THE scroll of Ruth opens with a time of
great economic stress: famine in the
Land. This causes Elimelech (meaning
“My God is king”) to leave Judah with his wife Naomi (“Pleasant”) and two sons, Mahlon (“Tiny”) and Chilion (“Sickly”). The names of these boys
perhaps indicates their condition at birth. They may
also have been prophetically named.
|
Richard
‘’Aharon’ Chaimberlin |
Like
Abraham before them, they left Israel for supposedly greener pastures in the Galut (Diaspora,
or Exile) during a famine. Like Abraham, they learned that as difficult as life
is in Israel, it is often harder in the Exile. They moved to Moab, in what is
today modern Jordan. Elimelech died, leaving Naomi alone with her two sons.
Like
many Jews today living in the Diaspora, her two sons married a couple of Gentile
girls, the Moabites Ruth and Orpah. This once-proud Jewish family would
apparently never have any Jewish grandchildren.
Then
both “Tiny” and “Sickly” died, leaving Naomi with her daughters-in-law. When
Naomi heard that there was again food in Israel, she arose with Ruth and Orpah,
intending at first to return to Israel with them. (Ruth 1:6-7.) Then she
apparently had second thoughts and told her daughters-in-law to return to their
people. However, they loved their Jewish mother-in-law, and wanted to go with
Naomi to Israel.
Naomi
attempted to discourage her daughters-in-law by telling them, “Why should you
return with me? Do I have more sons and daughters in my womb to be your
husbands?”[1] Orpah was discouraged by this remark, and returned to her
family. Ruth, however, was persistent. She clung to her beloved mother-in-law
and basically “converted” to Judaism. The language of this conversion is most instructive.
She said:
“Wherever
you walk (like halakha,[2]
a lifestyle commitment), I shall walk. Wherever you shall live, I shall live
(24-hour-a-day commitment). Your people shall be my people (a commitment to
Israel and the Jewish people). Your God shall be my God (a commitment to the
God of Israel). Wherever you shall die, there I shall die, and there I shall be
buried (commitment that even extends to the grave!).” (Ruth 1:16)
This
commitment is especially remarkable considering that there was historic hatred
and animosity between the Jews and Moabites (Numbers 22-24) which even found
expression in the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 23:3). Ruth must have known that
she would be in a strange country, without family, among a people who might
reject her as an unwelcome foreigner! Yet, despite the obstacles, she
“converted” and made aliyah (“went
up” to Israel) with her mother-in-law.
THE RETURN
Naomi did not return to Israel a happy
woman. She said, “Don’t call me Naomi (‘Pleasant’). Call me Mara
(‘Bitter’).” Naomi and Ruth arrived in Israel virtually penniless. Fortunately,
the Law of Moses made provision for the poor, so that at least the poor
wouldn’t starve. No, they didn’t hand out welfare checks. However, the poor
could “glean” in the fields, picking the grain that the reapers left behind at
the harvest. Also, the corners of the field were for the poor and even the
alien.[3] They arrived in Bethlehem,
the town that Naomi that Naomi came from, at the time of the barley harvest.[4]
By “coincidence,” Ruth ended up gleaning in the field of Boaz. Unknown to her, Boaz was a wealthy near kinsman to her dead husband. By this time, most of you have read ahead and know the rest of the story. Boaz blesses Ruth by giving her special favor in the fields. She gleans bushels of grain. Naomi tells Ruth about her rights to Boaz as a “kinsman redeemer” for her dead husband (Deut. 25:5-10). Ruth marries Boaz, and presumably they live happily ever after. This, by the way, was a rather radical marriage. Ruth was a Jewish convert of Moabite ancestry. It would be the equivalent of an Arab Muslim woman converting to Judaism and marrying a Jew.
