Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
#423 Weekday Year I Context (Friday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land;
so a man from Bethlehem of Judah
departed with his wife and two sons
to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women,
one named Orpah, the other Ruth.
When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also,
and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab
because word reached her there
that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, “See now!
Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god.
Go back after your sister-in-law!”
But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Thus it was that Naomi returned
with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.
They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
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Commentary on Ru 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
The Old Testament readings continue to trace God’s relationship with the Hebrew people. We are given a selection from the Book of Ruth that occurred around the same time as the Book of Judges (just concluded). These verses from the beginning of the book establish the geography of the story. The Bethlehem identified specifically (of Judah) distinguishes it from the Bethlehem of Zebulun (Joshua 19:15). The Bethlehem spoken of in this passage is also the birthplace of Jesus a thousand years in their future.
The loyalty of Ruth is also established in this passage as Ruth commits to stay with her mother-in-law in spite of the hardships and the fact that she is of a different faith. She commits herself to the God of Isaac and Jacob (“and your God my God”).
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Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17
#424 Weekday Year I Context (Saturday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz,
of the clan of her husband Elimelech.
Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi,
“Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field
of anyone who will allow me that favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter,” and she went.
The field she entered to glean after the harvesters
happened to be the section belonging to Boaz
of the clan of Elimelech.
Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter!
Do not go to glean in anyone else’s field;
you are not to leave here.
Stay here with my women servants.
Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them;
I have commanded the young men to do you no harm.
When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels
the young men have filled.”
Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, Ruth said to him,
“Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?”
Boaz answered her:
“I have had a complete account of what you have done
for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death;
you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth,
and have come to a people whom you did not know previously.”
Boaz took Ruth.
When they came together as man and wife,
the LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi,
“Blessed is the LORD who has not failed
to provide you today with an heir!
May he become famous in Israel!
He will be your comfort and the support of your old age,
for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you.
She is worth more to you than seven sons!”
Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nurse.
And the neighbor women gave him his name,
at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi.
They called him Obed.
He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ru 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17
The story of Ruth is continued as she and her mother-in-law return to the Hebrew lands around Bethlehem. As is customary, widows without support of any other male relatives glean in the fields – follow the harvesters and pick up any leftover grain not collected by them. Boaz, seeing in Ruth humility and grace, takes her as his wife. This story celebrates the piety and fidelity of Ruth, a Moabite (non-Hebrew) who becomes attached to Israel through marriage. Out of that union we find the beginnings of King David’s line and hence the line that produced Jesus in Bethlehem.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fin
#423 Weekday Year I Context (Friday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
Once in the time of the judges there was a famine in the land;
so a man from Bethlehem of Judah
departed with his wife and two sons
to reside on the plateau of Moab.
Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died,
and she was left with her two sons, who married Moabite women,
one named Orpah, the other Ruth.
When they had lived there about ten years,
both Mahlon and Chilion died also,
and the woman was left with neither her two sons nor her husband.
She then made ready to go back from the plateau of Moab
because word reached her there
that the LORD had visited his people and given them food.
Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye, but Ruth stayed with her.
Naomi said, “See now!
Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her god.
Go back after your sister-in-law!”
But Ruth said, “Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!
For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge,
your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”
Thus it was that Naomi returned
with the Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who accompanied her back from the plateau of Moab.
They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ru 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22
The Old Testament readings continue to trace God’s relationship with the Hebrew people. We are given a selection from the Book of Ruth that occurred around the same time as the Book of Judges (just concluded). These verses from the beginning of the book establish the geography of the story. The Bethlehem identified specifically (of Judah) distinguishes it from the Bethlehem of Zebulun (Joshua 19:15). The Bethlehem spoken of in this passage is also the birthplace of Jesus a thousand years in their future.
The loyalty of Ruth is also established in this passage as Ruth commits to stay with her mother-in-law in spite of the hardships and the fact that she is of a different faith. She commits herself to the God of Isaac and Jacob (“and your God my God”).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ruth 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17
#424 Weekday Year I Context (Saturday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz,
of the clan of her husband Elimelech.
Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi,
“Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field
of anyone who will allow me that favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter,” and she went.
The field she entered to glean after the harvesters
happened to be the section belonging to Boaz
of the clan of Elimelech.
Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter!
Do not go to glean in anyone else’s field;
you are not to leave here.
Stay here with my women servants.
Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them;
I have commanded the young men to do you no harm.
When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels
the young men have filled.”
Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, Ruth said to him,
“Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?”
Boaz answered her:
“I have had a complete account of what you have done
for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death;
you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth,
and have come to a people whom you did not know previously.”
Boaz took Ruth.
When they came together as man and wife,
the LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi,
“Blessed is the LORD who has not failed
to provide you today with an heir!
May he become famous in Israel!
He will be your comfort and the support of your old age,
for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you.
She is worth more to you than seven sons!”
Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nurse.
And the neighbor women gave him his name,
at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi.
They called him Obed.
He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ru 2:1-3, 8-11; 4:13-17
The story of Ruth is continued as she and her mother-in-law return to the Hebrew lands around Bethlehem. As is customary, widows without support of any other male relatives glean in the fields – follow the harvesters and pick up any leftover grain not collected by them. Boaz, seeing in Ruth humility and grace, takes her as his wife. This story celebrates the piety and fidelity of Ruth, a Moabite (non-Hebrew) who becomes attached to Israel through marriage. Out of that union we find the beginnings of King David’s line and hence the line that produced Jesus in Bethlehem.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fin
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