I recently heard the suggestion that the story of Ruth presents us with a sexist worldview because in the story, women are victims and men are either failed, potential or actual rescuers. Ruth needs Boaz to step in and rescue her.
Now, on one level, we might argue that these are simply the historical facts, assuming that we take this to be a historical retelling (and I do). However, even still, the fact that Boaz is the landowner and that he is expected to step in as a kinsman redeemer reflects not just the norms and customs of the time but also the instruction of God’s Law in the Torah. In that respect, I don’t think that we can simply argue that God/The Bible has to start from an imperfect situation and make the best of it. In any case, Ruth’s story is set against the backdrop of the time of the judges and that account tells of female rescuers like Deborah and Jael. Further, we will later meet another female rescuer in the person of Esther.
What I do think we are seeing here is first of all that yes there is a female/male distinction. Boaz as a man does have a responsibility to provide for and protect those in his care, specifically his family including those brought into it through the kinsman redeemer role, I don’t think we should overplay our hand but at one level that distinction does exist. Naomi has prominence too. She gives advice to Ruth, she seeks to shape events, to nurture her daughter-in-law.
More importantly, we need to remember that Ruth has a place in the story of redemption. Afterall, she will be an ancestor of David and then Jesus. The story is not ultimately about how one woman is rescued but about how God will act to rescue all people. We struggle with that idea whether male or female but we all need the rescuer, we all need the Saviour.
And this is the best bit. Remember how throughout the Old Testament pictures Israel as the bride and YHWH as the groom. Remember how Paul takes up this imagery in Ephesians 5:21-32 to show how marriage points to Christ and the Church. Consider how our modern culture will recoil not just at the concepts of headship and submission but even at the idea of a husband giving his life for his wife, being a form of rescuer. Well, Paul insists that the marriage image is meant to point to Christ and the Church. Jesus is the true and better Boaz and the Church is the true and better Ruth.
It’s not that God simply settles for accepting the culture of the day, rather there is an intentionality in God’s plan. The way that Boaz saves Ruth is intended to point us to how Jesus rescues us.
Faithroots 