THE RUTH MONOLOGUES.

1.

ELIMELECH.

ELIMELECH: I am of Bethlehem, a city of the tribe of Judah. A city in

which the inhabitants have been reduced to skeletons due to a famine in

the land of Canaan.

It could see that I would not be able to feed my family and that caused me

a sore distress, so I declared my intention of leaving and travelling to

Moab where there is grain aplenty.

"You should not go," said my father-in-law, and this was also the opinion

of my own father.

"If I stay here, Killon and Mahlon, my sons will surely die as will Naiomi

my wife. I have no intention of allowing that to happen."

"Stay here and ADONAI will provide for you and your family. Here you

will live, in Moab you will perish among the Goyim and their false gods."

"Anything ADONAI will give will be meagre and in all tribes many will

die. In Moab we will prosper."

And so I removed with my wife and two sons to Moab. In Moab I did not

worship the gods of the Moabites, nor did I worship the god of Abraham,

Isaac and Jacob. I ceased to worship any god, and came to look upon

myself as the author and creator of my good fortune, for in the land of

Moab I became a merchant and my riches increased.

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Naiomi, who had not ceased to worship ADONAI, thought to caution me

on many occasions, but I was filled with my own spirit and heeded her

not.

"Elimelech, it grieves me to see you godless."

"And it perplexes me, Naiomi, to see you on your knees praying to

something you cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Beyond all the

things that can be detected by our senses nothing exists. The Moabites

make images of their gods, but have they animation? Do they not remain

just graven lumps of stone?"

"ADONAI is not like that. ADONAI is the one and only living God.

Consider the miracles he has performed for his Chosen people."

"The Habiru people would have been better had they not been cajoled

into believing that they were a people chosen by ADONAI, whose deeds

are tales told to the gullible."

That is my considered opinion and I have found it best not to enter into

argument with Naiomi for her mind is closed to the rational.

When I look about me and see all forms of life, of which I am one. I see

that sooner or later all forms of life withers, dies, and rots, so that flesh

departs and only bones remain.

In Moab I am prospering and I will continue to prosper. I would have

been foolish to stay in Canaan and suffer starvation, expecting to be

sustained by Naiomi's ADONAI. No, I intend to build bigger storehouses

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for the wares I deal in. I take matters into my own hands and through my

own efforts I make my fortunate way in the world. My relations with the

Moabites are congenial and from them I chose wives for my sons as

cement to my business.

For Killon I chose Orpah, the daughter of a ruling elder, and for Mahlon I

chose Ruth, whose father was a dealer in gold and silver. Nine years have

passed and all goes well with me.

"You must admit," I said to Naiomi, "that I was right to bring you here.

Look at the good fortune we have had." Naiomi did not answer, so I went

on: "And today I have given a contract for the building of two new

warehouses, and have made contacts that will open up trade with the

Egyptians."

"I fear for you my husband," was all she said.

Naiomi does not like to admit that I was right. Sometimes she does not

live up to her name of pleasant. Nevertheless, I am glad that she has

benefited from my acumen.

2.

NAIOMI.

NAIOMI: I expected more from my marriage to Elimelech, so at heart I

am a disappointed woman. I did not know when I married him that he

was a man who believed in no gods whatsoever. He gave me to believe

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that he worshipped ADONAI, but very soon I found that he worshiped

only himself.

In a way he was worse than those who put their faith in the graven images

of the false gods of the Moabites. They recognized the existence of

ADONAI, but Elimelech denied that ADONAI existed.

When famine came to test us in the land of Canaan, I did not want to go

to Moab, and I still think it would have been best to stay there, but

perhaps it may have been the will of ADONAI that took us to Moab.

I opposed Elimelech at the time but he said it was not reasonable to stay

in a land where we would starve.

"ADONAI, will provide." I said.

"I will provide for you and my sons, Killon and Mahlon," he replied.

In Moab he did provide for nine years. At the beginning of the tenth year

all his vitality waned and his strength left him and he drew his feet into

his bed and he died.

I will not say I missed his presence, for I had my two sons and their wives

were good to me even though they were Moabite women.

"The rains came and their downpour seemed ceaseless and both my sons

who had been trading in Edom were drowned in a flash flood as they

crossed the river Zered on their return to Moab.

