Humility and Trembling before God in Book of Ruth |
Humility and Trembling Before God in Book of Ruth Jaroslava Halper
Upon reading the Book of Ruth on Shavuot a couple of days ago I was struck by two traits exhibited by the main protagonists, Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. The two traits are humility and trembling before God. From this we should immediately recognize that we are dealing with righteous people. What can we learn from each of the three main figures?
When Naomi’s husband and two sons die in Moab she is left alone with her two Moabite daughters-in-law. She does not have any family and no ties to Moab so she decides to go back to her people in Bethlehem in the land of Judah. As she realizes that it would be difficult for her daughters-in-law to live among foreigners, she encourages them to go back to their respective families. One woman agrees and goes back, the other, Ruth refuses to leave Naomi saying that “your God is my God” and that she will stay with Naomi for better or worse. Both Naomi and Ruth exhibit great humility, Naomi because she does not want to force the daughters-in-law to accompany her to a place that was unknown to them and potentially hostile and Ruth because she decided to convert to Judaism and accept all what this step entails. She........