Personal Involvement
Wash yourself therefore, and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes, and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Ruth 3:3 NASB
Wash/anoint/put on/go down – Listen! It just isn’t possible to experience the Bible in translations. You can read it, of course, but it won’t really belong to you because it will be an external document, a foreign story, a report. It wasn’t supposed to be like that. In fact, in both Greek and Hebrew, the authors take deliberate measures to enlist the reader’s involvement. You probably know this, but the past tense rendering of most of Yeshua’s statements aren’t really accurate. They are proper English grammar, but in Greek, they aren’t past tense sentences. The text doesn’t read, “and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,” (Matthew 4:6). Instead, the Greek verb légō is in the present tense, reading, “and saying to Him, . . .” The verbs are present tense, deliberately so, in order to involve the reader in the actual event. NASB tries to indicate this fact with an asterisk (*)[1]whenever the real verbal tense is “present” but the translation reads as if it were “past.” The technique is used to bring the reader to imagine he or she is right there in the midst of the event. But you probably knew this.
What you might not have known is that the same thing happens in Hebrew. Unfortunately, no asterisks are supplied in the translations, so the stories appear as disengaged reports when, in fact, they are really compelling, immediate conversations. Such is the case with this verse.
“The Jerusalem Talmud indicates the depth of Naomi’s identification with Ruth by noting her instructions—‘Wash, perfume yourself, dress up, and go down to the granary . . . and lie down’ (Ruth 3:3): the Hebrew verbs are read in the second person, but written, strangely, in the first person.”[2]
Well, not exactly. The even more interesting fact is the “wash,” “anoint,” and “put on” are second person verbs, but “go down” isn’t. “Go down” is a first person verb, as if Naomi herself is walking to the threshing floor at night. The verb itself is filled with innuendo. We should note some of these nuances:
yārad: “moving from a place of prominence to one of lesser importance. . . to come down is to leave one’s place of prestige, to humble oneself. . . Since Sheol (q.v.) is considered to be in the earth beneath, whoever dies goes down to Sheol. . . the adulterous woman discovers her house is ‘the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death’” (7:27).[3]
Of course, Naomi’s suggestion has overtones of sexual involvement. Perhaps we’ve read this as a certain callousness toward Ruth, a willingness to put Ruth’s life at risk while protecting herself. But the text just might indicate something else. Yes, it is Ruth who is instructed to wash, to put on perfume and the dress in what is equivalent to wedding finery. But it is Naomi in Ruth who ventures to the threshing floor. It is Naomi who is willing to risk sexual involvement. Ruth is the surrogate for Naomi. And, suddenly the end of the story makes sense, because at the end of the story, the women of Bethlehem consider the child not Ruth’s, but Naomi’s.
“The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, ‘A son has been born to Naomi!’ So they named him Obed” (Ruth 4:17).
Naomi seeks Levirate continuation of her husband’s line through the kinsman redeemer. But Naomi is past childbearing age. Do you suppose that this odd, present tense verb is really telling us that Ruth is the surrogate mother for Naomi? And that you, the reader, are invited to proceed to the threshing floor to become the surrogate too? Ah, you aren’t going to find this in translation!
Topical Index: go down, yārad, present tense, asterisk, Ruth 3:3
[1]“In places where the English language would describe past action with a past-tense verb, the Greek uses the present tense for special vividness. The NASB indicates such cases with an asterisk (or star) before the past-tense verb.” Preface in the NASB
[2]Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Murmuring Deep: Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious, p. 368.
[3]Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. 1999 (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (401). Chicago: Moody Press.
The Lord, knows our every thought, even before we think it. This is usually acquainted to our prayers, but let’s use a little common sense. He created us from the beginning. Not predestination, but our actions came from our thoughts., we are encouraged to take our thoughts captive oh, and bring them into The Obedience of…. Christ the Messiah The Living Word, part of the sanctification process, part of the renewal process, part of the transformation process. The picture being painted is… The process.. I used to listen to a teacher come, who always pronounce clearly that the words were in the present and active tense. That woke me up a bit. What is this word doing in you right now. Just like Yeshua, and the word became flesh, and dwelt among them. John chapter 1. My father also told me that we could use some imagination. And yes Yeshua was with them. But he was also in them. So that when he left. What was in them what’s to grow more intensely. Because the word he left was alive. From the beginning. Thanks Dad. I do not pretend to be an English Greek or Hebrew scholar but when I listen to some of their teachings oh, I know so little. But I know I can lean back on them. Which teaches me to leave back on God’s word and the power which is within it.?
Scripture…inspired, profitable…that the people of God may be competent and fitted for all good work.
Thank you, Skip, for sharing these insights and helping us to become proven workers who have no need to be ashamed.
I believe we were designed to connect in all directions: that stories are about sharing an experience with another in more ways than one. Motivations are shared spiritual influences. Lovers, for example, share love (if they are connected with heaven as the third party, that is): they trust each other because of that shared experience. Empathy is a way for our bodies and spirits (as well as our minds) to react AS IF we were the other person, either in their joy or their pain. When I read the account of the passion of Christ, I should read it, too, as if I were the one “lifted up” with Him on that cross, and sorry that I put Him there. As stewards of the earth, I believe the life in us, responding to the life of creation around us, experiences, or enacts the experience, of the relative health or hurt of all around us. We are connected at all levels with all life: it all affects us!
