Hugh Nibley offers the following rendering of the passage: “Immediately upon entering you removed your street clothes. Obed — A servant, to thee, to nourish, and comfort, and assist thee; which duty children owe to their progenitors. See also Joseph Fielding McConkie and Donald W. Parry, A Guide to Scriptural Symbols (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990), 22; Kevin J. Conner, Interpreting the Symbols and Types (Portland, OR: City Bible, 1992), 110, 111. 4 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate(A)and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer[a](B)he had mentioned(C)came along. . turn aside, sit down here. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I … This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) It is quite another thing to realize that the land will ultimately belong to the son whom one will raise up for the deceased. . [11] And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. Aside from the aforementioned symbolic uses of the shoe or slipper, there is one additional use worthy of our examination. [58]. Buy it — According to the law, Deuteronomy 25:5. It is through the restored rites of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ that those who believe become Christ’s “bride” and lay hold upon an inheritance in the land which belongs to him. . [24] Records from Nuzi, an ancient Mesopotamian city, attest to a ceremony of property transfer or land ownership wherein the person selling (or transferring property) must remove his shoes as evidence that the transfer had indeed taken place. So he drew off his shoe” (Ruth 4:7–8). The story is structured around her choice to find hope through the kind, selfless and God-blessed acts of Ruth and Boaz. This is evidenced by the fact that one puts on ceremonial clothes twice during the temple endowment, but one removes and replaces the shoes only once—specifically when Adam and Eve leave Eden and you and I metaphorically leave the premortal realm. Finally, one text notes: “In biblical law the levir [or brother-in-law] does not require a formal marriage (kiddushin) to the yevamah [or sister-in-law] since the personal status tie, the zikkah between them, arises automatically upon the death of the husband of the yevamah.” [16] Elsewhere we read: “If a man died childless, his widow was not free to remarry but was considered to be already betrothed to his brother.” [17] Thus, whereas levirate marriage did not require—nor allow—a marriage contract to be initiated (as the couple were considered already married), in the book of Ruth a formal marriage is expected and, in the end, performed. As noted above, a prime message in the removal of shoes during ritual is that one is divesting oneself of ownership or property. Verses 1-6 Boaz arranged a public meeting with this man. We now turn our attention to the specifics of how this ancient rite of property transferal specifically relates to God’s modern covenant people and their worship patterns today. Although the common assumption that the rite depicted in Ruth 4 is traditionally seen as an example of levirate marriage, it appears likely that it is instead a prime example of the ceremony of the shoe. [51] They made a choice to renounce that property because they knew something better awaited them. The Book of Ruth. This too is contrary to the law surrounding levirate marriage and contrary to what happens in the Deuteronomic passage in question. Elsewhere we read that by removing the shoe he was “intimating in this that, whatever right he had to walk or go on the land, he conveyed and transferred it. John Piper Sep 4, 2008 1 Share God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him Learn more about Desiring God Desiring God. It suggests to the participant that inheritance (or land) is the focus—and in a temple context those lands are the premortal existence, Eden, and the yet-future celestial kingdom. Chapter four of the book of Ruth begins with a man named Boaz informing the family member who was next of kin in redeeming the land and heritage of Elimelech (Naomi’s husband), and that heritage included Ruth, his daughter-in-law. Thus, like Adam and Eve—or Ruth’s unnamed kinsman-redeemer—we once willingly covenanted to relinquish our right to remain in the premortal existence because we knew something better awaited us, namely, the celestial kingdom. In his fourth-century Instructions to Initiates into the Mysteries, Cyril of Jerusalem stated, “As soon, then, as ye entered [the inner chamber], ye put off your tunic [or street clothes]; and this was an image of putting off the old man with his deeds.” [46] In the spirit of Cyril’s comments, it seems fair to say that the removal of shoes