This movie from the sixties of the story of Ruth starts in the land of the Moabites where a priestess of Chemosh falls in love with the God of Mahlon. Mahlon is a very brave man, challenging the establishment, which is the worship of Chemosh which involves child sacrifice etc. None of this part of the movie is from the Bible of course, and it is very doubtful; one might well rather keep one’s head down in a country like that, lest it be cut off. I think Mahlon and Ruth might have been more like an average Christian couple today, negotiating the whole minefield of medical ethics (particularly involving reproduction) in a far more subdued manner.
That Chemosh was indeed a ruthless god to whom many people were sacrificed,, including the whole populations of conquered towns, is indeed true. Mesha king of Moab sacrificed the entire Israelite town of Nebo to Chemosh after conquering it, and also sacrificed conquered kings to the false god, but in the book of Kings in the Bible, it is said that king Mesha even sacrificed his own son to Chemosh, something of which there is no archaeological verification, but it is not to be doubted; the Biblical history on the whole has proven far more reliable than the historical accounts and chronicles of any other ancient culture.
The Story of Ruth is an enjoyable movie to watch though: I’m about half way through it, and it reminds me somewhat of the Star Trek episodes from the same period; the ubiquitous music is in a similar slightly discordant sixties style and the background paintings are just as cheesy, and the main actress, Israeli actress Elana Eden, who plays Ruth, of course, is quite beautiful and a good actress and really is quite compelling to watch.
So far the story is somewhat ridiculous however, although at the start the movie depicts the culture shock of Ruth on encountering the loving, just character of the invisible Israelite God very well indeed. The horrified reaction of the Moabites with their bloodthirsty beliefs to Mahlon’s faith in a God of freedom and justice is quite recognisable today: it seems to me to be quite similar to the reaction people have when you tell them you think abortion is wrong or that people shouldn’t be coerced into taking a deadly vaccine, or that the mutilation of mentally ill children in the name of gender identity is a dreadful crime. Indeed, the Moabites in this film justify their human sacrifice in this way; being sacrificed is a great honour – and it is a sacred duty to their god for the victim to allow him or herself to be sacrificed - this kind of thinking is quite recognisable, when one hears someone say “I think it would be better for the child not to be born, than to grow up unloved.”
Ha – I felt this culture shock today when someone expressed gratitude for the hospital system – this person doubts that anything I’ve said is true – but the Moabites too could be very kind to the priestesses, just as the hospitals during Covid were kind to the vaccinated and didn’t put them on ventilators.
There it is again: I am still suffering a profound psychological shock from experiencing the last four years; I intended this article to be light, in a way, a distraction, but it comes back around to that. God knows I don’t even know how to “get better” and be normal again – I feel like that man in the psalms who says “every man is a liar” but than again, the Bible doesn’t say I have to trust hospitals, doctors, governments, pharmaceutical companies, or even priests and ministers: the only one I have to trust is Jesus, and so do you, and we can do it by God’s grace alone.
God have mercy on us all.
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Addendum: On watching the whole movie, in a few rather crucial plot points, they completely abandon the biblical story. Instead of the actual story – Boaz approaches the nearest kinsman (who has the first right to marry Ruth) about redeeming the land, and the near kinsman, not wanting to jeopardise his own family’s inheritance1, declines the offer, and allows Boaz to buy the land instead and marry Ruth – and this is a beautiful love story in its own right – they make it a kind of passionate Hollywood love story instead – with a hint of almost an illicit love affair.
In some ways this 1960s dramatic take on the story ruins the atmosphere of the Biblical book, the spirit of the book of Ruth, which is comfortingly down to earth and simple and homely: what is lovely about the book of Ruth is that marriage and home and family and work and community continue, despite difficult times and the uncertainty of the time of Judges, and also, that strangers, foreigners, can be accepted into God’s people, indeed, God draws in Ruth, in such a way that her heart is drawn to Him, a woman from an idolatrous nation, into His family.
Then he said to the near relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is of- fering for sale the piece of land which belonged to our relative Elimelech, and I thought that I would lay the matter before you, suggesting that you buy it in the presence of these men who sit here and of the elders of my peo- ple. If you will buy it and so keep it in the possession of the family, do so; but if not; then tell me, so that I may know; for no one but you has the right to buy it, and I am next to you.”
“I will buy it,” he said.
Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from Naomi, you must also marry Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to preserve the name of the dead in connection with his inheritance.”
“I cannot buy it for myself with- out spoiling my own inheri- tance,” the near relative said. “You take my right of buying it as a relative, because I cannot do so.”
Now this used to be the custom in Israel: to make valid anything relating to a matter of redemp- tion or exchange, a man drew off his sandal and gave it to the oth- er man; and this was the way contracts were attested in Israel. So when the near relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” Boaz drew off the man’s sandal.
Then Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are wit- nesses at this time that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s from Naomi. Moreover I have secured Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in connection with his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his relatives and from the house- hold where he lived. You are wit- nesses this day.”
You surprise yourself as you write or so it seems, but you keep writing. It’s very important to keep going regardless of such surprises….in my humble opinion.
Blessings and appreciation to you and those you love.