The History of Ruth
Part Four: In the Days of Empowered Women
By Jeremy Lucas
If you've come with me this far in the study of Ruth, then I encourage you to stick it out through just one more section. For it is here that we answer the most common historical question that comes out of the book... when did it happen in the rest of Scripture? Just as we might wonder when Micah prophesied or who Isaiah served in his ministry, many have asked, "Where does the Book of Ruth fall in the story?" Hence, we begin our final section back in the beginning of the book.
"Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled..." Ruth 1:1
Clearly Ruth's story was in the period of the judges, but during which administrations? The nation of Israel had twelve judges (likened to the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles sitting on twelve thrones). Let's get a picture of the generations of 12 judges before we continue.
Judge #1 (40 years): Judge Othniel (Judges 3:9-11)
Judge #2 (80 years): Judge Ehud (Judges 3:15-30)
Judge #3 (1-20 years): Judge Shamgar (Judges 3:31)
Judge #4 (40 years): Judge Deborah & Barak (Judges 4:4-5:31)
Judge #5 (40 years): Judge Gideon (Judges 6:7-8:35)
Judge #6 (23 years): Judge Tola (Judges 10:1-2)
Judge #7 (22 years): Judge Jair (Judges 10:3-5)
Judge #8 (6 years): Judge Jephthah (Judges 11:1-12:7)
Judge #9 (7 years): Judge Ibzan (Judges 12:8-10)
Judge #10 (10 years): Judge Elon (Judges 12:11-12)
Judge #11 (8 years): Judge Abdon (Judges 12:13-15)
Judge #12 (20 years): Judge Samson (Judges 13:2-16:31)
A student of generational and verse-by-verse history must do a little digging to figure out how these all fit together on a timeline. But in our case, there isn't a need to map it out. For reference sake, hopefully you can follow along to see where our famous couple (Boaz and Ruth) fit in.
The ninth judge, Ibzan, was from Bethlehem. He had 30 daughters, 30 sons, and 30 daughter-in-laws.
"And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. And he had thirty sons, and thirty daughters, [whom] he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years." Judges 12:8-9
Ibzan was the only judge to have a seven-year reign, the Biblical number of perfection. Being from the productive city of Bethlehem, one can understand why his children were plenty and his rule was perfect.
"And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying unto the place of which the LORD said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the LORD hath spoken good concerning Israel." Numbers 10:29
Moses, the patriarch who led the Hebrews out of Egypt, has a conversation with Hobab, his brother-in-law from Midian.
Thus, beginning with Moses/Aaron, we have the following generation pictured:
Generation #1: Moses/Aaron & Hobab (the Midianite)
"Now Heber the Kenite, [which was] of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which [is] by Kedesh." Judges 4:11
One of the children of Hobab was Heber.
Generation #2: High Priest Eleazer (Son of Aaron from Part II) & Captain Heber (the Kenite).
"Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for [there was] peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite." Judges 4:17
Heber's wife is Jael, a woman we'll come back to a little later.
"In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways. [The inhabitants of] the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel,." Judges 5:6-7
Judge Shamgar, Israel's third judge who ruled for an undefined period, was in place during the "days of Jael." These years showed that "the highways were unoccupied and the travellers walked through byways." If highways are unoccupied, this would indicate people who have fled the land for reasons of destitution. There isn't any reason to be there or travelling. No one is living in the villages.
More importantly, Shamgar is ruling during the generation of Eleazer, the High Priest, who we discovered in Part II was living in the generation of Salmon, the father of Boaz. Thus, Shamgar's rule would be taking place primarily during the first few verses of the Book of Ruth, several years before Boaz shows up.
"Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons." Ruth 1:1
A man that we know to have been somewhat wealthy (from earlier studies) leaves Bethlehem, the "City of Bread," because there isn't any bread (essentially no barley or wheat in plenty supply). He and his family (wife, Naomi and two sons) go to live in the land of Moab for a time. How long?
"...and they dwelled there about ten years." Ruth 1:4b
After ten years, Naomi, who is part of the generation of Eleazer (from Part II), is also in the generation of Heber and his wife Jael. Likewise, we can then conclude that Naomi and her family were in the land of Moab during the reign of the third judge, Shamgar, who reigned for somewhere between 1 and 20 years. While we don't know the exact years of his rule, we know that his rule resembles an Israel that Naomi and her husband had to leave.
It's important now that we don't perceive Judge Shamgar as a presiding leader of ignorance who couldn't keep food in the land. Generally speaking, when we think of someone like President Herbert Hoover, we consider a good humanitarian who inherited bad times. Was it Hoover's fault that the United States led the world into a Great Depression? Could his decisions alone change the downward spiral? Of course not. Yet, he is blamed with and associated with one of the lowest points in our history.
