Naomi’s husband died. A widow is commonly dependant upon her off-spring for maintenance in her old age, if she lives so long. In the years before our current medical advances, men, not women, tended to live longer. Childbirth was as much a hazard as wars were, but here Naomi has passed that hurdle, twice. Instead of a husband providing for her, she has sons.
When King David had to deal with the uprising of his son Absalom, his son was killed. In mourning Absalom, Joab, David’s top general, developed a ruse to bring the king back to a functioning frame of mind (see 2 Samuel 14). A woman of personal reputation (v. 2) was brought to make the act that would illustrate a message to the king. The account is “when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king” (v. 4). The story continues, “I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead. And thy handmaid had two sons . . .” (vs. 5–6a). Would the king then possibly remember the stories of his great grandmother and her two sons? This lends itself to still another line of minimalist reasoning. The Book of Ruth is written much after the events of Ruth and mother-in-law Naomi, so it may have been a political fiction in order to help sell the nation on David as their king. This could, they might therefore reason, be no different than in American culture to allude to the fable of our first president, George Washington, chopping down the proverbial cherry tree and admitting to the deed to his father with the famous, “I cannot tell a lie.” Many an American president or presidential candidate will write a book or two during or just prior to the election campaign in order to draw people to a sympathetic stance with the candidate.
While some see political propaganda in the Book of Ruth, it might also merely be telling the facts. Elimelech is dead, Naomi is a widow, but she still has two sons. Fiction or not, the story does not end so soon.
Commentary by Larry Swinford Posted on:
5/20/2009 19:00 pm
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Naomi’s husband died. A widow is commonly dependant upon her off-spring for maintenance in her old age, if she lives so long. In the years before our current medical advances, men, not women, tended to live longer. Childbirth was as much a hazard as wars were, but here Naomi has passed that hurdle, twice. Instead of a husband providing for her, she has sons.
When King David had to deal with the uprising of his son Absalom, his son was killed. In mourning Absalom, Joab, David’s top general, developed a ruse to bring the king back to a functioning frame of mind (see 2 Samuel 14). A woman of personal reputation (v. 2) was brought to make the act that would illustrate a message to the king. The account is “when the woman of Tekoah spake to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king” (v. 4). The story continues, “I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead. And thy handmaid had two sons . . .” (vs. 5–6a). Would the king then possibly remember the stories of his great grandmother and her two sons? This lends itself to still another line of minimalist reasoning. The Book of Ruth is written much after the events of Ruth and mother-in-law Naomi, so it may have been a political fiction in order to help sell the nation on David as their king. This could, they might therefore reason, be no different than in American culture to allude to the fable of our first president, George Washington, chopping down the proverbial cherry tree and admitting to the deed to his father with the famous, “I cannot tell a lie.” Many an American president or presidential candidate will write a book or two during or just prior to the election campaign in order to draw people to a sympathetic stance with the candidate.
While some see political propaganda in the Book of Ruth, it might also merely be telling the facts. Elimelech is dead, Naomi is a widow, but she still has two sons. Fiction or not, the story does not end so soon.