In the Field of Grace

by Tessa Afshar

  Boaz allowed himself to exhale. “That’s right.”

  “And the land reverts back to them?”

  “Quite so.”

  Jaala swore. “That’s ridiculous! Is this some scheme of yours? Are you trying to deceive me into taking these beggars off your hands?”

  Boaz widened his eyes innocently. “I? Never.”

  “I cannot redeem the land at such a price because I might endanger my own estate and my own children. You expect me to pour money into land that won’t even come to them? What kind of fool do you take me for, Boaz? Redeem the land yourself. I cannot do it. No wise man would. It’s throwing money into a ditch.”

  “Will you make it a binding agreement by taking off your sandal?” Boaz asked, referring to the tradition that legalized public transactions in Israel.

  Jaala rolled his eyes, impatient now with the waste of his time. He removed his sandal and held it up.

  Boaz rose, his heart thundering with victory. That large, misshapen, stained sandal had just changed the tide of his destiny. He held up his arms to draw the attention of the elders. Several had already been listening and others gathered around them, curious to find out the nature of the new agreement being forged between the two men.

  “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife. This way, she can have a son to carry on the name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. Thus his name shall not disappear from among his family or from the town records.” Boaz’s voice dropped. “Today you are witnesses.”

  The elders and the rest of those gathered at the gate said, “We are witnesses.”

  Boaz closed his eyes for a moment. He had done it! Ruth was his, and no one could gainsay him. She truly belonged to him now.

  His business concluded, his dearest wish granted, Boaz turned to race back through the city gates. He wanted to find Ruth and share his news, knowing how desperate she must feel to hear the outcome of his meeting with Jaala. Before he could take one step toward his horse, however, a wrinkled hand clasped his shoulder. Impatience making his movements sharp, Boaz swung back to find one of the city elders grinning up at him.

  “May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel,” he said with a wide grin. “May she be fertile like the wombs that gave birth to a nation.”

  The rest of the men crowded around him. One of the youngest, the son of a favored landowner, shouted, “May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem! And may the Lord give you many descendants by this young woman!”

  Boaz didn’t have time to express thanks before another added his blessing. “May your family be like that of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.”

  Boaz started to laugh. If all these extravagant blessings were to take hold, he would populate Israel with his seed and count distinguished leaders and wise men among his descendants. Surely the whole world would resound with his fame and good fortune. He laughed again, harder this time, not believing a single ridiculous thought. He had won Ruth. What more did he need?

  Ruth cried when she heard the news. She cried like a child and threw herself into Boaz’s arms.

  He lifted her chin. “You didn’t think I was going to let anybody take you away from me, did you?”

  He kissed her then, finally, after waiting for what seemed like a lifetime, though it had only been a few weeks. He kissed her lingering and hard, and held her clasped against him for long moments after, settling into the feel of her willowy body against him. He could feel her heart beating furiously against his chest and kissed her again, softly this time, helpless against a desire too long denied.

  They were alone in Naomi’s house, for the older woman had left them discreetly when he arrived, mumbling a forgotten promise to visit a friend.

  “You took out your braids,” he said, to distract himself. Her hair had turned into a profusion of chestnut-colored waves. He ran his fingers through the soft length of them down her waist, relishing the knowledge that he now had a right to such intimacies. “I love you so dearly.”

  “I never thought to hear you say those words to me. I have longed for you in my dreams, and cried many hopeless tears. I should be really angry with you for your stubborn refusal to approach me. If it weren’t for Naomi and her brazen scheme to send me to you in the middle of the night, I would never have revealed my heart to you.”

  “Naomi put you up to that midnight visit on the threshing floor?”

  “My mother is bold.”

  Boaz roared with laughter. “Your mother is going to receive a magnificent gift from me. That woman is pure gold. And she can cook on top of everything else.”

  Ruth gave him a teasing smile. “I think you are marrying me for my mother.”

  “I won’t deny there are certain attractions.”

  She thumped him on the arm. Then she gave him a melting look from her honey-colored eyes. “Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth,” she said, her voice a whisper.

  All thoughts of laughter and teasing fled Boaz.

  Boaz told Ruth she could have an enormous wedding, if she desired. He knew a large wedding would take weeks to arrange and prayed with considerable fervency that she would refuse. Ruth teased him for a whole hour about the elaborate wedding she planned to have. Linen fabrics from Egypt, perfumes from Lebanon, a hundred lambs roasted for the whole of Bethlehem. In the end, his dismay became too obvious to hide and she laughed until her belly ached.

  “Serves you right for suggesting such a thing. As if I would wait to marry you for the sake of a fancy wedding,” she said. “Next week will do very well. With Naomi, Mahalath, Dinah, and Sheba helping, we will have time to spare.”

  Even a week seemed unreasonably long to Boaz. He thought of Jacob waiting over seven years for Rachel and pitied the poor man.

  Boaz directed his men to build a wedding canopy and hung it with sky blue curtains. Mahalath and her mother draped fresh garlands of wild flowers and leaves over the top of the canopy and the sides of its curtains.