upon entering sacred ground symbolizes the temporary divesting of oneself of the world and its ways—exchanging temporal property for a spiritual residence. In return Christ is said to offer us the celestial kingdom and to make us as he is. . [44] One commentator suggests that perhaps “the Book of Ruth was written late, at a time when the old custom [of levirate marriage] had been modified.” See Mace, Hebrew Marriage, 100. By removing them, we symbolically leave the world outside the Lord’s sanctuary.” [48]. xxiii.) And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, "Sit down here," and they sat down. , a gesture that everyone understood and considered binding if witnessed by the elders.” “Great People of the Bible and How they Lived,” Readers Digest (Pleasantville, NY: Readers Digest, 1974), 133, cited in Old Testament: Genesis–2 Samuel (Religion 301) Student Manual, 2nd ed. Indeed, as one commentator noted, “they are in open conflict” with each other. . The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. However, many of these suppositions are not necessarily warranted. [10] Thus, again, something other than the standard levirate marriage ceremony is being depicted here. [47] J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995), 152. And ten was the usual number among the Jews, in causes of matrimony and divorce, and translation of inheritances; who were both judges of the causes, and witnesses of the fact. Boaz tells the kinsman-redeemer that Naomi is selling it and he is the first in line to acquire it. “shoes.”. At least as early as the first century of the Common Era, commentators were reading the Ruth passage as an example of levirate marriage. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. It will also be noted that the unnamed male kinsman-redeemer (gō’ēl) in the story of Ruth incurs no disgrace when he declines to play his part. The salient portion of Ruth reads: “(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. [3] And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: Naomi — Both Naomi and Ruth had an interest in this land during their lives, but he mentions only Naomi, because all was done by her direction; lest the mention of Ruth should raise a suspicion of the necessity of his marrying Ruth, before he had given his answer to the first proposition. However, when employed in Biblical ritual, shoes have an almost exclusively symbolic purpose. Then went Boaz up to the gate of the city--a roofed building, unenclosed by walls; the place where, in ancient times, and in many Eastern towns still, all business transactions are made, and where, therefore, the kinsman was most likely to be found. . Ephrathah is another name for Bethlehem, as seen in the parallelism of this verse. [21] Maurice H. Farbridge, Studies in Biblical and Semitic Symbolism (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1923), 214, 224. Cancel {{#items}} {{/items}} Ruth 4. [13] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Lexicon, 145; R. B. Taylor, “Avenger of Blood,” in Dictionary of the Bible, ed. See also Hamlin, Theological Commentary, 58, 59. See also Andersen and Freedman, Amos, 312. [53], On a related note, David R. Mace explained that in Biblical times, “possession of the land and marriage with the widow went together.” [54] As it relates to the story of Ruth, there appear to be symbolic implications in this concept. Ruth was getting good advise from her … And she said to her, 'All that you say I will do.' [28] As one commentator put it, “The meaning of this custom was that the adopter would never go again and put his foot in his former property.” Lacheman, Biblical Literature, 53. [34] See, for example, Thompson and Thompson, Vetus, 90. [50] See Farbridge, Symbolism, 9, 224; Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), 1021; Allen C. Myers, ed., The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1987), 911–12; Douglas R. Edwards, “Dress and Ornamentation,” in Anchor Bible Dictionary, 2:234. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. [51] See Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant (Salt Lake City; Deseret Book, 1997) 203. [25] Bridger, Jewish Encyclopedia, “Halitzah.”