A LOVING LIFE
in a world of broken relationships
By Paul E. Miller
IVP. 172 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 783 590 902
It is a bird? Is it a plane? Or the book of Ruth, but not as I knew it, Jim! Not a commentary, though there is careful observation of Hebrew words and helpful explanation of Jewish societal background. Nor a free-form ‘devotional’ book, although the 23 chapters could easily be used as daily readings.
Maybe it would be better viewed as a guided meditation on the practicalities of hesed, ‘covenant-love’. The well-known story is recounted, but we are held and asked to consider the effects of those facts on the characters. What might they be feeling? What would be the natural reaction? Why, sometimes, don’t they react ‘naturally’? Could it be hesed ?
Boaz, the ‘kinsman-redeemer’, is the typical exponent of hesed, but Miller shows Ruth also to be a superb example of hesed in her selfless devotion to Naomi – a new angle to me; how had I previously missed this?
Miller gives us some very profound (and moving!) modern-day examples of hesed in our own mixed-up society – although, in a short book, some of these may come over a little simplistic. But he has his finger very much on our pulse and his applications to our modern times are astute. The odd Americanisms are fairly unobtrusive.
And, as the book of Ruth points us (eventually) to Ruth’s great-grandson’s greater son, so does this book, and consistently. A quick quote: ‘Naomi seems to have forgotten that Ruth is also suffering, a childless widow for whom marriage is a lost dream. Why doesn’t Naomi see Ruth? As we’ve seen, suffering can narrow our vision. This makes Jesus’s passion all the more remarkable.’ (pp.52–53)
All round, a gem of a book, recommended for anyone who would like to revisit Ruth and find even greater depth and splendour there. I know already a few people who would love to borrow my reviewer’s copy … which I just wish I had received before I preached on the book a while back!
