Gleaning Ruth

Jennifer L. Koosed

Description

The biblical story of Ruth celebrates the power to begin life anew, to gather what has been scattered, to glean what one needs. In this original approach to understanding an ancient love story, Jennifer L. Koosed crafts a multifaceted portrait of the Old Testament character of Ruth and of the demanding agricultural world in which her story unfolds. Highlighting the most complex aspects of the book—the relationships Ruth has with her mother-in-law, Naomi; sister-in-law, Orpah; future husband, Boaz; and infant son, Obed—Koosed explores the use of pairings to define Ruth's aspirational fortitude. Koosed also touches on the narrative's questions of sexuality, kinship, and law as well as the metaphoric activities of harvest that serve to advance the plot and illuminate the social and geographic context of Ruth's tale. From the private world of women to the public world of men, Koosed guides readers through the book of Ruth's revealing glimpses into the sociology of the ancient Hebrew world. The study concludes with a discussion of the postbiblical fascination with Ruth and her later representations in a variety of literary and visual media.

Koosed's approach is eclectic, employing a host of methodologies from philology and theology to literature, folklore, and feminism. Thoughtful of the interests of both scholarly and lay audiences, Koosed presents inviting and compelling new insights into one of the Old Testament's most enigmatic characters.

Sujets

• Biblical Studies
• Biblical Interpretation
• Biblical Criticism
• Philosophie et théologie
• Betsabé
• The Story of Ruth
• The Woman's Bible
• Rebecca Alpert
• Judith Plaskow
• Gehazi
• The Book of Ruth (novel)
• Mrs.
• Gleaning
• Bathsheba
• Tisha B'Av
• General officer
• Old Testament
• Jacob and Esau
• Book of Ruth
• Books of Samuel
• Religion
• General
• Sheol
• Cynthia Ozick
• Naomi and Ruth
• Mircea Eliade

Informations

• Publié par: University of South Carolina Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781611172058
• Langue: English

