LITERARY ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF RUTH: PART 5
At the Gate: Mr. Deeds Goes to Court
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1Then went Boaz up to the gate, and
sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto
whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside,
and sat down. 2And
he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And
they sat down. 3And
he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab,
selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: 4And I
thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and
before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it,
then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am
after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.5Then said Boaz, What day thou
buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the
Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his
inheritance. 6And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it
for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right tothyself;
for I cannot redeem it.
7Now this was the manner in
former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to
confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his
neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. 8Therefore
the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. 9And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto
all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of
Naomi. 10Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I
purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance,
that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the
gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. 11
And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders,
said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine
house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and
do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: 12And let thy house
be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which
the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
13So
Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the
LORD gave her conception, and she bare a son. 14And
the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee
this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 15And
he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine
old age: for thy daughter in law, which loveth thee, which is better to thee
than seven sons, hath born him.
16And
Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. 17And
the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi;
and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of
David.
18Now
these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron,19And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, 20And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat
Salmon,22And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat
Obed, 22And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.
Chagall
must not have been much interested in this closing scene of the Ruth story for he
did not paint it. It does, however, tie up all loose ends very neatly
with climactic acts of hesed: 1. Boaz redeems the land of that was
Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlons; 2. Boaz has purchased to
be his wife Ruth the Moabitess to raise up the name of the dead upon his
inheritance; 3. Ruth bears a son that Naomi takes to nurse; 4. Naomi raises him
up to be the grandfather of King David. Blessings ensue from the Israeli
women's chorus to each of these acts and they also attest to these acts of
hesed and marriage being witnesses thereto.
Thematically,
the scene revolves around the legal concept of milah manchah geulah -- that is
redemption of the land and maybe something else -- which appears a record
breaking 14 times within 8 verses. The objects of redeeming land, and in
addition the redemption of family and its name, are achieved through some
shrewd courtroom maneuvers by Boaz, the city gates being the courtroom
equivalent. For this purpose, Boaz convenes a minyan of city elders and
discussions proceed in the presence of the Israeli women's chorus of
spectators. The action verbs shift from lying down on the threshing floor
to sitting down at the gates.
The
redemption key word appears in a chiastic distribution in two groups of seven.
The first set appears in verses 1, 3 and 4, with 1 occurrence each in verses 1
and 3 and an astounding 5 occurrences in verse 4. This first set focuses
on redemption of land. The second set consists of an equally astounding 5
appearances in verse 6, and 1 occurrence each in verses 7 and 8. The
second set moves on to the redemption of Ruth the Moabitess for the purpose of
producing an heir and restoring the family name to the land. Etshalom
characterizes these two acts of hesed as first and second degree geulah, the
second being the greater and more difficult act. The goel balks and folds
when the price of poker goes up. The minyan joins with the people of the
city and the Israeli women's chorus to witness and bless the deal, Boaz, Naomi
and Ruth.
Ironically
and fittingly, the goel remains nameless, and it is only in this segment that
we learn that Ruth's husband was Malhon. He suffers the fate of the
ploni almoni (such a one) reference in his chance passing by when Boaz hails
him to sit down, the expression probably meaning something along the lines of a
wondrous mute.
So
why did the goel back down? Within the literary structure of the story,
there can be no explanation other than that Ruth is a Moabitess. This
wondrously mute would be goel could not get past her ethnic identity to
perceive that Ruth was a woman of valor. Ruth Rabbah 7:10 sees it
somewhat differently: "The first ones [husbands of Ruth and Orpah] died
because they married her, shall I take her as a wife?" Perhaps
implied is a sentence of "death by Moabite.”
We
now need to take a close at the closing blessings, and count them. First,
the blessing of Naomi as translated in the JPS Tanakh: "May [YHWH] make
the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built
up the House of Israel! Prosper in Ephrathah and perpetuate your name in
Bethlehem! And may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to
Judah -- through offspring which the [YHWH] will give you by this young
woman." The storyteller leaves no doubt as to the patriarchal
aspects of the Ruth story with the Rachel and Leah references, but also drives
home (again) that the story is upsetting the received norm excluding Moabites
and bringing (redeeming) those back into the fold that desire to come back into
the fold. Eskenazi and Frymer-Kensy see this historical revisionism as a
trickster tale, in the same genre as the Tamar and Judah story that it explicitly
references. "As Ruth's acts of generosity [hesed] toward Naomi
reverse the inhospitable behavior that first led to the exclusion of Moabites ...
so too the actions of Boaz 'reverse' the story of Judah, who acted so
precipitously and dishonorably when he unexpectedly encountered a
woman." JPS Biblical Commentary: Ruth at 85, fn 12.