. Thus one commentator states that the book of “Ruth has preserved the older meaning of the shoe ceremony—a renunciation of a right.” [43]. [39] Indeed, one commentator noted that Ruth 4:7 “is best understood as an overly terse way of describing shoe symbolism in two different kinds of transaction; in an exchange transaction, the parties exchanged shoes, while in the matter of giving up the right of redemption, the one ceding the right gave his shoe to the one taking over the right.” [40] As noted above, the right to freely walk on or dwell upon an estate belonged only to the owner—and the shoe served as the perfect symbol of the right of possession. He wrote: “It appears to have been a custom among the Chinese for an official, on relinquishing his duties, to suspend his shoes in a conspicuous place.” W. C. Hazlitt, Dictionary of Faiths and Folklore: Beliefs, Superstitions and Popular Customs (London: Bracken Books, 1995), s.v. [20] E. A. Speiser, “Of Shoes and Shekels,” in Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 77 (1940), 15; Frank E. Eakin Jr., The Religion and Culture of Israel: An Introduction to Old Testament Thought (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1971), 238. [26] Ernest R. Lacheman, Journal of Biblical Literature 56 (1937), 53, 56. In this paper we will examine the “ceremony of the shoe” as it appears in Ruth 4, with its common interpretations, likely implications, and significant relations to Latter-day Saint temple practices. [12] And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman. Ruth: May the Redeemer's Name Be Renowned. Fourth, the words for the levirate obligation (yābām) and for the kinsman-redeemer (gā’ēl) are totally unrelated. Took Ruth — Which he might do, though she was a Moabite, because the prohibition against marrying such, is to be restrained to those who continue Heathens; whereas Ruth was a sincere proselyte and convert to the God of Israel. (1-8) Boaz marries Ruth. [22] I say this is the most common connotation not because it appears the most frequently in scripture, as it certainly does not. However, the removal of one’s shoes as a ritual act or gesture is not always about sacred soil. . ed. Rather, the unnamed male kinsman-redeemer (gō’ēl) is depicted as removing his own shoe. 293. [27] Farbridge, Symbolism, 274; Leland Ryken, James C. Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, eds., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), s.v. Therefore, the distinctions between the ceremony of the shoe in Ruth 4 and that which takes place in the holy endowment are more perceived than real. Then the biblical tradition took a further step. However, in Ruth 4 it is only the shoes which are taken off. Of course, Christ received his inheritance of the land just as each of us does—through obedience to the Father. [59] Thus, rather than assuming that the book of Ruth preserves a traditional example of the former Deuteronomic rite, it seems more fitting to draw from Ruth’s experience a message about property or inheritance rites and their application to our modern covenant relationship with Christ and the work which we do in his holy temples. Alonzo L. Gaskill is an associate professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. [2] Flavius Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews,” in The Complete Works of Josephus, trans. Alonzo Gaskill’s paper addresses the investiture and divestiture of the shoe in its biblical context and demonstrates that something as simple as taking off a shoe could establish, via ritual, a profound covenantal relationship. [19] Whereas exegesis is the practice of drawing out of a text the original author’s intended meaning, eisegesis is reading into a text with preconceived notions held by the reader. (13-22) Commentary on Ruth 4:1-8 (Read Ruth 4:1-8) This matter depended on the laws given by Moses about inheritances, and doubtless the whole was settled in the regular and legal manner. We know that the practice of levirate marriage was known in biblical times at least as early as the writing of the Pentateuch and remained culturally acceptable perhaps as late as the penning of the gospel of Luke (see Luke 20:28). 4:1 ¶ Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; So, this is the guy who is more closely related to Naomi and Ruth. These two are singled out, because they were of a foreign original, and yet ingrafted into God's people, as Ruth was; and because of that fertility which God vouchsafed unto them above their predecessors, Sarah and Rebecca. Ruth 4 – The Marriage of Boaz and Ruth A. Famous — Heb. [28] The removal of the sandal, slipper, or shoe at the end of the rite signified that the transaction was completed and that the ritual was legally binding. . בוַיִּקַּ֞ח … For example, in Amos 8:6 we read: “That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes.” See also Amos 2:6. . See also Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1987), 6:193n65; Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews,” 121; Mace, Hebrew Marriage, 97, 110; Baker, Women’s Rights, 147; E. John Hamlin, Surely There Is a Future: A Commentary on the Book of Ruth, International Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 