Here
are some things you perhaps didn’t know. Ruth wasn’t the first Jewish convert
to marry into the family of Boaz. His mother was none other than the famous Rahab
the harlot, who hid the Jewish spies in Jericho.[5] You understand, of course,
that she gave up her old profession after she became part of the Jewish people
and opened up a gift shop in Jericho selling post cards. Nevertheless, 1500 years
later the writer of Hebrews (11:31) still referred to her as “Rahab the harlot.”
Sure, sins can be repented of and completely forgiven, but sin always seems to
leave a stain that may be with us even after we pass into eternity.
One
of the major problems that Jewish people face today is the problem of assimilation.
This is particularly a severe problem in the Diaspora. However, even in Israel
assimilation is a problem -- assimilation into Gentile cultures that have
invaded Israel through the various media. One aspect of that problem is intermarriage.
In the past, the primary response of the Jewish community was to “exile” the
offending couple from the Jewish community, even going so far as to occasionally
have a mock funeral in which the Jewish partner in the mixed marriage was considered
“dead.” These steps certainly served as a great deterrent to intermarriage.
Prior to 1960, less than 10 percent of Jews intermarried. Today, the figure is
over 50 percent. Obviously, it would be a major loss to the Jewish community to
“exile” all these Jews from the Jewish community. One result would be losing
all the descendants of these intermarried couples from Judaism.
Ruth,
of course, converted prior to marrying Boaz. Her conversion wasn’t a conversion
of convenience in order to marry a Jew. However, her first husband was a Jew.
She didn’t convert until after he died. Also, it should be noted: Her
conversion was not done according to Rabbinic Jewish Halachah,
because Rabbinic Halachah doesn’t go back that far.
The ideal would be for all
Gentile partners marrying Jews to convert to Judaism, preferably prior to the
marriage. Ideally, of course, we would like to see such couples become
Messianic Jews – both of them!! They could then raise their children in a
Messianic Jewish home. Who says that it must always be that the Jewish partner
has to be the partner to “opt out”? More and more, we are seeing Gentile partners
who are “opting in” to become part of Israel. Torah is very much a part of becoming
part of Israel. Just eating bagels doesn’t do it anymore. The whole world eats
bagels now!
Rahab
and Ruth both overcame their past to become a part of Israel. There was, in
fact, a “curse” put upon the Moabites to at least the tenth generation from the
time of Moses (Deuteronomy 23:3). Since the Hebrew term for “Moabite” in that
verse is masculine in gender, it allowed Ruth, a “Moabitess,” to marry a Jew.
Both Rahab and Ruth are ancestors of King David and also Yeshua, who is our “kinsman redeemer,” having redeemed
our souls from the pit. Someday, Yeshua will return as King Messiah, to reign
and rule from Jerusalem. Israel will again become the spiritual and cultural
center for world Jewry, and even for the Gentiles!
OTHER
CONVERTS
Rahab and Ruth weren’t the first Gentiles
to convert to Judaism. The first to “convert” would have been Abraham.
According to various Jewish legends, as well as Talmud and the book of Jasher, Abraham’s father (Terah)
was a worshipper and manufacturer of idols! In large part because of the
teachings of Shem, Abraham became a worshipper of the One and Living God, who
created Heaven and Earth. One of the first promises that YHWH made to Abraham
was that He would “make you (Abraham) a great goy (nation).” [6]
Later, God made the covenant of circumcision with Abraham and his descendents. Every male in the household of Abraham was
circumcised in one day.[7]
When
Israel left Egypt, they departed with a “mixed multitude.” [8]
Regretfully, this “mixed multitude” caused Israel some major problems in
the wilderness, including being a “bad influence,” causing Israel to backslide
into idolatry on occasion. When the Israelites finally entered the Land of
Israel forty years later, the land was divided among the twelve tribes.
However, there was no land set aside for any “tribe of mixed multitude.”
Therefore, it is apparent that this “mixed multitude” was adopted into the
various twelve tribes of Israel.