  When the evening of their wedding finally arrived, Boaz went to Naomi’s house to fetch his bride. Her friends had spent the day with her, accompanying her on her mikvah bath and helping her to dress in her bridal finery. As tradition dictated, she had dressed as a queen, though for the first few hours, her face would remain covered with an opaque veil. Their friends followed the bride and groom gaily to the bridal canopy, walking through an avenue of oil lamps lit in advance in preparation for this moment.

  When they arrived at the prepared canopy, an old Levite pronounced the marriage blessing over them: “May you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.” Then Naomi removed Ruth’s veil and laid it upon Boaz’s shoulder.

  “The government shall be upon his shoulder,” the Levite proclaimed.

  Boaz hardly heard the words; he was too charmed by Ruth’s ravishing beauty, finally free of its veil. Her hair had been adorned with gold beads and hung with garnets and pearls, and bracelets jangled at her wrists. “I can’t believe you are mine,” he said. “I never thought I could feel this happy again.”

  She gave him a playful smile. “Wait awhile before you say that. If my government is to be on your shoulders, you might find yourself carrying a heavier burden than you bargained for.”

  For seven days, Boaz and Ruth sat under the shade of the festive canopy, bedecked in wedding finery. Even though their wedding took place quickly, Boaz made sure that there was plenty of delectable food and wine available for his guests so that during the seven days of feasting they never ran short of refreshments. In the end, to surprise Ruth, he did order a hundred lambs to be slaughtered and gave half of the bounty to the poor. One thing for certain, no one went hungry or thirsty during that week.

  They had come through so much, he and Ruth. They ha
d loved other people and suffered unbearable loss. And yet in time, God had given them a new dream, a new love. He had redeemed all that sorrow. Everyone in Bethlehem celebrated the joy God had chosen to give them after such a long struggle with hardship and loss.

  For many years afterward, the people of Bethlehem would remember Boaz’s wedding feast fondly. It wasn’t merely the refreshing wine or the delectable food that stood out in their minds. It was the simple joy of knowing that two noble people who had always done their best to make others happy had at last found happiness of their own.

  When finally he held Ruth in his arms with no obstacles and boundaries between them, Boaz felt the tension of weeks sweep out of him. They had been alone for hours, and every moment of that time had felt like a balm to Boaz’s bruised heart. “Are you happy, beloved?” he asked.

  She caressed his face with a shy hand. “You are my home,” she said. “You and the Lord. I’ve never been so happy. All I ever wanted was to belong. Naomi and her family gave me that. When death ripped it away, I thought I was done with joy. I thought the best I could do was to survive. Live another day. Then you came into my life and l learned to love in a deeper way. I thought death was the end of my dreams. But death led me to you.”

  Boaz was glad the light of the lamp had dimmed, for he could not quench the tears that filled his eyes. “God overcame death. Death itself could not conquer the Lord’s plans. After so many years of loneliness, He has filled my home and my hearth with love again.”

  She twined her fingers into his and raised their joined hands for a soft kiss. “You know, if God can overcome death, surely He can bless a barren womb?”

  “If that’s His plan, I better do my part.”

  His wife giggled. “You just did.”

  “That was for practice.”

  She lowered her lashes and pretended that she wasn’t turning red. “I don’t think you need any.”

  Boaz gave a wide smile and pulled his wife closer. “Still, I didn’t know I was helping to fulfill the Lord’s purposes. I shall have to take things much more seriously now. I wouldn’t want Him to accuse me of slacking on my responsibilities.”

  Uninterrupted joy took time to make its way into Ruth’s heart and stay. In the first days of her marriage, something akin to disbelief mixed with unbearable relief dogged her hours. She could not believe that Boaz truly wanted her and that they were genuinely married. Some days she awoke not daring to open her eyes, wondering if her new life would prove a dream. As disbelief gave way to conviction, she began to wonder if Boaz would come to himself and realize that he had made a grave error. He would compare her to Judith and regret his impulse to come to her rescue. In those early days, she still expected to see disappointment reflected in his kind eyes.

  It never came. Week after week, his regard for her proved steady and strong. He shared his days with her and made her laugh with his entertaining accounts of the events at work. Knowing her love of words, he encouraged her writing and began to teach her the business and household accounts. When he had initially suggested that she learn how to keep the accounts, she had been disconcerted. “Me? You want me to learn about your business?”

  He laughed. “What? Do you think they will arrest me for teaching you? You have a fine mind, Ruth, and it would be a help to me.”

  The thought of being useful to him had overcome her doubts, so that at the end of many evenings, they sat together, reviewing the business of the day. She found him a patient and astute teacher, and learned quickly because her desire to please him surpassed her fear of failing. He taught her about the Lord, and together they made time to pray. She learned that he knew the troubles of many of those who worked for him and prayed for them with the concern of a father.

  Before long, he convinced Naomi to come and live with them, assuring her that his house was big enough to handle the addition of twenty women, let alone two.

  “You better not think of bringing twenty women in here,” Ruth was quick to point out, and he laughed at her possessiveness.

  “The one is more than enough for me,” he said, kissing her with the enthusiasm that never ceased to amaze her.