The site Greenmedinfo just cited new research about empathy titled “Consumer Alert: Tylenol’s Empathy-Killing Properties Confirmed in 2nd Study”. Quote from the study conclusion: “These findings suggest that (1) acetaminophen reduces affective reactivity to other people’s positive experiences and (2) the experience of physical pain and positive empathy may have a more similar neurochemical basis than previously assumed. Because the experience of positive empathy is related to prosocial behavior, our findings also raise questions about the societal impact of excessive acetaminophen consumption.” ”
“Finally, our findings have important practical implications. Positive empathy provides part of the “social glue” from which interpersonal bonds are built and strengthened (Morelli et al., 2015). As such, taking pleasure from the good fortune of others fosters interpersonal connection, trust, and – ultimately – prosocial behavior (Reis et al., 2010; Morelli et al., 2014; Andreychik and Migliaccio, 2015), thus providing important societal benefits. These benefits have to be viewed in the context of the amount of people regularly consuming acetaminophen. An estimated quarter of all US American adults take a drug containing acetaminophen every week (Kaufman et al., 2002). It is thus possible that the pervasive use of acetaminophen among Americans may substantially reduce these benefits. However, there is currently no research on the relationship between acetaminophen usage and reduced prosocial behavior in the USA. This research gap needs filling.
Overall, the present research shows that acetaminophen reduces empathy for the pleasurable experiences of other people. These findings not only constitute an important step forward in our understanding of the affective mechanisms underlying the experience of positive empathy but also raise concern about the societal impact of excessive acetaminophen consumption.”
Paul lists “pharmakeia” as a sin. Drugs (and sex!) were used culticly in the ancient world as a deliberate attempt to bypass the body/mind/spirit reality and overlay it with one that, people believed, put a person in a better relationship with the gods (powers that be over lives). All they were really doing, however (because they had no access to forgiveness, deliverance from sin and consequent healing), were masking the symptoms of a lack of relationship with even further distance from true relationship with God, self, others and reality. I want to ask: have we learned anything yet?
From the time of the Minoan civilization until today we have made great technological advances, but we are still genetically and emotionally the same as people from the past. What ever brain make up the Minoans had is the same one we have today.
A friend and I were discussing what little either of us knew about pharmakeia just lately. We mute the commercials for all the drugs pushing on TV as it’s ridiculous. My daughter-n-law and I have agreed that the remedies are sometimes as bad if not worse than the ailment and just masking, covering, putting off the responsibility of our own health, prayer, connecting and getting an answer from on High. Sometimes I know I just can’t seem to settle down to the truth that only Yeshua can heal and He is the only source for my instructions of how to “go through the process” to health and healing.
I’m connecting this with the resurrection power to bring us up and out death and the grave. He appeared for 40 days teaching about the Kingdom and how it works meeting the need to believe, release from the guilt of failure to be faithful, some asked for visitation and others He just appeared and met the need. We need to come up higher into the Light and let our darkness be exposed and see through His eyes, hear with HIs ears and speak with His Words, arise in our dead places inside and come alive and wake up to a New Life. Being ready to receive Him in the moments of our lives not just in the by and by when He comes back physically.
Like the generations before as you mentioned how much did that alter things, physically that got passed down to us physically as well as socially, spiritually etc. We need to be restored both then and now, we need new bodies, minds, wills through His Blood and the flow of life that comes through abiding in the Vine. We can’t hide from the Light but must embrace it even though it hurts to change our positioning and alignment in the comforts of our own grave.
Namoi needed fulfillment and Ruth could deliver the goods with her help and guidance, a win-win for both and all of us in the end, we need each other in the present just the way we are, warts and all. That was such a win-win for everyone including us that past, present and future experiences are touched by it whether they know it or not.
I always like your musings, Sharon. Keep writing!
You say “Sometimes I know I just can’t seem to settle down to the truth that only Yeshua can heal and He is the only source for my instructions of how to “go through the process” to health and healing.” I could give you quote after quote from research as well as giants in the functional medicine as well as other more traditional medicine disciplines, to the effect that the single most powerful ways and means to affect body, mind and spirit health is what comes out of our belief systems and from between our ears. They tell us that the very best medicine in the world cannot overcome stinking thinking: conversely, that strong faith and love can alter the course of even the most severe diagnosis.
We know that the immune system is a much more powerful determinant of health than any medical protocol out there: also, our interior (called “endogenous”) antioxidants, such as glutathione (which is mainly produced in the liver), are several magnitudes more effective than the most potent stuff we can ‘add’ to the body. Our endogenous opioids and endocannabinoids , too, are many times more powerful than any mankind has been able to manufacture. We turn to comparatively weak drugs to try to compensate when the body’s natural abilities have been compromised.
The body knows how to heal itself: only the body, in fact, can get in the way of that health, and the most powerful way it does that is if what we believe and choose to think and do creates a bodily milieu – a response to those spiritual and mental realities – that runs counter to life and health. We really are our own worst enemies. Yeshua came to show us how to return to that essential interior peace – homeostasis in scientific parlance – that sets our health. Right order of operations: heal the spirit and mind, and the body will follow. Halleluah!
Laurita. Thanks for sharing. This is why even Yeshua said he could not do much miracles or healings in a certain place as the individuals lacked faith/belief…
Wow!