The
Book of Esther (after Ruth) describes the defeat of the enemies of the Jews. As
a result, “many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.”[9]
Ezra also describes some apparent Gentile proselytes to Judaism: “And the children of Israel, who returned from the exile, and all who had separated themselves from the impurity of the heathen of the land, to seek YHWH, the God of Israel, did eat (the Passover).” (Ezra 6:21)
Isaiah
also wrote of proselytes: “Also the sons of the stranger, that join
themselves to YHWH, to serve Him, and to love the name of YHWH, to be His
servants, every one that keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and takes hold of My
covenant; Even those I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in
My house of prayer... YHWH, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, Yet others I will gather to them, to those
already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:6-8.)
Also,
speaking prophetically, “It shall be, from one new moon to another,
and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind shall come to worship
before Me.” (Isaiah 66:23.)
“NEW TESTAMENT” CONVERTS
Most who claim to
be followers of Yeshua are Gentiles. Curiously, during Yeshua’s earthly ministry, He didn’t seek
any converts among the Gentiles. He instructed his disciples, saying, “Do not
go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but
go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”[10] He told the Syro-Phoenician woman, “I was sent but to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel.” [11]
It
wasn’t until after the Resurrection that He gave instructions for the Good News
of the Jewish Messiah to go to the Gentiles. He said, “Go, therefore, and teach
all nations.” [12]
Fifty
days after the Resurrection, the disciples of Yeshua were gathered together in
an upper room of the Temple for the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost). When the Holy
Spirit fell upon them, they began to speak in other tongues (languages), which
were understood by the Jews from various countries who had come to worship at
the Temple in Jerusalem for this High Holy Day.[13] Included in the midst of
these Jews were proselytes, Gentiles
who had converted to Judaism.[14] No doubt, some of these
proselytes may have come to believe in Yeshua as a result of the miracles that
took place that day, and as a result of the preaching of Shimon Kefa (Simon Peter).
Despite
Yeshua’s final instructions to “make disciples of all nations,” believing in Yeshua
as Messiah and Savior was primarily as “Jewish thing” during the first half of
the First Century C.E.[15] There really wasn’t any
burning desire on the part of these Jewish disciples of Yeshua to proclaim the
Good News of the Jewish Messiah to the Gentiles. After all, isn’t Yeshua the Jewish
Messiah? It took a special vision from HaShem to make Shimon Kefa (Peter) willing to share the Messiah with Gentiles. A
righteous Gentile named Cornelius and his family were the first Gentiles to
receive the message of Messiah from Shimon Kefa. When
they heard the message, they also spoke in tongues (Acts 10:45-46)! This was
rather radical, since these particular Gentiles had not converted
to Judaism at the time they accepted the Jewish
Messiah!
Shortly after this, persecution broke out against the early Messianic Jews.[16] For a while, they continued sharing the message of the Messiah with only other Jews. However, some of them in Antioch began to experiment in sharing the Good News of Yeshua to Gentiles. The result was that “a large number (of Gentiles) also turned to Yeshua (Acts 11:20-21)! These Gentile disciples were called Christians in Antioch.[17]
This
created some difficulties, because some of the Messianic Jews, particularly
those of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, felt that it was necessary
to circumcise these Gentile converts, and instruct them to observe the Law of
Moses.[18] The Council that met at Jerusalem
decided the following:
“My
judgment is that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the
Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated
by idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in
every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every
Sabbath.” (Acts 15:19-21.)
In
other words, it would be an awfully heavy trip to lay on these Gentiles, to ask
them to accept the whole Law of Moses at the time they came to believe in
Yeshua. Orthodox Rabbis believe that the Seven Noachide laws are all that is
expected of Gentiles to have a part in the Olam HaBa
(the World to Come). These laws prohibit: 1) idolatry, 2) murder,
3) stealing, 4) blasphemy, 5) incest, 6) eating the
flesh of a living animal, and have the positive requirement of 7)
establishing courts of justice. Curiously, these so-called Seven Noachide Laws
are very different from the Biblical Noachide Laws given in Genesis 9:1-7.
