Ruth
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- Introductory Matters
- Date
- Set in period of judges (1:1)
- Many scholars believe story was written after Babylonian
exile
- Reasons for
- Language of book has a number of Aramaisms
- Custom of removing sandal in a business transaction is explained
(4:7) - apparently the explanation was necessary for a later generation that would not
have understood the custom
- Openness toward foreigners seems to be a critique or reaction to the
approach of Ezra and Nehemiah
- Author may have written in 5th century B.C.E. but used older materials
- Literary form - novella like the Book of
Esther
- Synagogue usage
- Festival scroll for Feast of Weeks (later called Pentecost)
- Probably used in conjunction with this feast because book is
concerned with harvest, from failed harvests to abundant harvests
- Meaning of the Book
- Meaning of the names (to some the symbolic names indicate an invented
story)
- Two sons Mahlon ("sickness") and Chilion
("consumption") die young in Moab away from the Promised Land
- Naomi ("peaceful") renames herself Mara
("bitterness") after loss of her husband and two sons
- Naomi's daughter-in-law Orpah ("disloyal") remains in Moab
rather than returning to Israel with Naomi, but Naomi's other daughter-in-law Ruth
("compassion") leaves Moab to accompany Naomi
- Boaz ("in him is strength or quickness") rescues the two
widows Naomi and Ruth from difficulty by marrying Ruth
- Major teaching - "God is present in emptiness and fullness"
- Movement of the story
- Story begins with emptiness (e.g., famine in Israel, death of a
husband and two sons in a foreign land)
- Story then moves to the fullness of a good land with plenty of food
and a renewed family
- God's involvement
- In emptiness, God is present (1:20-21) and leading those who are
faithful (2:12,20; 3:10; 4:11-12)
- In fullness, God is also present and praised by the faithful (4:14)
- Subsidiary teachings
- David is the eventual product of the
marriage of a Jew with a foreigner (he is Boaz and Ruth's great grandson)
- Apparently God does not want all mixed marriages broken up (contra
Ezra and Nehemiah)
- Matthew emphasizes this mixed marriage in the genealogy of Jesus
(Matt. 1:5) - Jesus had come for all
- Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz all emerge as good people who are more
concerned about the welfare of others than their own welfare - they are models of living
the faithful religious life - 1:16-17 is particularly a beautiful statement of
faithfulness
Artwork from the Bible Picture Library of Line Art (c) Christian Computer Art, 1994-97