If
this is a trickster tale, who is the trickster? Naomi? Ruth? Boaz?
All three of them? Who has been tricked? And what has been the
consequence of the trickery? Is it a Shakespearean comedy in which all is
well that ends well, no matter what fools these mortals be when under the spell
of fairy queens and kings? Let's turn now to a more nearly contemporary
trickster tale, also a comedy about re-marriage and redemption, that plays
with many of the same themes prominent in the story of Ruth.
Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town, written and directed by Frank Capra, stars Gary Cooper as
Longfellow Deeds and Jean Arthur as Babe Bennett. As in Ruth, the names mean
something. The film opens with an abrupt prologue, a car plunging off a
road over a cliff, killing the driver and its sole occupant. Cut to a
newsroom (the chorus in this genre), and reporters seek to learn who will be
the heir to the deceased driver's fortune, a matter of some interest in the
Great Depression backdrop.
A
law firm locates the heir, Longfellow Deeds, in a country village. Much
confusion ensues as town and country do not seem to communicate well with one
another. Deeds drowns out the words of the lawyers by inserting a new
mouthpiece in his tuba, and plays. He pauses long enough to ask the
mouthpiece lawyers why his uncle left him all his money since Deeds doesn't
need it.
Back
in New York, other relatives of the deceased are upset that they have been cut
out of the will. In another newspaper office, the editor offers reporter
Babe Bennett a month's paid vacation if she can get the scoop on the
heir. She practices a one-handed rope-knotting trick while the
negotiations are taking place. No doubt
in my mind that Capra is setting up Gary Cooper, the Montana cowboy turned
actor, to be roped, thrown and branded.
Rawhide!
We
next find Deeds in his new mansion being fitted for a suit. Will the suit
suit him? The senior Cedar of Cedar,
Cedar and Cedar offers to represent him for no fee if Deeds gives him a power
of attorney. Deeds says that is not natural and wants to examine their
books. In the next scene, Deeds is elected to head the board of the opera
company, a position previously held by his uncle. The board expects him
to make up the year's deficit because the ticket sales do not pay for the production.
Deeds does not think this is natural either, and suggests that they are putting
on the wrong kind of show.
At
Deeds' second fitting, a press agent hired by Cedar to keep tabs on Deeds
offers to get women for him. Deeds declines, remarking that Cobb speaks
of women as though they were cattle. The
Coen brothers might have floated the image of a red heifer at this point.
Later
that night, Babe lies in wait for Deeds outside his mansion along with two
photographers. She crosses the street ahead of Deeds' path slowly and
unsteadily. He follows; she faints; he lifts her up; he revives her; she
says she had just walked too far looking for a job.
Deeds
insists on taking her someplace to eat, which turns out to be Tullio's where
you "Eat with the Literati." Deeds watches intently and happily
as Babe eats. He says, "You were a woman in distress, weren't
you?" After a brush up with writers eating at a near by round table
(the Algonquin club), one of them takes Deeds and Babe (under the alias Mary)
out for a night of revelry.
Next
morning the papers have Babe's story about "Cinderella Man" and
making much of his feeding donuts to a horse. We next learn that Deeds
and his fellow raconteur were returned to the mansion after two policemen had
discovered them in their shorts yelling "Back to Nature."
Deeds
goes out again with Babe (Mary) the next night for an open upper deck bus
tour. Of all places, they stop in front of Grant's Tomb where Deeds
rhapsodizes about Grant's dreams, Lee's heartbreak and Lincoln's vision of a
great new and reconciled nation. We next find them sitting on a park
bench where Deeds inexactly quotes Thoreau: "They built grand palaces but
they forgot to build the noble men to live in them." [We interrupt the
story at this point to note that the Art Scroll Chumash also references
Thoreau, without attribution, in its commentary on Ruth, specifically that
"all men lead quiet lives of desperation."] They do a duet with
Deeds imitating a tuba and Babe improvising drumsticks.
