The Book of Ruth is a fascinating book, for it tells the tale of a sole family and their efforts to struggle to survive. It is a book of hesed, which is Hebrew for loyalty or faithfulness and in this instance speaks of the loyalty of one family member to another. Of all the characters, only Boaz appears elsewhere in scripture. The story would seem to be set in the time of Judges, but most likely it was written during another period.
The struggle of the family to survive in some ways mirrors the struggle of Israel to maintain its identity as God's children. The two are combined in the fact that the story ends heralding the coming of King David, in whom both the family and the nation find salvation.
Getting back to the dating of the text, some scholars believe the work comes from the period after David before the fall of the northern kingdom, Israel in 722 BCE. If so, it was probably a work to speak glowingly of the United Monarchy of David and spoke to the virtues of David's ancestors. Other scholars believe the work comes from the period of Exile or post-exilic period. If this is the case, it would join the ranks of other shorter stories like Jonah that thrived in this time period. The books emphasis upon the identity of Israel would also support such a time period since this was a major concern of the post-exilic Judea.
The story of Ruth begins by setting the stage in Ruth 1. A famine has covered the land of Canaan and Elimelech looks for safer pastures. His name itself means, "My God is King". Elimilech looks to Moab and takes his family, his wife and two sons. While Elimilech dies, the sons marry and Naomi, the mother is cared for these new families. Unfortunately, both sons die, which means Naomi is in a strange land with no one to care for her. Moab has a long history of being an enemy of Israel, so the land and the people are not viewed favorably.
While both of her daughters have families, Naomi has no one to turned to and so she decides to go back to her ancestral land. She urges her daughter in laws to return to their households and Orpah goes, but Ruth refuses to leave Naomi. Ruth pledges herself to Naomi and promises to go wherever Naomi goes. Furthermore, Naomi's God shall be her God.
Even as they return to the land of Israel, Naomi slips into depression, for she has no future, no one to care for her. Her name means "pleasant" so she encourages Ruth to call her Mara or "bitter." Her future is bleak.
Perhaps God is at work here, even though God is not named. In Ruth 2, Ruth stumbles across a field being harvested and she follows the tradition of gleaning in which the poor are able to get leftovers from the reaping process. Unbeknownst to her, she is gleaning in the field of Boaz, who is kin to Naomi. Boaz notices her and inquires into her identity. Hearing her full story from one of his servants, Boaz is moved by her faithfulness and offers Ruth even more rights within the field and provides her with food and drink. Perhaps Boaz is amazed at the faithful presence of a Moabite within an Israelite tribe.
Boaz, being touched by Ruth's story, finds his own faithfulness, for he is the redeeming relative, near kin to Naomi, who is able to speak for her. The faithfulness of one, sparks the faithfulness of another.
Mark 8
The previous conversation about the Tradition of Elders has opened the door for a more focused look at what is of God and what is of humans. Mark 8 continues this discussion. In the feeding of the four thousand Jesus shows compassion on the masses who are following him. He realizes they need to be feed and challenges the disciples, who of course do not understand Jesus' power. Jesus summons the food present and multiplies it, just a God provide bread from heaven, now Jesus provides bread as well.
Of course, perhaps this was to blatant of a display for the Pharisees for, according to Mark anyway, right after the feeding of the four thousand, they ask for a sign from Jesus that he is the Messiah. While it would be easy to ridicule the Pharisees, this lack of "vision" is common among all of the people, including the disciples in the Gospel of Mark.
Jesus warns his followers about the Pharisees and Herod and compares them to yeast, which was seen as a corrupting influence which destroys from the inside. Hence the teachers of the Pharisees or the behavior of the Herodians, are things that will corrupt and pollute Israel from the inside out.
The lack of vision of others is then set against the vision of the blind man who is restored. The language used seems to indicate that the man now sees everything, including the presence of Jesus, the Son of God. For a brief moment it would seem that Peter and others also see that Jesus is the Messiah, but then quickly, they seek to deny the work that Jesus must do.
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