I
have heard many teach that Acts 15:20 is an abbreviation of the Rabbinic Seven Noachide
Laws. However, they are not the same. Both prohibit idolatry and sexual immorality.
However, the Rabbinic Seven Noachide Laws do not prohibit eating blood, which
curiously is indeed prohibited in Genesis 9:4. Personally, I see little
relationship between the Noachide Laws (Biblical or Rabbinic) and Acts 15:20.
Acts
15:21 is generally ignored by most. However, it is key to understanding the Council
at Jerusalem. It was expected that these Gentiles would continue to worship and
be taught in the synagogues, where they would continue to be instructed in the
Law of Moses. As they learned the value of these instructions, it was assumed
that they would voluntarily move into greater obedience to Torah.
Some
of you might think this is reading more into the text than the text deserves. After
all, why would Gentiles be worshipping in synagogues? In point of fact, they
were! When Shaul and Silas proclaimed the Good News
in the synagogue in Thessalonica, “a multitude of the God-fearing Greeks” also
came to a faith in Messiah (Acts 17:1-4). When Rav Shaul
preached at a synagogue in Athens, he found himself reasoning with both “Jews
and God-fearing Gentiles” (Acts 17:17). When they went on to Corinth, as a good
Jewish boy, he went into another synagogue. “And he was reasoning in the
synagogue every Shabbat and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Although
it wasn’t required that these Gentiles accept the Torah of Moses for salvation,
no doubt many chose to convert to Judaism and accept Torah as part of their faith-walk
in Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.
Proselytes to Messianic Judaism
We see much the same thing happening today.
Many Gentiles have attached themselves to Messianic Jewish assemblies. Some are
content to simply be Gentiles who attend Messianic Jewish congregations. They
have rights to membership, and enjoy the worship, fellowship, and teachings.
However, they may not have any “calling to convert.” They maintain a Gentile
Christian lifestyle, except for attending Messianic assemblies.
Other
Gentiles are seeking to be more fully a part of the Jewish people. Some, like
Ruth, have a conversion of the heart, where they say, “Your people are my
people, and your God, my God.” They take on a Jewish lifestyle, observing
Shabbat, the Holy Days, and the dietary laws. For some, this still isn’t
enough. They want to more fully identify with the Jewish people. They don’t
consider themselves to be “Protestant Christians.” They consider themselves to
be Messianic Jews. Some have gone for Messianic Jewish conversions. This is a
completely valid decision, especially when they are performed at congregations
which respect the mitzvot (commandments). It should be noted, however, that
conversion is first and foremost a matter of the heart. The public ceremony
only confirms what has already taken place internally.
Others
have gone for conversions performed through Conservative and Orthodox rabbis.
This is not always an easy road to take. Many rabbis will refuse to perform
conversions for Gentiles who believe in Yeshua as Messiah, no matter how
Torah-observant the individual is. Also, there should be no lying, such as denying
faith in Yeshua as Messiah. For purposes of aliyah, Messianic Jewish
conversions aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, which makes Orthodox
and Conservative conversions more highly prized.
The
“Galatian” heresy described by Rav Shaul (Paul) does
not pertain to Gentiles voluntarily deciding to join themselves to the
household and nation of Israel. Any honest reading of this epistle will show
what Rav Shaul was criticizing those who would compel
Gentiles to get circumcised and observe the entire Law of Moses for salvation.
Many Gentiles are now eager to embrace the faith of Yeshua, the Apostles, and Rav Shaul. The religion of Yeshua and Rav Shaul (“Paul) was Judaism! Rav Shaul stated, quite simply, “I am a Jew” (Acts 22:3). On another occasion, Rav Shaul still called himself a Pharisee (Acts 23:6). Yeshua didn’t come to Planet Earth to start up a new religion; He came to Earth to be the promised Messiah for the old religion (Judaism)! He also came to die on the tree, for the sins of both Jews and Gentiles.