Thoughts on Ruth – Christian Today

Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster reflects on poor judges and famine through the lens of the book of Ruth. 

‘And it was in the times the judges judged … ’ 

This is how the Megillah of Ruth starts, which is read this Shabbat (May 23) on the Festival of Shavuot.

The rabbis comment: “Woe to the generation who judged their judges. And woe to the generation whose judges have to be judged. As it states (Judges 2:17): ‘And they didn’t even take heed to their judges.’ And who were these judges? Rav said: ‘They were Barak and Deborah.’ Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said: ‘They were Shamgar and Ehud’. Rabbi Huna said: ‘They were Deborah, Barak and Yael …’”

“Gideon worshipped idols, because it states (Judges 8:27): ‘Gideon made it into an ephod.’ Woe to a judge who shows partiality in judgement. Rabbi Hiyya taught (Leviticus 19:15): ‘You shall not do injustice in judgement.’ 

“This teaches that a judge who corrupts judgement is known as by five names: unjust, hated, detestable, proscribed, abomination. The Holy One, Blessed be He, calls him five names: wicked, blasphemer, violator of the covenant, one who infuriates and defiant. 

“He causes five results on this planet: he defiles the land; desecrates the Name, expels the Divine Presence, causes Israel to fall by the sword and exiles them from their land. Woe to the generation that’s corrupted in this manner.”

All this commentary is predicated on one little phrase: ‘And it was in the times the judges judged … ’ 

The concept of law and judges is of supreme importance to a just society, leading this Midrash on Ruth to explore explanation why that generation of judges were so culpable that they were punished by exile and further negative outcomes. 

We now come to the second a part of that original sentence at the beginning of the Book of Ruth: ‘ … that there was a famine within the land.’ The famine took place ‘in the times the judges judged’, or in truth ‘were themselves judged.’ When judges are corrupted and don’t judge properly, then there’s ‘famine within the land.’ 

The Midrash enumerates the ten famines that got here to the world. 

In the time of Adam, ‘Accursed is the bottom due to you’ (Genesis 3:17)
Lemech: ‘From the bottom that the Lord had cursed’ (Genesis 5:29).
Abraham: ‘There was famine within the land and Abram descended to Egypt’ (Genesis 12:10).
Isaac: ‘There was a famine within the land beside the primary famine’ (Genesis 26:1).
Jacob: ‘For these two years there was famine within the land’ (Genesis 45:6).
Elijah: ‘There is not going to be dew or rain these years, except by my word’ (1 Kings 17:1).
Elisha: ‘There was an important famine in Samaria’ (II Kings 6:25).
David: ‘There was a famine throughout the days of David, three years’ (II Samuel 21:1).
Ruth: ‘When the judges judged’ and ‘There was a famine within the land’ (Ruth 1:1).

‘A future famine that’s advancing upon the world, because it is written: ‘I’ll send famine within the land, not famine for bread, nor thirst for water’ (Amos 8:11).’

So there are different famines enumerated here ranging from the Book of Genesis, some stressing land issues and others a wide range of moral failures.

From our perspective probably the most interesting are the current famine within the Book of Ruth which results in her father-in-law Elimelech, the judge, leaving the land, though he must have stayed and led his people.

In addition there’s the famine of the longer term, which is ‘advancing’ within the sense of (within the Hebrew), as with Ol’ Man River, ‘it just keeps rolling along.’ So we cannot escape this inevitable large rolling wave of a famine which threatens to engulf us all. 

This is the famine which never leaves us, for because it states later within the commentary, we principally cannot live by bread alone. If we learn Torah, we’ll develop into less ignorant, judge less unfavorably and due to this fact receive the bread and water of life, with its plentiful ‘food’.

There is an important deal of wisdom on this Sixth-century Midrash on Ruth and the above is only a small flavour. But partial judges and famine for justice are still with us. The Torah given on Shavuot because the culmination of the Pesach story, along with intermediary 49 days of counting the Omer, is just as relevant today because it all the time was.

Judges are still often found wanting, bringing of their wake consequences just like the terrible repercussions that afflicted Elimelech and his immediate family, until Ruth proved her value and saved each her mother-in-law and herself from certain disaster.

Let’s hope that future generations of judges take heed and spare their people from different sorts of ‘famine’, through following the lead of Ruth and behaving in a way that’s judicious, modest, loyal, steadfast and type.