Such was my distress at the loss of Killon and Mahlon that I fell into a

state of depression which made me very uneasy. All who were dear to me

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were dead. Why had ADONAI brought this terrible loss into my life?

Why did He have to make me suffer so? I isolated myself and would see

no one.

In that isolation I fought a battle between the atheistic voice of the dead

Elimelech and the whispered words of ADONAI, to come unto Him.

Each time I thought of prostrating my being before ADONAI, I heard the

scathing tones of Elimelech: "Don't be so foolish woman. Stand on your

own two feet because if you won't do anything to help yourself, no-one

will."

A feeling of greater and greater loneliness descended upon me, until at

last I cried out in my pain to ADONAI, asking Him to help me and to tell

me what I needed to do.

I sent a servant to my daughters-in-law asking that they come to me, and

when they came I said to them: "You have been good wives to my sons,

and you have been kind to me, but I have cried out to ADONAI asking

Him what I should do, and this I say to you that I will return to my own

country, for in leaving it I have had only misfortune."

Orpah and Ruth tried to dissuade me, but I was under the rule of

ADONAI.

"I must go back to Canaan. I wish you both a more happy wedlock than

you had with my sons, and that in all other respects may you prosper.

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You must stay in your own country because I am not certain how you

would be received in Canaan in these uncertain times."

They departed from me in tears, and I instructed my servants to prepare

for my departure.

3.

ORPAH.

ORPAH: There are some men who do not beat their wives. Killon, my

husband was not one of them and I was always glad when he went with

his brother on trade missions, it gave me a breathing space and also a

time for my bruises to heal. He never marked me where it could be seen

so my mother-in-law Naiomi did not know of his abuse of me. Nor did

his father when he was alive. To my own parents, a husband beating a

wife was something that happened.

Killon had gone with his brother Mahlon to Edom and it was while they

were returning that they had died in a sudden flood that overtook them

when they were in mid-stream. So say the servants whom they had sent

across the river with the goods from Edom.

There was no saving the two brothers. The violence of the waters took

them and their servants returned to us their rock-abused bodies. They

were buried according to the rituals of Chemosh and two more cairns of

stones arose, one on each side of their father, Elimelech.

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Naiomi, their mother wanted them buried according to the rituals of

ADONAI, (the Habiru god) but my own father's will and that of Ruth

prevailed, and Naiomi was much grieved, and I don't think that Ruth or

myself were of much comfort to her at this time. My mind was taken up

with saying to itself: where will I find another husband who will not beat

me and who will protect me?

When we were with Naiomi she would say such things as: "This is what

comes from worshiping false gods. ADONAI has turned His wrath

against us, and my husband and sons have died in their sins. Such is the

consequence of departing from the will of ADONAI."

"Mahlon," Ruth said, "did not believe in any god."

"Nor did Killon," said I, "but he was wrong. I, in my heart, have always

worshiped Chemosh."

"Chemosh," said Ruth, "is a god of horror."

"He is the god of fertility," I said, "he gives power to Baal and Astarte."

"It is a thing of horror to sacrifice children on the altar of Chemosh," said

Ruth.

"Our priests say that only those who are deformed or brain-blemished are

acceptable to Chemosh. In this way the wisdom of Chemosh ensures that

we Moabites are sound in body and mind."

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"Nevertheless," said Ruth, "I do not want to worship a god like

Chemosh." Turning to Naiomi she said: "I would learn more of your

god."

"I will tell you both of ADONAI," Naiomi said, "but I will not have time

to tell you as much as I would like you to know, for I am drawn by

ADONAI to return to my own land and to the worship of Him in truth."

"But you must not leave us," I said. "We will take care of you here. Who

is there in Canaan who will take care of you?"

"It is ADONAI who is guiding my footsteps. Even in the midst of the

people I know here I have a great loneliness and an overwhelming desire

to return to ADONAI in my own land. I feel that I am a small part of

some great plan of ADONAI."

Naiomi made preparations for leaving Beth-peor in Moab and as she did

so she talked daily about ADONAI to Ruth and myself, although I was

little interested in these sessions of instruction as to what it meant to be a

Habiru and a worshiper of ADONAI. I was content to rest in the mercies

of Chemosh.

"On the day before her departure for Canaan she spoke to Ruth and

myself.