Likewise, Judge Shamgar appears to have inherited the "evil" that the people did after Ehud died. He, on the other hand, was quite the hero of his day when reading of his own brief story.
"Now these [are] the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, [even] as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan; Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; [Namely], five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath." Judges 3:1-3
Through these remaining nations in the promised land, God would "prove" Israel via war. One of these nations, consisting of "five lords" (v.3) took a brutal hit.
"And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel." Judges 3:31
Shamgar's leadership was that of a warrior. Though his name means "sword," his slaughter of 600 Philistines came by a wooden stick much like the construction of a spear. An "ox goad" was something used to poke and prod oxen in their labor. Generally they're between 5 and 10 feet long. Picture Paul Newman with an ox goad in one hand and several dead men draped over his other arm.
So why famine under a good judge?
"And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead." Judges 4:1
The second great judge (Ehud, who reigned the longest at 80 years) was dead. And after so many years of integrity, they "again did evil" in the sight of the Lord. In payment, the Hebrews receive oppression.
"And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host [was] Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel." Judges 4:2-3
Twenty years of oppression, to be exact. What happens to a developing nation when it is oppressed? Foods become more scarce and production slows tremendously. People have less and less work that they're able to find. Famine.
Absence of bread in the most likely place that one would find it.
What we do not see in this God-sent oppression is an obvious break between judges. Oppression doesn't mean that there is no one in charge. Rather, it means that during such times, those in charge must deal with it on a regular basis until the threat is overcome or it crushes them completely. This leads me to believe that Shamgar (3rd) ruled for the entire twenty years between Ehud (2nd) and Deborah (4th).
We should note that when Ehud died, the rule of Shamgar was filled with oppression and Deborah (4th judge) becomes responsible for ending the troubled times. Her reign is 40 years (Judges 5:31) of peace, so it can be a fair notation that between Ehud's death and Deborah's attempt to crush the Canaanite oppression, these were the twenty years of oppression on the land for "doing evil" in the sight of the Lord. Some or all of those years belonged to the leadership of the great warrior Shamgar.
Now that we've arrived at this point, it's easy to move forward and piece together the timing of this love story for Ruth and Boaz. Who was the judge when Naomi left Bethlehem? Shamgar. Who was the judge when Naomi returned with Ruth 10 years later? Deborah.
"And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time." Judges 4:4
"Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread." Ruth 1:6
Naomi hears that things are back to normal in Judah, so she prepares to return. Deborah has taken the reigns of leadership and the Lord has once again "given them bread."
During the leadership of Deborah, the "days of Jael" really became legend. This was the story of a woman who provided shelter to the captain of her enemy (Captain Sisera of Canaan), then killed him in his sleep thrusting tent nails into the temples of his head (Judges 4). Her name was praised by Judge Deborah as a woman who "put her hand to the nail." In essence, a woman who was enough of a workman that the captain of an army would fall at her feet.
Connecting the timeline dots, Deborah would have followed Shamgar, who reigned during the ten years that Naomi was in Moab. Upon their return, Deborah had taken control of the land and restored its plentiful nature by destroying the nation that was oppressing them. And in the end, Ruth would undoubtedly hear the "water cooler" stories about the great female judge and the heroine who killed their enemy.
The Book of Ruth introduces us to a fascinating picture of two women that are bold and fearless (Naomi and Ruth). The context of their timeline introduces us to two more women who were just as bold (Deborah and Jael). If the women who pass down legendary strength and leadership are the talk of the towns (The Judge and a Captain's Wife), especially one as agricultural and busy as Bethlehem, can you just imagine how empowered Ruth must have felt "happing" upon an environment like the field of Boaz?
On the surface, Ruth was a foreigner in a strange land who seemingly didn't deserve favor and grace from the prince of Bethlehem. Yet, we recognize from Deuteronomy 23 (Part I) that it was her perfect time to be given such grace. We also learn that the military and political leaders in Israel when she arrived were those that encouraged the boldness of women, not so much in word, but in action.
Perhaps you never asked yourself why Ruth was relevant to the Scripture.
Perhaps you never asked yourself the significance of Boaz.
Perhaps you never asked yourself what made Bethlehem important.
And perhaps you never asked yourself where Ruth's love story fit into the timeline of Biblical events.
But the next time you go to read of her story, hopefully you'll have a greater backdrop for understanding the most precious story of grace in the Old Testament, the Book of Ruth.
|