I’m wondering if you see any similarities between Naomi telling Ruth to sleep with a drunk Boaz / David telling a drunk Uriah yo sleep with Bathsheba vs Laban setting Leah up with a drunk Jacob (James Jordan highlights the Leah/Jacob wedding feast as a “drinking party”). I haven’t actually looked into the Hebrew in Genesis. In general I’m just wondering if you see Jacob/Leah/Laban being in any way related to Boaz/Ruth/Naomi and Uriah/Bathsheba/David
Colin! I'm glad you asked. I haven't done my own close readings of those passages yet (I'm only up through 2:12 or so.) But I want to pursue this for two reasons:
1. Ruth is read by Jews (e.g. in the Ruth Targum) as the portrait of an ideal convert. Which makes it both a Jewish (and Christian) Pentecost text.
By the time I finish the book, I'm interested in reading Ruth primarily as a Jacob/Israel figure. Let me know what you see, if you go back and read this, and I'll cite you!
I’m wondering if you see any similarities between Naomi telling Ruth to sleep with a drunk Boaz / David telling a drunk Uriah yo sleep with Bathsheba vs Laban setting Leah up with a drunk Jacob (James Jordan highlights the Leah/Jacob wedding feast as a “drinking party”). I haven’t actually looked into the Hebrew in Genesis. In general I’m just wondering if you see Jacob/Leah/Laban being in any way related to Boaz/Ruth/Naomi and Uriah/Bathsheba/David
Colin! I'm glad you asked. I haven't done my own close readings of those passages yet (I'm only up through 2:12 or so.) But I want to pursue this for two reasons:
1. Ruth is read by Jews (e.g. in the Ruth Targum) as the portrait of an ideal convert. Which makes it both a Jewish (and Christian) Pentecost text.
2. I've noticed that Ruth and Naomi have a Jacob and Esau dynamic in Ch. 1 (https://jackfranicevich.substack.com/p/ruth-116-18).
By the time I finish the book, I'm interested in reading Ruth primarily as a Jacob/Israel figure. Let me know what you see, if you go back and read this, and I'll cite you!