I was never taught how to study scripture in a disciplined way, with a set of rules and tools to help me and guide me into the word of God. Remember, scripture is theology—the study of Theos or God. Also—reading your bible is not studying your bible. You might start there, but the call is to be a disciple, which means that we—study to show ourselves approved. To do this, we need rules and tools. This article is me putting myself on display for others to watch me put into practice what Dr. Heiser talks about in this podcast (see below).
Read scripture like you would fictional Sherlock Holmes
Allow me to make my attempt at summing the podcast on this point.
- With fiction, you have a built in expectation of a point to the story.
- You expect good guys and bad guys, protagonists and antagonists.
- You believe every word matters—the author is not using useless words.
- With a "who-dun-it", you realize every word is a clue in the mystery.
- You innately understand that your job and fun is to solve that mystery.
As Dr. Heiser points out: You are not being asked to believe that your bible is fiction. Rather—you are being asked to approach it as fiction in order to tease out all of the important matters in the narrative. Remember, the most important part of scripture is God and seeing Him and His story within the narrative. This is the mystery to be solved and seen. Therefore, viewing scripture through the tools of "fiction reading" will help you to see God and then yourself in relation to Him.
As ever—be careful to not read narrative genre scripture as modern fiction, but as it is—ancient near eastern text with its own worldview of its own time and not this time. There are actual dangers in reading with a modern worldview. Namely, you will miss important messaging that will inform you about God, which is (of course) your and God's goal for you. He wants you to know who He is!
1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
We want to read closely and carefully. Each word, phrase, and thought deserves our attention and our questions.
- Characters (in order): Judges, Elimelech (אלי (eli), meaning “my God”, and מלך (melek), meaning “king”), Naomi (pleasant one), Mahlon (weakness), Chilion (wasting away), Orpah (neck, back of the neck—Hebrew or ʿarāfā as "fawn" or "young dear", perhaps related to Moabite god, Chemosh—one of the "bulls of Bashan"), and Ruth (רְעוּת (reʿut), meaning “friendship” or “companionship”—Hebrew or רְעוּת (reʿut), meaning “satiety” or “abundance”).
- Locations: Judea, Moab, Ephrathites, Bethlehem
- Actions: Judges ruling, Family leaving, Remaining, Elimelech dying, Son's marrying, Living ten years, and then Mahlon and then Chilion dying
- Questions: Cause of the famine? Name meanings as literary tools? Why Moabite wives? Verse 5 mentions Naomi without her men (husband and sons), but excludes daughters: why?
The opening lines of Ruth point generically to the "days when the judges ruled". This is quite a long time and ranges from about 180 years to 460 years, with indications that the longer period of time is more accurate. So, our first question ought to be: When does the story of Ruth take place?
A little careful digging turns up a few possibilities. We ask the question: Who were the judges at the time of the story of Ruth. The possibilities range from Ehud to Deborah to Gideon to Jephthah to Eli, where Eli is the most likely candidate due to the coincidence with Hanna and Samuel and the link to David, the great-grandson of Boaz and Ruth. Each candidate has points that line up and points that detract and cause problems. However—Eli is the strongest candidate. The final question is: Does it matter? I will leave you to answer that on your own.
Another question is: What span of time does it take for the story of Ruth to play out? The answer appears to be about 11 years with the bulk of the evidence coming from the book of Ruth itself. The book mentions about a year or more of time from when Elimelech and Naomi and their sons relocate to Moab. Almost immediately, Elimelech dies, leaving Naomi and her sons, who then marry. After the marriages, the sons live another 10 years, where the final part of the story between Ruth and Boaz takes place. One might be inclined to add a few years in for gaps, which might bring the total closer to 15 or 20 years. So, perhaps we can assume to split the difference from 11 to 20 and call it 15 years for the timespan for Ruth to take place.
Who is Moab and how do they relate to the Jews? Why would Elimelech and Naomi choose to go to Moab? The Moabites are the children of Abraham's Nephew Lot. They live on the east side of the Dead Sea with Edom to the south and the Ammonites to the north.
Both of Elimelech's sons are married to Orpah and Ruth for about 10 years? Why do they not have children? Were the women barren or were the men impotent? Did they not have sex? We are never told why Orpah and Ruth never have children. The name of the husbands are "weakness" (Mahlon) and "wasting away" (Chilion). Knowing this leads to another question: Why would ancient near eastern Jews with a Mesopotamian worldview name their boys "weakness" and "wasting away"?
A quick search for ancient near eastern and Mesopotamian naming conventions yields some not-so-helpful results. It seems that most children were either named for ties to gods and dieties, to events or to neutral expectations of the parents for the child. Here is a quick summary:
Theophoric names: These names invoked or honored a deity, such as Elimelech (“my God is king”), Ashurbanipal (“the god Ashur is creator of an heir”), or Jezebel (“where is the prince?”). Theophoric names expressed the devotion and dependence of the parents and the child on the divine power and protection.
Descriptive names: These names described a quality or characteristic of the child or the parents, such as Naomi (“pleasant one”), Esau (“hairy”), or David (“beloved”). Descriptive names could also reflect the emotions or experiences of the parents at the time of birth, such as Isaac (“he laughs”), Rachel (“ewe”), or Jabez (“he causes pain”). Descriptive names expressed the personality and identity of the child or the parents1.