"I love you as daughters," she said, "but now we must part. I wish you

both a more happy wedlock than you had with my sons, and in all things I

wish you prosperity. You cannot come with me because there is much

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uncertainty for me in Canaan, but I have faith that ADONAI will provide

for me, but you must stay in your own country."

After she left, I no longer had Ruth, and when my period of mourning and

re-purification had finished I looked to the prospects for gaining another

husband.

4.

RUTH.

RUTH: It was as if I had always known that there was more to life than

the dictates of Chemosh laid down by the priests of that god.

My heart was warmed and my mind excited by what Naiomi, my mother-

in-law told me of the wonders and the deeds of ADONAI on behalf of the

people he had chosen and brought forth from the seed of Abram the

Chaldean, his son Isaac, his twelve sons, and the Children of Israel whom

He had delivered from the Pharaoh of Egypt.

ADONAI did does not permit the sacrificing of human beings, and when

Abram would have sacrificed Isaac, ADONAI stayed His hand and

provided a lamb to be sacrificed in place of Isaac.

Time and time again, Naiomi said, ADONAI's chosen people strayed

from His word and fell into sin, worshiping false gods and indulging in

sexual rituals and human sacrifice for their own pleasure.

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Such things sickened my being and I failed to understand why Orpah, my

sister-in-law could return to and indulge in such practices. Also there

were those who, sold to my people as slaves, lived and died in horrifying

conditions, and when they were of no further use they were sacrificed on

the altars of Chemosh, Baal, and Astarte. Their hearts, livers and brains

were eaten by the priests and their lower entrails used for divination.

This was a land and a people I no longer wanted to live in or with. So it

was that when Naiomi prepared to return to her own land, she told us that

we should return to the houses of our parents and that she was sure that

ADONAI would bless us for the grace we had shown her and would grant

us loving husbands

There was little she had to do to convince Orpah to remain in Moab and

there was nothing I could do to convince her that we should go to Canaan

with Naiomi.

"It would not do to leave our parents," she said. "You should not even

think of doing so."

Naiomi said: "Both of you go back to your mothers. I no longer have in

my womb sons who would become your husbands. I am too old to have

another husband and even if I had a husband and sons would you wait for

them until they grew up? I must part with you and I will not forget your

goodness to me." Saying this she began to cry.

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Orpah kissed her and said good-bye and left to return to her mother's

house and to Chemosh her god.

"Look," Naiomi said to me, "Orpah has gone and now you too must go."

But I said: "Do not press me to leave you, or to stop following you for

wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people

will be my people and ADONAI will be my God. Where you die, I will

die and there I will be buried. Nothing but death will separate me from

you."

With great weeping Naiomi enfolded me in her arms and I felt her

convulse as she held me. Then at arm's length and looking into my eyes:

"Oh, Ruth, how grateful I am. ADONAI has at this time of my sorrow

given you as a comfort to me."

We set out on our journey with our belongings in an oxcart and with one

Habiru servant named Tabitha, who had been sold to Moab and bought

as a slave by Elimelech.

We journeyed to a place called Beit-Lechem where Naiomi was known

and where our arrival caused much excitement. The women gathered

around us.

"Are you not Naiomi, wife of Elimelech who left here a dozen years

ago?"

"No longer call me Naiomi, (which means, pleasant) call me Marah,

(which means, bitter) for I went out full and have come back empty."

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They questioned her and she told them of her misfortunes and explained

who I was after which they comforted her and said that she must find her

guardian redeemer, who, as I found out later was one who had the

obligation to redeem a relative in difficulties.

It was at the beginning of the barley harvest that we arrived at Beit-

Lechem.

5.

OBED.

OBED: Ever since I was a child I wanted to know of my father because at

the time he died I was growing stronger in my mother's womb.

My mother, Ruth, when I asked questions during my childhood: "When

you are old enough to understand I will tell you of Boaz, your father."

"Is it time yet?" I would ask. "For you to tell me of my father?"

"It is not yet time," Mother would say.

"What did he look like?"

"You resemble him. You have his build and features."

"Tell me of him now."

"You must be patient; patience leads to perseverance and perseverance

brings character."

So, I learned to be patient until the time when she told me of my father,

Boaz.