59. In the temple, when entering into that covenant with God, we physically remove our shoes as a symbolic statement that such was done of our own free will and choice, and with the knowledge and belief that God will fulfill his portion of that covenant by preparing for us a “promised land,” even the celestial kingdom. Of course, from a gospel perspective, the forfeiture of the premortal world (or “first estate”) is permanent only in that we will never again be in that same state (as spirits abiding in the presence of the Father). Typologist J. C. Cooper noted that shoes represent control. [57] Harold Bayley, The Lost Language of Symbolism: An Inquiry into the Origin of Certain Letters, Words, Names, Fairy-Tales, Folklore, and Mythologies (New York: Carol Publishing, 1990–93), 1:227. Thus, contra Speiser’s interpretation, most commentators see nothing ritualistic taking place in this passage. Thus, one typologist wrote, “putting off shoes on entering a holy place represents leaving earthly contact outside . [20] For example, they can represent one’s preparation for a task (see Exodus 12:11; Ephesians 6:15; Matthew 10:10; Mark 6:9). See Hamlin, Theological Commentary, 58. and he ‘lifts up his hand or foot from it, and places that of the new owner in it.’ Thus it is logical to conclude that this expression which had at first only a legal meaning developed into a symbolic meaning. . The idea was that the person who gave up a possession should show by removing his shoe that he was thus divesting himself of something before the witnesses. Thus he that forsakes all for Christ, shall find more than all with him. . Just as the land and the bride are connected in the story, so also do the promised land (or celestial kingdom) and membership in the Church (which is the “bride of Christ”—see, for example, Ephesians 5:22–33) go together. Something entirely different is being depicted here. So spoke the premortal Jehovah to the prophet Moses—and so practiced ancient and modern Hindus, Muslims, Hare Krishnas, and various other faith traditions. Commentary on Ruth 1:1—4:22 View Bible Text A story of human love reflecting and enacting divine love, the book of Ruth is a rich text for a sermon series, particularly in August days when farm fields flourish with the promise of an abundant harvest. he loses permanently or temporarily his legal right to it . Elsewhere we read of a connection between the ceremony of the shoe and the removal of one’s footwear when entering sacred ground; anciently, “washing was a symbol of consecration, and it was necessary for the worshiper to wash his garments previous to his taking part in any special sacred function (Lev. Admittedly, on a superficial level there appear to be significant correlations between the passages in Ruth 4 and those in Deuteronomy 25. This could then be regarded as a public declaration that he was withdrawing from the property and handing it over to another person. They met at the city’s gate. In typical patriarchal fashion the subject matter is not the women—Naomi and Ruth—but rather the dead man Elimelech’s land. Elsewhere we read: “A man renouncing property rites removed a sandal . 4. Men arranged matters there. [6] And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem it. As the evidence shows, levirate marriage and the ceremony regarding the transferal of property are not equivalent, or even harmonious, rites. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. No preliminaries were necessary in summoning one before the public assemblage; no … Pharez — As honourable and numerous as his family was; whom, though be also was born of a stranger, God so blessed, that his family was one of the five families to which all the tribe of Judah belonged, and the progenitor of the inhabitants of this city. He noted that just as a shoe protects the wearer and shields him or her from dirt—“by taking it upon itself”—so also does Jesus shield those who seek to be his bride from the spiritual dirt we call sin. [1] See David R. Mace, Hebrew Marriage: A Sociological Study (New York: Philosophical Library, 1953), 95, 113. [59] Mace, Hebrew Marriage, 104. Significantly, as in the story of Ruth, we must seek out a covenant relationship with Christ (our Bridegroom) and, metaphorically speaking, offer him our shoe as a representation that we have given up all we have because we trust in him and in all that he has promised to do for us and give to us. if a person removes his garments in order to show his willingness to deprive himself of everything in life, he ought also to remove his shoes.” [30] This same author continues: Amongst the Hebrews business transactions took place publically in the market-place so that the presence of the whole community, or at least ten of the elders, served to confirm them. Shoes, slippers, and sandals are important symbolic articles for ancient and modern Israel—God’s covenant people. John Tvedtnes has suggested that “the Hebrew for sandal (na‘al) is probably a wordplay with (nahal), meaning ‘inheritance.’” [52] So the removal of the footwear when participating in the ceremony of the shoe actually highlights what that rite is about. