Reading Ezra and Nehemiah side-by-side with the contemporaneous book of Ruth, and seeing their contrasting views regarding intermarriage with Moabites, highlights the inspired tension of Scripture, as opposed to an imagined univocality of Scripture.
Ruth: A Subversive Romance: Boaz
July 23, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
In the fifth century bc, when Ezra and Nehemiah enacted a controversial policy based on a strict interpretation of the Torah that required Israelite men to divorce their Moabite wives and banish their children, a subversive romance was composed that we know as the book of Ruth. It’s the story of two widows—Naomi of Bethlehem and her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabite. The two widows have returned to Bethlehem from Moab, and in an effort to survive, Ruth goes out to glean in the barley fields. By chance she ends up in the field of Boaz—a prominent, wealthy, middle-aged landowner. Ruth catches the eye of Boaz who is keen to bestow various favors on the young widow. That’s when Naomi decided it was time to press the issue and tells, Rut, "Behold, Boaz is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor."
Ruth: A Subversive Romance: Bethlehem
July 16, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
In the year 455 bc, as Jewish exiles returned to Judah, Ezra and Nehemiah enacted an aggressive separation policy requiring Israelite men to divorce their Moabite wives and banish the children born of these marriages. This policy was a literal application of the Torah edict that no Moabite be admitted to the assembly of Yahweh. This prohibition was applicable if a person had even a single Moabite ancestor within ten generation. Thus the book of Ezra ends with a list of 117 men who divorced and banished their foreign wives along with their children. But apparently not everyone agreed with this policy. Because it was at this time that someone composed the book of Ruth—a love story that beneath the surface is a subversive romance.
Ruth: A Subversive Romance: Moab
July 9, 2023 • Brian Zahnd
The book of Ruth was composed as a charming but subversive text; the story is an artistic protest, a quiet counter-narrative to the aggressive exclusionary policy toward foreign wives enforced by Ezra and Nehemiah.
