The scribes (Hebrew grammateis) are men who study the Torah and are looked upon to interpret it to the people. Many of them are members of the party of the Pharisees, a group of lay leaders whose authority lay in their ability to interpret the Torah, and in Jesus’ day, were quite influential. Jesus acknowledges their social position and the unassailable ground of their authority: they “have taken their seat on the chair of Moses” (v 2). Yet, Jesus and these teachers differ in their interpretation of the Law. Their strict adherence to the letters of the Law makes the commands a heavy burden for the people. The detailed emphasis on following these laws is central to the teaching of the Pharisees, and not taking care to mitigate such things for people marginalized by their group adds to the burden. Jesus’ own ministry, where the requirements of such things as Sabbath observance and purity codes are identified as impossible for poor peasants or the urban poor to follow, shows him as a gentle teacher. The observance of the commandments remains a “yoke,” but in Jesus who gives the example of fulfilling God’s will, the burden becomes light because it is not an imposition but an invitation.

Naomi had a prominent kinsman named Boaz, of the clan of her husband Elimelech. Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go and glean ears of grain in the field of anyone who will allow me that favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go, my daughter,” and she went. The field she entered to glean after the harvesters happened to be the section belonging to Boaz of the clan of Elimelech.

Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter! Do not go to glean in anyone else’s field; you are not to leave here. Stay here with my women servants. Watch to see which field is to be harvested, and follow them; I have commanded the young men to do you no harm. When you are thirsty, you may go and drink from the vessels the young men have filled.” Casting herself prostrate upon the ground, Ruth said to him, “Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?” Boaz answered her: “I have had a complete account of what you have done for your mother-in-law after your husband’s death; you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know previously.”

Boaz took Ruth. When they came together as man and wife, the Lord enabled her to conceive and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not failed to provide you today with an heir! May he become famous in Israel! He will be your comfort and the support of your old age, for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you. She is worth more to you than seven sons!” Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nurse. And the neighbor women gave him his name, at the news that a grandson had been born to Naomi. They called him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

“See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.”