Below is the text of the paper I presented this past week at the Mid-Atlantic Region Society of Biblical Literature and, if WordPress plays nicely, the audio of the presentation.
This paper is part of my larger work on Targum Ruth. This summer I will be presenting a paper at IOTS on the character of Boaz in Tg Ruth. But first, we need to consider how Boaz is presented in the biblical text.
Centrally Marginalized
Ruth and Naomi are rightly understood by most commentators as the central figures of the book of Ruth and most agree that Ruth and Naomi are the initiators of all action and Boaz merely the respondent. As Phyllis Trible noted, “Boaz is the reactor to their initiative.”1 Thus in many ways Boaz is only marginally relevant to the story, he is present because only a male figure could accomplish the deeds necessary to secure Ruth and Naomi’s future.
Yet there has been a tremendous amount of attention paid to Boaz over the centuries. Older and more traditional commentaries, going back to the rabbinic sources and as recent as, for example, Frederic Bush,2 depict Boaz as the righteous and benevolent savior of Ruth and Naomi, often to the extent that the women are displaced from their central roles. More recently, however, we find commentators like Fewell and Gunn who focus upon Boaz precisely with the purpose of diminishing his role in some way.
Boaz has thus been centrally marginalized in two instances. In the first case by the narrator since the story itself places Boaz in a distinctly tertiary role relative to Ruth and Naomi, and in the second case by the scholars who seek to reduce his actions to those of a horny old man.
The biblical account
The story itself presents Boaz as a figure who is key to the plot, he is a necessary element of the preservation of Ruth and Naomi, but it is made clear in a number of ways that he is merely a tool, used and manipulated by the women, with very little value of his own aside from his role as “redeemer.”
The four chapters of the book of Ruth are often and understandably broken down into four primary scenes with actions attributed to different characters in each case. In chapter 1 it is Naomi who is the primary mover, first leaving Bethlehem and then returning. It is Naomi, by her return to Judah and urging of her daughters-in-law to remain in Moab, who precipitates Ruth’s decision to leave her own home and gods to remain with her mother-in-law.3 In chapter 2 we find Ruth taking the initiative, going out to provide for their sustenance. Chapter 3 is often viewed as Naomi’s since although Ruth is the one who must approach Boaz in the dark of the night, it is Naomi who provides her with the counsel and guidance. The final chapter is, of course, considered Boaz’s since it is primarily concerned with his actions at the city gate and his “taking” Ruth as his wife and the subsequent conception and birth of Obed. Chapter 4 is, as so many have noted, very much a male world (Trible).
While such a description and breakdown of the book of Ruth is reasonable, it obscures the fact that it is Ruth who is actually the instigator of all central actions. It is Ruth’s passionate insistence on staying with Naomi that sets the stage for everything that follows and it is of course Ruth who takes the initiative to go and glean for their sustenance. While chapter 3 opens with Naomi taking responsibility for Ruth’s wellbeing (“I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you.”) and offering a plan for presenting herself to Boaz, it is Ruth who not only acts out that plan but, as many have noted, goes beyond Naomi’s instructions.4 The events of chapter 4 thus come about because Ruth took the initiative and moved Boaz into action. It is true that Ruth does not speak again in the story after she reports back to Naomi the events of the night at the threshing floor, but it is her words to Boaz that lie behind every action of chapter 4.
The figure of Boaz, on the other hand, has an important and yet marginal role in the story. In chapter 2, for example, when Boaz finally appears on the scene he acts, but only in response to Ruth’s presence. His speech makes it clear that he knew of Naomi’s return from Moab and Ruth’s faithfulness to her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me.” Yet for some reason he never sought out Naomi or Ruth until she was before him and he had to take notice. Many commentators have spent a considerable amount of effort wondering why Boaz did not seek out Naomi and what his motivation would be in caring for Ruth now. I will deal with the latter below, but a few words about the former are appropriate here.
We all know how notoriously difficult and even dangerous it is to attempt to discern an author’s intent; I would suggest that it is even more foolhardy to attempt to discern a character’s motivation without some clear indication from the text itself. I am still not sure if I completely agree with Campbell’s following statement, but there is certainly truth within it.
