Life Speaks and Community Identifies: A Study of the Five Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible

Author: Li Chichang et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-10-01
Features: Abraham said, "You shall go to my country and my kindred to take a wife for my son Isaac."… When Abraham's servant retold it, it became: "My master charged me to swear, 'You shall go to my father's house and my kindred to take a wife for my son.'" (Genesis 24:4; 38) (The story of Judah and his daughter-in-law is similar to that of Ruth, but when Judah advised his daughter-in-law Tamar to return home, he said): "Go back, be a widow in your father's house, until my son Shelah grows up." Tamar went back and lived in her father's house. (Genesis 38:11) Bringing a woman to the door of her father's house, the people of the city should stone her to death, because she committed fornication in her father's house and brought disgrace upon Israel. (Deuteronomy 22:21) A concubine who fornicated and left her husband returned to Bethlehem in Judah and went to her father's house, where she stayed for four months. (Judges 19:2) It can be seen that in ancient Israelite society, the male was the center of the entire family, that is to say, a "patrilineal clan society." However, in the Hebrew Bible, there are also a few passages that use the term "" (native place) to indicate family identity. When Abraham's servant first met Rebekah, "the girl (Rebekah) ran back and told her mother and her family what had been said." (Genesis 24:28) "I just left them when I met the one I love. I held him and would not let him go, leading him into my mother's house to the inner room where I was born." (Song of Songs 3:4) "I wish you were like my brother, like one who suckled at my mother's breast! I met you outside, and I kissed you; no one despises me. I will lead you, and take you into my mother's house, where I can receive instruction, and you can drink the sweet wine of pomegranates." (Song of Songs 8:1-2) Perhaps, in Ruth, the use of "" here to indicate people's blood ties is particularly meaningful because it is aware of the female identity of the main character of this story and thereby highlights the status and role of women in society. In Ruth, the male characters, including Boaz, appear as supporting roles to the female heroine. Naomi and Ruth's actions subvert the traditional image of women in gender politics, which is particularly evident in the scene where Ruth actively seeks Boaz's affection in the field. In traditional agricultural societies, the grain god held a very high status, and the threshing floor was often a sacred place for worshipping the grain god. The original site of the Jerusalem Temple was a threshing floor. People worshipped the grain god on the threshing floor and celebrated the harvest. Since the produce of the land is similar to human production, the celebrations on the threshing floor often evolved into sexual orgies. The threshing floor was the ideal place for sexual union. The story of Ruth and Boaz took place on the threshing floor. Ruth said, "Boaz ate and drank and was merry," which seems to suggest the ambiguous atmosphere usually associated with the threshing floor. Although, due to the hesitancy in the narrative, many details remain unclear, in the gender politics of Ruth and Boaz, Ruth took the initiative, while Boaz appeared passive. Ruth quietly came and lifted the blanket from his feet and lay down there. At midnight, the man suddenly awoke, turned over, and found a woman lying at his feet. He said, "Who are you?" She replied, "I am your servant Ruth. Please cover me with your skirt, for you are my nearest kin." Boaz said, "Daughter, may the Lord bless you!… Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he is willing to perform the duty of a near kinsman for you, let him do so. If he is not willing, I solemnly swear by the Lord who lives forever, I will perform the duty of a near kinsman for you. You may lie here until morning." Ruth lay at his feet until it was almost dawn, when they could no longer be distinguished from each other, and then she rose. (Ruth 3:7–14) This passage is full of notable points. Ruth calls herself a "servant," which in the Hebrew Bible is a humble term for a concubine; the request to cover her with his skirt is another way of asking Boaz to marry her. Especially, in the Hebrew tradition, the "foot" is an euphemism for the male penis. In the sexual relationship with Boaz, Ruth's attitude is active and proactive. Naomi and Ruth's proactive stance in changing their fate is completely different from the traditional role of submission and humility expected of women in the Bible. In biblical stories, there are other instances where women take the initiative in gender relationships, such as Lot's daughters and Judah's daughter-in-law Tamar, as seen in Genesis 19:30–38 and 38:14–19. Lot and his two daughters lived in a cave. The older daughter said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no one on earth to come in to us according to the custom of the world. Come, let us get our father drunk and lie with him, so that we may preserve our family line."… Thus, both of Lot's daughters became pregnant with their father. The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab, who is the ancestor of the Moabites today. Tamar saw that Shelah had grown up but had not yet taken her as his wife. She took off her widow's clothes, covered her face with a veil, and concealed her body, sitting at the gate of Enaim in the road. Judah saw her and thought she was a prostitute because she was veiled. So he went to her and said, "Come, let us lie with you." He did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. Tamar said, "You want to lie with me? What will you give me?" Judah said, "I will take a goat from the flock and send it to you." Tamar said, "Before you send it, will you give me a pledge?" He said, "What pledge will I give you?" She said, "Your signet, your cord, and your staff." Judah gave them to her and lay with her, and she became pregnant with Judah.… The child was named Perez. At first glance, these three stories seem unrelated. However, in reality, they form three essential links in the genealogy of King David. Ruth's ancestors were Moabites, and the Moabites were the offspring of Lot's older daughter and Lot. Boaz's ancestors were Perez, that is, the child of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. By having Ruth and Boaz reenact the stories of their ancestors, it is no wonder that at the wedding ceremony of Ruth and Boaz, the elders sang, "May the Lord give you descendants from this young woman, so that your family may be like Perez's family, which was born from Tamar and Judah." (4:12) Therefore, the author of Ruth connects these three stories through the genealogy of King David. From a feminist perspective, the common point of these three stories lies in the women's active control over their own bodies. Women have the right to demand sexual partners, and men are the objects of the women's sexual strategies. In these three stories, without the initiative of these women, the continuation of the family line would have been disrupted. Ruth further links this behavior to the birth of King David, thereby giving it legitimacy.① In conclusion, for feminist hermeneutics, Ruth is a text rich in meaning. This may be because Ruth reflects a special community. The foreign woman represented by Ruth was a major victim of Ezra and Nehemiah's ethnic purity movement. Ultimately, their cleansing stemmed from the special physical structure of women. In a male-dominated society, only the inclusion of foreign women could change the ethnic bloodline. Conversely, Ruth, starting from the same point, argues that it is precisely the physical structure of women that enables the transmission of a nation's bloodline. As the great-grandmother of King David, Ruth is at the center of Ruth. Ruth uses women's self-awareness of their bodies to oppose the male-dominated power structure of Jerusalem.
II. The Shadow of Patriarchy
It is undeniable that in the biblical texts, Ruth is a text with strong feminist undertones. Women have the right to decide over their own bodies and can actively change their fate in life's adversities. However, in the narrative of the story, we can still see another thread of male-dominated society. If Ruth, Naomi, and other female characters are the shining points in this picture, then the dominant power of men in society constitutes the shadow that highlights these shining points. This shadow not only makes Ruth and Naomi appear even brighter but also perpetually casts a dark aura over their images.