Call be Mara (which means bitter) for Shaddai has made my lot bitter.” Whereas ch 1 demonstrates the negative side of providence ch 2 highlights the positive side. In 2.1 the narrator tells us that Naomi has a goel (kinsman-redeemer) named Boaz unbeknownst to her. As “luck would have it” (2.3) the land where Ruth went out to glean happened to owned by Boaz. Boaz takes notice of Ruth (perhaps as someone in our Cgroup said, “Because she’s hot!”) and commends her for her fidelity to her mother-in-law. Ruth receives protection and guaranteed grain as a result. All of this is a testament to God’s providence – that he would bring a set of circumstances without the agency of humans.

Some of shared about how God has worked out circumstances for good in our lives in ways we could not have imagined. Through a random encounter someone got a job lead that would allow him to return home to Seattle. I shared how Seattle/SPU/Quest in so many ways has been a discovery of God knitting together what I previously viewed as random threads of my life. All to say we oftentimes think of Providence as God’s activity.

However last week we studied ch 3. Words that came up to describe the actions of Naomi and Ruth were “manipulative, aggressive, entrapment, scheming.” Of course we had a great time discussing, “Did Boaz and Ruth do it?” Certainly Ruth was very aggressive. She goes to the threshing floor where Boaz would be found at night, uncovers his “feet”, she even violates Naomi’s instructions but speaking first rather than waiting for Boaz’s instructions, and basically asks him to marry her. Are her actions righteous? Is she beyond the will of God? Is she taking matters into her own hands and out of the hands of God? The narrator does not condemn her. Moreover Boaz praises her as a “woman of substance” (he is described as a “man of substance” in 2.1 and of course cf. Pro 31 that provides a description of a such a woman. On a side note, I’ve heard sermons or read books on an “excellent wife/woman” based on Pro 31 and they never encouraged sneaking up on inebriated men in the middle of the night and taking off their clothes!).

Yes the behavior is quite extreme to our sensibilities. I would never encourage a woman today to imitate such actions. Yet I believe it is unfair to compare Ruth to the contemporary American woman who has so many more economic options in society. We are to read her story in light of Lot’s daughters who deliberately schemed to get their fathers drunk to have sex with him in Gen 19. I think we are to be esp mindful of this story b/c the story is an etiology of the Moabites – the ethnicity of Ruth. The other story we are naturally to read Ruth against is Tamar’s deception of her father-in-law Judah, have sex with him, and produce children (Gen 38). So compared to these women, Ruth is restrained. She doesn’t engage in sex with him while he is inebriated. She waits until he wakes up and his sober and has appeals to his reason and compassion.

But certainly Naomi and Ruth are aggressive. They conceive a plan. They are extremely active in seeking out blessing. All to say how does Providence work? Does God supersede human agency and work out good w/o any human role? For Naomi and Ruth God brought good fortune into their life but then they had to go out and get it. And they were shrewd and aggressive in doing so. The chapter does end though with Ruth and Naomi once again having to wait on God to work out circumstances beyond their control.

So can Christians miss the boat? My answer would be yes. Would Ruth have married Boaz had she not done this? I would venture to say no. That is, Christians ought to be shrewd and strategic. What came to my mind is the act of schmoozing, an activity I detest. What I realize now is that when God sets up an opportunity I need to take full advantage of it.