It is inherent in biblical thought generally that a person’s actions and words offer a true picture of the person’s character. Hebrew stories do not have characters with hidden motives and concealed agendas, or if they do, the audience is explicitly told about it.5
Certainly biblical characters are often devious and do have agendas and perhaps Campbell is right in saying that when they do the audience is always allowed into the conspiracy. With the case of Boaz I think that what we find is what the character is. We could make up a back story (as the rabbis do) and provide him with motives for not engaging with Naomi or Ruth before this moment. Or we could accept that the author had no use for Boaz until this time in the story. His character is marginal, he only makes an appearance on the stage when necessary, and he does not initiate anything, but rather reacts to Ruth’s decisions and actions.6
Chapter 4 is, as noted already, often considered Boaz’s chapter and it is certainly primarily concerned with his actions. Boaz goes to the city gate and settles the business with “So-and-so” (פְּלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי) and then after some formalities and blessings “Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife.” This all occurs in the realm of men. There are no women among the elders and in fact we do not hear from Ruth or Naomi again in the story. Yet all of this occurred because Ruth directed Boaz saying, “spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin.” Even when it seems, as some might argue, that this incredible story of women’s initiative is undermined at the very end by the silencing of our main characters and Boaz’s emergence into center stage, the primary mover of these events remains Ruth. Furthermore the very end of the story once again belongs to the women as the women of the community step forward and bless Naomi and even name the child, “A son has been born to Naomi.”7
There is no doubt that Boaz is a key player in the book of Ruth; without the male redeemer safety and security for Naomi and Ruth could not be ensured. But Boaz’s engagement is restricted to reacting to Ruth’s actions and directions. It is worth taking a moment to remind ourselves of how revolutionary this work would have seemed to its original audience. There are certain tropes and themes to be expected, Boaz is certainly presented as the pious patriarch, however it is the women, and more specifically the foreign woman Ruth, who are in complete control. As a character Boaz has more in common with Rachel or Leah than Jacob; he has certain key moments of dialogue that move the plot, but his primary function is to provide offspring.
[Addendum: Jim Getz, one of our colleagues who was here last night but has since returned to Philadelphia just commented on my blog this morning. I think his comment is worth sharing. “Could the antiquated language of Boaz (his use of paragogic nun’s) be a very tangible representation of this marginalization by the narrator? The very way he speaks is distinct from the other characters in the story. He’s in some way marginalized every time he opens his mouth.”]
Modern marginalization
If the biblical text has reserved the spotlight for Ruth, most commentators up until the last century have widened the spotlight to make room for Boaz, in some cases eclipsing the women altogether. For example, in the Targum to Ruth Boaz is not only a pious man, he is a scholar of Torah and a prophet. In reaction to such interpretations and following the general societal changes in the last 50 years or so scholars have rightly begun to refocus upon Ruth and Naomi. At the same time some have sought to diminish the role of Boaz. I want to consider briefly one such theme of marginalization found in contemporary scholarship, that of portraying Boaz as nothing more than a horny old git, who reacts primarily to his primal urges rather than out of any altruistic or religious motives.
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- Trible, p. 196. [↩]
- E.g., “[Boaz’s] magnanimity knows no bounds.” Ruth, Esther, Word Biblical Commentary, (Dallas: Word Books, 1996), p. 54. [↩]
- I do believe that throughout the book it is, in fact, Ruth who is our primary mover. She is insistent with Naomi that she remain, and as I will explain above, she who drives the story from chapter 2 onward. [↩]
- Ruth 3:4, Naomi says, “go and uncover [Boaz’s] feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.” When the time comes Ruth in fact tells Boaz what to do. See Trible and Linafelt. [↩]
- Edward Campbell, Ruth, Anchor Bible, p. 112. [↩]
- I admit it feels odd to be arguing for a largely two-dimensional character when I usually advocate for “fleshing out” a character. In the book of Ruth, however, I believe the author has intentionally presented us with a straw man. [↩]
- Trible, p. 196, “The women of Bethlehem do not permit this transformation [man’s world, etc.] to prevail. They reinterpret the language of a man’s world to preserve the integrity of a woman’s story.” [↩]
