“Jesus replied, I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry, and he who believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me will never thirst any more (at any time).” (John 6:35)
The Book of Ruth is most beautiful, full of meaning for both Jew and Gentile. According to the story, Ruth gleaned the four corners of Boaz’s field because these belonged to the poor and it was their right, not their privilege to do so. It so happened that by Divine ‘coincidence’ Boaz was a first cousin of her late husband. He discovered that she was a princess of Moab and a very beautiful woman.
A Moabite could not be accepted amongst the people of Israel unless they converted, and then they would only be recognised after three generations. However, around this time the interpretation of the Torah was amended and applied only to Moabite men because they, not the women, refused the Israelites bread and water during their wilderness wanderings. (Deuteronomy 23:4-6)
Boaz fell in love with Ruth and married her, but according to the Sages, he died after being married for only one night; this was his sole purpose for coming into the world because through them was born David the ancestor of Jesus our Messiah.
There is more to the story. Abraham had two star pupils. One was Lot, his nephew, and the other was Chedorlaomer who became the King of Sodom, a city saturated in evil. For example, if anyone was caught doing ‘tzedekah’ (charitable acts), they were tortured and killed. Everything good was defined as being evil and vice versa.
Shortly afterwards, the second star pupil, who was Lot, was appointed to the position of High Judge of Sodom. Abraham was distraught when he heard the news. The Sages say that this marked the first occasion when Abraham became so desperate that he pleaded with God for a son because beforehand he had placed all his hopes upon Chedorlaomer and Lot.
According to the story, the actual star pupil of Abraham was an ordinary girl, the daughter of Lot named Paltit who lived in Sodom. She eagerly followed the way of Torah and only with great reluctance followed her father to Sodom where she knew she would encounter severe problems for the things she cherished and stood for. And so it was, that upon her arrival, a tragic event occurred.
The laws of Sodom considered it a capital crime for anyone caught giving something to the poor. Everything had become perverted and truth was distorted to the point that crimes such as murder and rape were rewarded and celebrated.
So, it was now suddenly brought to the attention of the authorities that the poor were ceasing to die in the streets anymore due to the charitable interference of some unknown culprit which greatly incensed the Sodomites.
According to Midrash, when the three angels came to Abraham and one of them said, “The cries of the victims in Sodom and Gomorrah are deafening; the sin of those cities is immense,” it was in specific reference to Paltit. In Jewish tradition, this girl was caught giving a piece of bread to a poor man. It was she alone who acting upon the highest principles of love, mercy and compassion, was alleviating the suffering of the poor and starving within the community.
When the Sodomites discovered this, they poured honey all over her and they put her on the roof, and she was eaten by the bees, the most painful death anyone can be subjected to.
The following day Sodom was destroyed, and Isaac became Abraham’s new star pupil according to God’s promise. Yet, even he did not compare to that girl who gave her life for giving the poor a piece of bread.
Here is the connection. Messiah is descended from Isaac, but the hidden message, the symbolic action is that He is the ‘Bread of Life’ who willingly sacrificed Himself as a ransom for many.