Back
in her apartment with her room-mate and confidant Mable, Babe is filled with
remorse over her subterfuge. [Note: Was the role of heroine-confidant in
Shakespearean plays inspired by the Book of Ruth?] Deeds calls. He is working on a
poem. He writes greeting card sentiments, which he sells; hence, in part,
the Longfellow in him. He confides that he writes because he finds words
hard to say. Mable says Babe is crucifying him. Babe says its been
done before. "He's got goodness in him Mabel."
The
newspaper chorus comes on screen with a flurry of front page items on the
escapades of Cinderella man, culminating in the announcement of a grand soiree
for the benefit of the opera company at the Deeds mansion. After throwing out the opera people,
Deeds arrives unannounced at the girls' apartment. Deeds and Mary go for
a walk. He tells her about his imaginary girlfriend from his
childhood. "I hoped she would turn out to be real." He
gives his poem, a proposal, to Babe to read when they get back to the apartment.
She comes to the words "I'm speechless in your presence," and is
moved to tears. He says she doesn't need to say anything now. Then
he exits onto the street, stumbles over a pile of trash cans and flees the
scene. Is this a Boaz style physical comedy,
a startled or unsettled act?
Babe
sees her editor, she quits and tells him Deeds has proposed and that she will
see him that evening and tell the truth. Before she can do that, Cobb
confronts Deeds with Babe's true identity. Deeds is stunned, Cobb calls
the paper and puts Babe on the phone. Deeds, brokenhearted, wants to
return home and give up the estate. There is a commotion downstairs with
a crazed man, out of work and starving. He pulls out a pistol, but
collapses in grief. Deeds has an epiphany. A long silent scene
follows with the man eating the lunch prepared for Mary, with Deeds watching
intently.
The
newspaper chorus chimes in with another flurry of headlines "Deeds to Give
Fortune Away." We then see Deeds at a desk with a long line of
farmer applicants responding to Deeds free offer of 10 acres, a cow and seed,
an oblique reference to the civil war reconstruction plan of 10 acres and a
mule for freed slaves. Deeds is getting weary and hungry as the
processing goes on. One of the farmers offers him half of his
sandwich. A light goes on and Deeds orders lunch for everyone. The
police come in with a warrant for Deeds' arrest on the grounds of
insanity. Cobbs calls Cedar and discovers that Cedar arranged for the
warrant on behalf of the other relatives.
Deeds
is confined at the county hospital. Cobbs won't let Babe see him.
Deeds refuses to talk to anyone, including the audience for about twenty five
minutes of footage in the courtroom during which Deeds refuses to defend
himself. All of his foibles are recounted and held out as
incontrovertible evidence of his insanity. He finally finds his voice
when Babe admits on the stand that she loves him, begs him to speak in his own
defense and is joined by the raucous demands of the farmers in the courtroom
not to abandon them.
So
what light does this Hollywood comedy shine on the story of Ruth? The low
hanging fruit are the obvious themes of hesed, and acts of hesed begetting
further acts of hesed. More complex is the interaction of words, silences
and deeds. Most interesting of all are those acts of generosity that
require the extra effort of going against accepted norms to accomplish a worthy
goal and the intellectual dexterity needed to do so in a way that changes the
norm so that the society itself accepts and bears witness to the new
norm. Deeds and Boaz accomplish and have ratified their objectives in the
courtroom, with equally deft quasi-legal maneuvering. The rhetorical
flourishes are entertaining, but the real interest and substance goes to the
structure of the process rather than the Boaz's tricks over the technicalities
of levirate marriage, or the cleverness of exposing idiosyncratic behaviors in
one's accusers.
Both
stories raise the fundamental and important question of whether it takes a
person or persons of valor and their super-rogatory acts to move a society of
exclusion to one of inclusion, whether it be foreigners, immigrants, ethnic
groups or strangers among us. Stanley Cavell, in Cities of Words:
Pedagogical Letters on a Register of the Moral Life, describes an Emersonian
concept of moral perfectionism that might equally well be applied to the
underlying principles of the holiness code embedded in Leviticus 19.