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem (Ruth 4:11). Ruth. Matthew Henry Bible Commentary (complete), Matthew Henry’s Bible Commentary (concise), California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. (9-12) Birth of Obed. Ruth 4 Ruth 4:4 Then he said to the closest relative, "Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. Thus, they were not slaves in the traditional sense of the word—and therefore the ceremony of the shoe would have had no place in this context. Boaz had to offer the land to him firstbecause he was a closer relative of Elimelech. . . Alonzo L. Gaskill, “The 'Ceremony of the Shoe': A Ritual of God's Ancient Covenant People,” in By Our Rites of Worship: Latter-day Saint Views on Ritual in Scripture, History, and Practice, ed. For an example of one such unwarranted assumption, we turn to the book of Ruth and the story of Boaz’s marriage to that icon of faithfulness and devotion, Ruth. 4. (1-2) Boaz meets the nearer kinsman at the city gates. [36] According to Jewish legend, the unnamed kinsman-redeemer was Boaz’s older brother, Tob. must be regarded in such instances as token payments to validate special transactions by lending them the appearance of normal business practice.” Speiser, “Shoes,” 17. So that it is no wonder if this ceremony differ a little from that, Deuteronomy 25:9, because that concerned only one case, but this is more general. [48] John A. Tvedtnes, “Priestly Clothing in Bible Times,” in Temple of the Ancient World, ed. [6] Mace notes that Ruth “is not a very good illustration” of levirate marriage “because there are several irregularities in the account—so much so that some scholars have doubted whether it is really an instance of the levirate at all.” Mace, Hebrew Marriage, 98. [17] Jacob Neusner, ed., Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period: 450 B.C.E. Ephratah and Bethlehem — Two names of one and the same place. He wrote that Boaz “bid the woman to loose his shoe and spit in his face, according to the law; and when this was done [Boaz] married Ruth, and they had a son within a year’s time.” [2] Likewise, Methodist commentator Adam Clarke (circa 1760–1832) wrote that the laws explaining what was happening in Ruth 4 are “given at large in Deut.xxv.5–9.” [3] Like Josephus and Clarke, most scholars, whether LDS [4] or non-LDS, [5] tend to see the rite described in Ruth 4 as a biblical example of levirate marriage. Gave it — He who relinquished his right to another, plucked off his own shoe and gave it to him. [21] Finally, perhaps the most commonly associated meanings have to do with the removal of shoes when one enters hallowed ground (see Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15; Acts 7:33). She sought to justify this by claiming that God had dealt harshly with her. [3] Adam Clarke, Clarke’s Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: Methodist Book Concern, 1930), 2:201. See, for example, C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, “The Twelve Minor Prophets,” in Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1954), 1:315; Robert Martin-Achard and S. Paul Re’emi, International Theological Commentary: Amos and Lamentations—God’s People in Crisis (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984), 58–59; Andersen and Freedman, Amos, 801–2; Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, 840; Clarke, Clarke’s Commentary, 675. “Halitzah”; Ginzberg, Legends, 193–94; Mace, Hebrew Marriage, 99; Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews,” 121; Baker, Women’s Rights, 147; Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, 848. Chapter 4. For the Christian, our positional redemption is completely past tense - we have been redeemed. [14] See Mace, Hebrew Marriage, 101, 103. William Whiston (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1981), 121. Chapter. It is the ceremony of the shoe [23] alluded to in the Hebrew Bible, in the records of ancient Mesopotamia, [24] and in the sacred rites of modern covenant Israel. As another example of the misapplication of the “ceremony of the shoe,” some see connections between this rite and the selling of slaves in Hebrew Bible times. Ruth 4:7. . We took a calculated risk. 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