rut as answer to problems of shoftim

7/30/2019 Rut as answer to Problems of Shoftim

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Loyalty and Beyond: Rut vs Shoftim

Background: Today were taking a sort-of break from the narratives of Shoftim, and

focusing on a book that happened at the same time, Rut. The purpose of this tangent

is that, as we will demonstrate, Rut is the solution to a lot of the problems of sefer

Shoftim. If sefer Shoftim is a depressing series of stories about our mistakes, the story

of Rut can be a model of how to repair those mistakes. This also gives us a good

opportunity to go through a few representative stories in Shoftim. (Also, this way we get to,God willing, watch Rut and Boaz / Adina and Yehuda get married in the afternoon. But dont tell the

chanichim that yet).

Objective:

1. To review the narrative of the book of Rut.

2. To demonstrate how Rut is thematically and historically connected to Shoftim.

3. The actions of Rut and Boaz can serve as a counter-model to the story of Shoftim,

emphasizing the value of loyalty.

Trigger:

The Prisoners Dilemma. As wikipedia describes it:

Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in

solitary confinement with no means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the

other. The police admit they don't have enough evidence to convict the pair on the

principal charge. They plan to sentence both to a year in prison on a lesser charge.

Simultaneously, the police offer each prisoner a deal. If he testifies against his partner,

he will go free while the partner will get three years in prison on the main charge. Oh,

yes, there is a catch ... If both prisoners testify against each other, both will be

sentenced to two years in jail.

Throw this question out to the kids, and have them discuss what the prisoners should

do. The fun thing about this question is that for each prisoner, taken alone, the most

rational decision is to squawk on their fellow prisoner, so that they go free. But because

theyre not alone, all that will do is put them both in jail for three years. However, taken

as a unit, their best option is to remain loyal to each other and refuse to testify, so that

they each only get one year in prison. In Sefer Shoftim, each shevet sees itself as an

individual unit, with no reason for loyalty to other shevatim. Like the prisoners in the

dilemma, it does not work out well for them.

Process:

I. Demonstrating the connection between Rut and Shoftim:

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1And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in

the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem in Judah went to sojourn in the field of Moab,

he, and his wife, and his two sons.

The setting of the book of Rut is in the time period of the Shoftim, and that is how the

narrative of Rut begins.

(Josephus, Antiqu i t ies of the Jews, Book V, chapter IX:

CHAPTER 8. Concerning The Fortitude Of Samson, And What Mischiefs He Brought

Upon The Philistines.

CHAPTER 9. How Under Eli's Government Of The Israelites Boaz Married Ruth, From

Whom Came Obed The Grandfather Of David.

CHAPTER 10. Concerning The Birth Of Samuel; And How He Foretold The Calamity

That Befell The Sons Of Eli.

Josephus is an early Jewish historian, from the first century. In his history of the Jewish

nation, he includes Rut in between Shoftim and Shmuel, serving as a bridge between

the earlier chaotic era and the latter period of monarchy.)

II. Disloyalty in Shoftim

Shoftim 10: Disloyalty to God

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11 And the LORD said unto the children of Israel: 'Did not I save you from the

Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the

Philistines? 12 The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress

you; and you cried unto Me, and I saved you out of their hand. 13 Yet you have

forsaken Me, and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. 14 Go and cry

unto the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.'

Shoftim 8: Disloyalty to Nation

Gidon, after fighting against Midian, chases the Midianite princes across the Yarden,and exhausted, he comes to the town of Succot, who refuse to give him food.

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And Gideon came to the Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that

were with him, faint, yet pursuing. 5 And he said unto the men of Succoth: 'Give, I pray
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you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they are faint, and I am pursuing

after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.' 6 And the princes of Succoth said: 'Are

the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy power, that we should give bread unto

thine army?'

Shoftim 9: Disloyalty to Family

Avimelech, son of Gidon, decides to take power for himself by killing all of his siblings.

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And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah, and slew his brethren the sons of

Jerubbaal, seventy people, upon one stone.

III. Rut as a counter to Shoftim

Rut 1: Loyalty to God, Nation, and Family

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6And Ruth said: 'Dont entreat me to leave you, and to return from following after you;

for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my

people, and your God my God; 17 where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried;

the LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part you and me.'

Rut 2: Beyond Loyalty - Concern for Strangers:

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And Boaz said to Ruth, Have you not heard, my daughter? Do not go and pick in a

different field and also do not pass this [field] by, and you shall cleave to my girls. Your

eyes shall be upon the field in which you shall reap and you can follow after [the girls]. I

have commanded the boys not to touch you, and if you become thirsty, you may go to

the vessels and drink from that which the boys have drawn.

IV.How does each story end?

Shoftim 21

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In those days there was no king in Israel, each person did what was right in his own

eyes.

Rut 4

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And Oved gave birth to Jesse, and Jesse gave birth to David.

rut as answer to problems of shoftim

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