  Without her having to ask, Boaz took charge of Chilion’s and Mahlon’s lands, and cleared the fields of the debris that over a decade of neglect had wrought. For the first time in years, Elimelech’s portion became ready for the plow. Boaz spent his own money on the work and the improvements, paying the wages of the workers he had hired, though none of it would return to him. There would be no gain from this investment, only loss to Boaz. Yet he never seemed to care. He certainly never brought it up to Ruth or Naomi, or held his generosity over their heads to belittle them in any way.

  As days melted into weeks and autumn slipped into the early days of winter, Boaz’s affection and care finally began to sink into Ruth’s heart as a reality. She began to believe that this happiness would not prove false or be snatched away from her. She began to trust in the joy that the Lord had poured into her heart.

  One chilly morning, as her small family gathered to have breakfast together, Ruth reached over for the warm bread that Mahalath had served and her stomach gave a great heave. Cold moisture covered her forehead and upper lip. She felt clammy as another roll of nausea washed over her. She pressed her lips together and staggered to her feet, desperate to leave Boaz and Naomi’s company and find a private spot in the back of the house. She made it to the edge of the courtyard before doubling over with a violence that disconcerted her.

  On her knees and shaking, she sensed Boaz’s tense presence at one side and Naomi’s on the other. She tried to calm her bilious stomach by force of will for their sakes. She might be physically miserable, but she knew that her sudden sickness was bound to strike fear into their hearts. She said a quick prayer and to her surprise the nausea passed. Within moments she felt completely well again.

  “I must have eaten something that did not agree with me last night,” she said.

  She noticed that her words made no difference to Boaz’s pallor or Naomi’s unusual silence. Boaz insisted that she spend the rest of the morning in bed, and to humor him, she did not demur, although she felt as healthy as one of his fat ewes. By evening, the nausea returned, though it was milder this time.

  The next morning it attacked her with full force again. Ruth ate sparingly that day, trying to give her belly a chance to recover. But the third morning she was sick yet again. Boaz’s alarm had turned him pale and uncommunicative. He ordered her to stay in bed the whole day, and she did not argue. She could see anxiety had a hold of him.

  “There is nothing wrong with me but an upset stomach,” she told Naomi while Boaz rode to oversee the plowing of his fields.

  “When did you last have your flow?” Naomi asked without preamble.

  Ruth’s breath caught. “I’ve forgotten. More than a month, perhaps. Do you think …?”

  Naomi straightened the covers over Ruth. “Too early to tell, my dear. Best we keep it to ourselves for now.”

  Boaz arrived from the field covered in mud and came straight to Ruth. Instead of the exhilaration that his outdoor explorations usually gave him, his face looked grey, his eyes shadowed. “Shalom, Naomi,” he greeted his mother-in-law with a smile as he washed his hands in the basin she filled for him. They had learned that he never waited for a servant to take care of such needs. He came over to Ruth and kissed her on the forehead. The ascetic kiss irritated his wife, though she took care to hide her irritation.

  “How do you feel, beloved?” he asked.

  “I feel well, Boaz. It is a strange malady that only affects me occasionally. Please try not to worry.”

  He removed his wool cloak, his movements abstracted, and hung the heavy garment on the hook behind the door. Droplets of water clung to it from the afternoon showers. The early rains had delayed in coming, but now they poured with a steady speed that soaked the ground with satisfying thoroughness. Without the early rains, the plows could not do their work. Their advent was a c
ause for relief as well as celebration. Boaz should be in an elated mood, not withdrawn and quiet. Ruth felt a tinge of guilt for being the cause of her husband’s obvious anxiety.

  She tried to distract him. “Tell me about the fields. How is the planting going?”

  He sat at the foot of the bed. “The sowers are making steady progress behind the plows. It’s been very cold and miserable for them in the heavy rains. But the work must be done if we are to have a good harvest. I was beginning to be concerned with the delay of the rains, but they have come just in time. The ground is soft and pliable. The oxen are making good time.”

  “What a rich blessing from God. Now all we need is the spring rains and the summer sun and we shall have another plentiful year in Bethlehem.”

  He gave a distracted nod and she wondered if he had heard a single word. “I’ve sent for a physician from Egypt,” he said.

  Ruth’s jaw dropped. “From Egypt! For a mild stomach upset?”

  Boaz stood and began to pace. “It’s been going on for too long.”

  “Three days!”

  From the corner of her eye, Ruth noticed Naomi making a calming gesture at her. Make your gestures at him, she wanted to say. He is the one acting out of all sense.

  To her dismay, Naomi said, “That is a good idea. By the time he arrives, we shall give him a rich dinner and a hearty laugh to share with his Egyptian colleagues about the overprotectiveness of the husbands in Judah. But I think it would be good to ensure she suffers no serious malady.”

  Boaz nodded. “I hope he does laugh.”

  Chapter

  Twenty-Four

  And God will call the past to account.

  ECCLESIASTES 3:15

  When Boaz left to meet with Zabdiel, Ruth rounded on her mother-in-law. “Why did you encourage him?”

  Naomi sat next to Ruth. “If you are pregnant, he will be no less worried than if you are sick. Having a high-and-mighty physician here might bring him calm.”