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She told me of how she had come to Beit-Lechem with Naiomi my

grandmother, and of how they had nowhere to live because when

grandfather Elimelech and both my uncles died Naiomi had, through

agents sent from Moab, sold the property of Elimelech and they had

nowhere to come back to. That which she got from the sale was after the

agent had taken his commission was barely enough to pay for the rituals

said over her sons. Their business passed into the hands of their business

partners, the fathers of her son's two wives, Orpah and Ruth.

With little to live on she decided as she maintained, under the direction of

ADONAI to return to Canaan. Mother came with her and upon arriving

she sought out a relative who would have the responsibility under the

Law of redeeming Elimelech's property. The man's name was Elezar and

Naiomi and mother went to see him.

"You must understand, Obed," Mother said, "that Elezar was not a hard

hearted man, and our coming to him placed him in an embarrassing

situation. He wanted to help us but to be truly our guardian-redeemer

under the Law he would have to forsake his wife and children and marry

me in order to raise up the name of the dead family if he were to redeem

Elimelech's property.

"He said: 'Shelter I can provide for you, and for food you can glean my

fields, but I will not forsake my family whom I love in order to redeem

Elimelech's property. However, Naiomi, you have another kinsman, and I

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will speak with him and see if he is willing to be your guardian-

redeemer.'

"'Who is he?' asked Naiomi.

"'His name is Boaz, and in the meantime it might be advantageous to you

if Ruth were to glean in his fields.'

When I went to glean behind the harvesters in the fields of Boaz, the

overseer of the harvest questioned me closely discovering I was from

Moab but he did not hinder my gleaning when I told him I was gleaning

for Naiomi, the relative of Boaz.

When Boaz came to his fields he saw me and asked his overseer who I

was and after listening to what he had to say walked among the harvesters

saying to each one: 'ADONAI be with you,' and each answered:

'ADONAI bless you.'

"For two days from morning until evening I gleaned in his fields. On the

third day he came to me and said I was to glean in no other fields but his,

and I was to stay and have food with the women who were harvesting for

him.

"He had spoken to Elezar and he was now the guardian-redeemer of

Naiomi. 'Is it true,' he asked me that you have turned your back upon the

false gods of Moab and that your heart inclines towards ADONAI?'

"'It is true. ADONAI is my God.'

"'He is the only God. The Almighty.'

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"'I know that.'

"'You have also left your mother and father and have come to live among

our people. You do not look back in longing to be with them?'

"'I have no other mother but Naiomi your kinswoman.'

"'May ADONAI repay you richly for seeking refuge under His wings. I

shall proceed with the redemption of Elimelech's property and that means

that I must take you to wife. I am older than you and have never been

married. Is this agreeable to you?'

"I told him, yes, and he bought back the property of Elimelech. He had

the remains of Elimelech, Killon and Mahlon brought from Moab and he

gave them honourable burials. Me, he married with the Senate of Beit-

Lechem as witnesses and according to the Law I loosed his shoe and spat

in his face. He was a man of many kindnesses to myself and others, but a

month before you were born he died."

"Was he a brave man?" I asked mother. "Could he use a sword?"

"He could use a sword," Mother said, "but he did not live by the sword,

nor did he die by the sword. He dropped dead in his fields among the

stooks of corn. Let me give you something remember him by.

"When I asked him why I, a foreigner, had found such favour in his eyes,

he told me of the time he had tended his father, Salmon's sheep. Every

morning he would bring the sheep and goats out to pasture, and in the

evening he would bring them back to the fold. But one time a young deer

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joined the sheep and goats in the pasture and when he drove the livestock

home the young deer came with the sheep, and it went out again with

them the next morning. So it was each day and Boaz drew his father's

attention to what was happening, and his father had smiled and came to

the field to see the young deer feeding with his flocks.

"One day when Boaz brought home the flocks, Salmon said: 'Before you

water the sheep and goats, water the young deer.'

Boaz wanted to know why, for he could not understand his father's

special treatment of the young deer. His father told him that it was the

habit of sheep and goats to return after a day in the pasture and sleep in a

safe fold, but it was the habit of a deer to sleep under the stars. What has

this young deer done? It has left it's own kind and come to our flocks of

its own free will, so shall we not consider it with more affection than one

sheep added to our own flocks?

"And he said to me: 'That is why you, a stranger, a non-Habiru have

found favour in my eyes, for you have left behind your former world,

your flesh and blood, and it is my duty to ADONAI to accept you with

especial love, surpassing that which we Habiru show each other.'"

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