Extrait

GLEANING RUTH
Studies on Personalities of the Old Testament
James L. Crenshaw, Series Editor
G L E A N I N G R U T H
A Biblical Heroine and Her Afterlives
Jennifer L. Koosed
2011 University of South Carolina
Cloth edition published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2011 Ebook edition published in Columbia, South Carolina, by the University of South Carolina Press, 2012
www.sc.edu/uscpress
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition as follows:
Koosed, Jennifer L.
Gleaning Ruth : a biblical heroine and her afterlives / Jennifer L. Koosed.
p. cm. - (Studies on personalities of the Old Testament)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57003-983-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Bible. O.T. Ruth-Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BS1315.52.K66 2011
222 .3506-dc22
2010051371
ISBN 978-1-61117-205-8 (ebook)
CONTENTS
Series Editor s Preface
Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Gleaning
2 Agricultural Interlude No. 1
3 Ruth and Orpah
4 Ruth and Naomi
5 Agricultural Interlude No. 2
6 Ruth and Boaz
7 Agricultural Interlude No. 3
8 (Ruth) and Obed
9 The Story Begins Where It Ends
Notes
Bibliography
Scriptural Index
Subject Index
SERIES EDITOR S PREFACE
Critical study of the Bible in its ancient Near Eastern setting has stimulated interest in the individuals who shaped the course of history and whom events singled out as tragic or heroic figures. Rolf Rendtorff s Men of the Old Testament (1968) focuses on the lives of important biblical figures as a means of illuminating history, particularly the sacred dimension that permeates Israel s convictions about its God. Fleming James s Personalities of the Old Testament (1939) addresses another issue, that of individuals who function as inspiration for their religious successors in the twentieth century. Studies restricting themselves to a single individual-for example, Moses, Abraham, Samson, Elijah, David, Saul, Ruth, Jonah, Job, Jeremiah-enable scholars to deal with a host of questions: psychological, literary, theological, sociological, and historical. Some, such as Gerhard von Rad s Moses (1960), introduce a specific approach to interpreting the Bible and hence provide valuable pedagogic tools.
As a rule these treatments of isolated figures have not reached the general public. Some were written by outsiders who lacked a knowledge of biblical criticism (Freud on Moses, Jung on Job) and whose conclusions, however provocative, remain problematic. Others were targeted for the guild of professional biblical critics (David Gunn on David and Saul, Phyllis Trible on Ruth, Terence Fretheim and Jonathan Magonet on Jonah). None has succeeded in capturing the imagination of the reading public in the way such fictional works as Archibald MacLeish s J. B . and Joseph Heller s God Knows have done.
It could be argued that the general public would derive little benefit from learning more about the personalities of the Bible. Their conduct, often less then exemplary, reveals a flawed character, and their everyday concerns have nothing to do with our preoccupations from dawn to dusk. To be sure, some individuals transcend their own age, entering the gallery of classical literary figures from time immemorial. But only these rare achievers can justify specific treatments of them. Then why publish additional studies on biblical personalities?
The answer cannot be that we read about biblical figures to learn ancient history, even of the sacred kind, or to discover models for ethical action. But what remains? Perhaps the primary significance of biblical personages is the light they throw on the imaging of deity in biblical times. At the very least the Bible constitutes human perceptions of deity s relationship with the world and its creatures. Close readings of biblical personalities therefore clarify ancient understandings of God. That is the important datum that we seek-not because we endorse that specific view of deity, but because all such efforts to make sense of reality contribute something worthwhile to the endless quest for knowledge.
James L. Crenshaw
Duke Divinity School
PREFACE
The book of Ruth is about relationship, and the four main chapters of this work explore Ruth s personality as she interacts with the other characters in the story. Not only is one s character both formed and expressed through relationships, but one s character is also embedded in social context and geographical location. Place is not incidental to personality. Therefore questions of society and land are also important, especially in Ruth, where the agricultural setting is key to the plot. In the three Agricultural Interludes, I explore the world in which Ruth lives-the land she walks, the fields she works, the food she eats.
My readings of Ruth s character are indebted to feminist biblical scholarship and literary theory, and my understanding of Ruth s place has been influenced by feminism. Carol Meyers has been a pioneer in the research methods and theoretical models of archaeology and anthropology that are attuned to gender dynamics in the society of ancient Israel. Meyers begins her work by dismantling the assumptions of male domination, that the private and public spheres are distinct and separate, and that the private is dominated by women and hence devalued in the life of the community. Using cross-cultural anthropological analysis Meyers points out that the boundaries between the private and the public were not clearly demarcated in preindustrial societies, particularly ones based in subsistence agriculture and lacking complex social hierarchies. Activities that are centered in the home, then, may be informal but are not unimportant. It is our own more contemporary Western biases that understand informal, home-based activities and networks (which are centered on women) as less important and subservient to public activities and institutions (which are dominated by men). Gender asymmetries, which certainly do exist in every known culture, do not necessarily indicate male privilege. Feminist historical, archaeological, and sociological studies no longer assume that patriarchy means simply the suppression and devaluation of women. Rather, women always have power, however circumscribed their situations. And in subsistence economies, where social and political life is rooted in the extended family, women may have much more informal power than what has been traditionally presumed. Meyers writes: The dynamics of life in the self-sufficient family household involved a wide variety of agrarian tasks necessary for survival. Except perhaps for metal tools and implements, individual households produced all the necessities of daily life-food, clothing, simple wooden tools and plain, utilitarian vessels. Providing these essentials involved a carefully orchestrated division of labor among all family members, male and female, young and old. Clearly, the survival of the household as a whole depended upon the contributions of all its members. . . . In such situations, households are typically characterized by internal gender balance rather than gender hierarchy. 1 In a book that foregrounds women s relationships and informal networks and focuses on the procuring of food, such archeological and anthropological analyses are essential to interpretation.
I begin laying the anthropological foundation of analysis by addressing the centrality of food in the story of Ruth. Food is more than the motivator of the plot. It is also intimately linked to gender, sexuality, reproduction, and ethnicity. Although underattended in biblical studies in general, and in the study of Ruth in particular, the examination of food and foodways has risen to prominence in anthropology. I draw on both anthropological and archaeological studies to examine agriculture and eating in Iron Age Judah.
Ruth is first introduced with Orpah, and Orpah functions as Ruth s counterpart. Consequently the reader s first understandings of Ruth s character are formed through contrast with Orpah. I employ postcolonial criticism and include a reading of H. Rider Haggard s best-selling novel King Solomon s Mines (1885). Ruth and Naomi s relationship is then examined. Dialogue dominates the narrative of Ruth, and Ruth and Naomi are the first to engage in conversation. The words that Ruth speaks to Naomi (1:16-17) are some of the most passionate in the Bible, and yet Naomi does not respond to them directly. The ambiguity of their interaction in Ruth 1 sets the stage for sexual and gender ambiguities throughout the biblical book. I focus on feminist and queer theory and examine Fannie Flagg s reading of Ruth and Naomi s relationship in her novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987).
I then return to food and foodways in order to argue that the problem the plot of Ruth moves to resolve is a crisis in bread production. The cereal grains, primarily in the form of bread, provided the foundation of the ancient diet. Alone, Ruth and Naomi did not have the means to produce their own bread so they had to find a way to integrate themselves into a bread production network. The final acceptance of Ruth into the Israelite community is predicated on Ruth s incorporation into Israelite foodways.
In the fields Ruth meets Boaz, and their relationship is my next subject. Is Ruth s marriage to Boaz a matter of expediency or a real romance? In either case Ruth and Boaz s interactions underscore Ruth s poverty and vulnerability. Yet her interactions with Boaz also are some of the most comic as he behaves in a kind but bombastic manner while she gently mocks his pomposity. Also examined