Wishful names: These names expressed a hope or a prayer for the child’s future, such as Solomon (“peace”), Joshua (“the LORD saves”), or Esther (“star”). Wishful names could also imply a blessing or a curse on the child, such as Obed (“servant”), Ichabod (“no glory”), or Mahlon and Chilion (“sickness” and “wasting away”). Wishful names expressed the expectations and aspirations of the parents for the child.
The logic or reasoning behind these types of names was based on the belief that names had power and meaning, and that they could influence the destiny and fate of the child. Names were not chosen randomly or arbitrarily, but carefully and deliberately, according to the cultural norms and religious traditions of each society. Names were also subject to change, depending on the circumstances and events in one’s life, such as Naomi changing her name to Mara (“bitter”) after losing her husband and sons (Ruth 1:20). Names were considered an important part of one’s identity and heritage, and they were often passed down from generation to generation.
It is quite possible that the names of the sons are a narrative tool and not really their real names, especially as they are not in the lineage of David, which ancient (and even modern) Jews would consider critically important. Remember, scripture is a theology book about God and what God is doing and not a history book, science book, physics, or even math book. Therefore, there are literary tools at work in the text to tell us about God. In this case, the names of the two sons are likely such story-telling tools!
Understanding, so far ...
So—what do we know so far?
- The time frame the Judges is about 400 years with Ruth in the last 50.
- We know the meanings of the names as literary tools in the storyline.
- And we know we have more questions!
Even though we have more questions, we do know more than we did and we have a "lay of the land" or ancient near eastern context for the story to fit into. We also have some extra-biblical Mesopotamian thought and influence by which to frame our story as well. Nevertheless, we can continue with our questions and close and careful reading.
Moving along ...
Elimelech, Naomi, and sons are Ephrathites. An Ephrathite is a person who comes from Ephrath or Ephrathah, which is an ancient name for Bethlehem. The name means "fruitful" in Hebrew. According to the Bible, Elimelech and his family were Ephrathites of Bethlehem in Judah, who moved to Moab because of the famine in their land (Ruth 1:2). Ephrath is also the name of Caleb's second wife, who was the mother of Hur, the ancestor of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 2:19, 50-51). Ephrath is also associated with the prophecy of the Messiah's birthplace in Micah 5:2: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel" (NIV).
To an ancient or first century Jew, these opening five verses telegraph a linkage to Messiah. So, we are primed for seeing Ruth through expectant eyes for Messiah. For Christians, the genealogy and link to Jesus is obvious. The names of both people and places are set telegraphed setup for this specific woman included in the genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew and is implied in Luke.
What does this inform us of about God (theology)?
Ruth drips with the grace, love, and compassion of God towards men as He forges His way to Messiah through these people. There are a number of points to make from the scene, so far (five verses):
In the background of the story, Israel is consistently leaving God and heading back into idolatry and gods other than Yahweh. The LORD gives them judges as a mechanism to bring that back to Himself. Over and over, they come back and then leave in repeating cycles. It is just this type of occasion where famine descends on Israel in a judgment of God for idolatry and the fruitfulness of Moab attracts Elimelech.
As with many Old Testament narratives, the real names of people often reflect the faithfulness of God and his compassion to use broken people, even in their rebellions. In this case, Elimelech (God is my king) is counter to Elimelech's actions as he turns from God's land and people to those of an Israelite enemy—the Moabites—for his salvation. Even so, God will use this choice to bring Ruth, and ultimately Jesus through Obed and David.
The two Moabite women clearly inform us of God's view of these women at their heart of hearts. Orpah may (in fact) be named after a Moabite god, which works out in her character as she leaves and abandons Naomi to return home to Moab. On the other hand, there is Ruth—and whichever way we read the meaning of her name, we are left with a woman of deep character and love, compassion, truth-seeking, and faithfulness. The telegraphing of what God find's important in our character is plain.
The sons tell us about God as well. Where men fail, God prevails. Naomi changes her name to Mara (bitterness) because she sees no hope. Like her husband who faithlessly fled Israel for Moab, she has her moment of doubt as well—requesting her daughters-in-law to flee for Moab and leave her to die in Israel without man, sons, or land and position. Instead, the woman of deep character is used by God to rescue her faith.
At the end of the first five verses, we have a complete setup for human failure and the success and power of God demonstrated in the text that lays ahead. As ever, our theology is now reinforced to see that God is one who delights in using the weaknesses of men to prove not only His power, but His love and compassion for those very weak and lowly people, even if they operate in doubts and faithlessness.
What are the suprises?
Every passage of scripture will generally hold an on-going number of surprises about God (our growing understanding - theology) and about ourselves as people through the stories of these other people.
My primary surprise is to see the use of Mahlon and Chilion as non-literal names, but as literary mechanisms to communicate the message of theology and tell me something about God. In this case, these two men were never going to be in the lineage of Christ. There wasn't even a ghost-of-chance and their names were designed to telegraph this. The name of Orpah may also be in this category as a literary device to communicate even more. One might also include Naomi and Elimelech, where their names are foundational within the genealogy of Jesus, which completely reworks them even in the face of their failures of faith.
I doubt seriously that I have plumbed the depths of these five verses. Perhaps you will do better. Nevertheless—my hope and goal was to bring you along for the ride of parsing this ad-hoc-chosen bit of scripture to experience how the tools of study look and feel when applied. From my point of view—mission accomplished. I am delighted with the result.