The Agency of Divine Same-Sex Love: Ruth`s Redemption of Israel

To date, lesbian readings of the Book of Ruth have either been confessional or rabbinical-style drashes that have connected Ruth, as an inspiring lesbian ancestress, to modern lesbian identities and ethical-theological concerns. In contrast, this article, a formal narrative, poetic, and psychological interpretation, argues that Ruth represents a type of non-Oedipal, non-exclusive same-sex affiliated woman with pronounced social instincts, as adumbrated by Sigmund Freud in his lesser known work on homosexual identity. Moreover, while biblical narrative is opaque and multivalent, biblical poetry opens the reader to the emotional truth and feelings of the character(s). Hence, Ruth`s moving poetic speech to Naomi at the beginning of the book, informs all her actions, from seducing Boaz to having a child by him, with the evident intent of maintaining a household with Naomi. Whereas Naomi, a representative of the House of Israel, suffers famine and death, by the end of the book both she and Israel have had their fortunes restored through the divine homoerotic agency of Ruth.