Abe Mezrich
(Poem/Reading on the Book of Ruth)
1
The Moabites refused us bread & water in the Desert
& so now they may not marry us.
Moses failed to sanctify God
—he shouted at the thirsty people
as he took water from the rock—
& so he may not enter the Land;
he dies in Moab.
Moab is food & water never given
a kind word left unsaid
love that cannot happen
a traveler locked in the desert
longing for his Land.
2
Ruth the Moabite
loves Naomi like a mother
follows Naomi in her love
leaves her people, her life in Moab
journeys with Naomi to the Land
all the way to Beth Lehem: The House of Bread
and she does kindness for Naomi there
and she marries Boaz, Naomi’s kinsman, there.
Ruth is the bread, the water, the love, the journey,
shared at last
freed from Moab at last
arrived in the Land at last.
3
David,
king of Israel,
is the great-grandson of Ruth.
What family will reign in Israel?
One that frees the good trapped within.
Numbers 20:1-13; Deuteronomy 23:4-5, 32:48-52; The Book of Ruth
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