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Introduction to Ruth
Named after its heroine, a young Moabite widow who leaves her land and family to follow her mother-in-law to Bethlehem in Judah, the book of Ruth is in the third division of the Hebrew Bible, the Writings. In Christian Bibles, it comes between the books of Judges and Samuel, since it begins "in the days when the judges ruled."
The language of the book of Ruth supports a Second Temple period dating: its words and expressions, and their spelling, attest to a substantial Aramaic influence. Moreover, it shows no signs of the Deuteronomistic redaction that characterizes the earlier historical books (Joshua-Kings). An alternative view is that the book's interest in the ancestry of King David suggests that it was written during the period of the monarchy.
While Ruth is one of the shortest of the Bible's books, it comprises one of the Bible's longest stories, a markedly poetic and villainless story bathed in an optimistic light, full of hope for a better future; the protagonists are all helpful, considerate, and well intentioned. The absence of conflict also characterizes the relations with God—the protagonists are notable in their willingness to go above and beyond what the law requires, and they are rewarded accordingly.
The author of the book knows Pentateuchal law, and the book boldly combines and reinterprets such law in a way that suggests a dynamic and shifting cultural context regarding Second Temple debates over intermarriage, for instance: In Ruth, the law regarding the redemption of a woman becomes a logical extension of the law of levirate marriage, as in later rabbinic interpretation in which different laws are combined and their discrepancies reconciled. The book may even anticipate later rabbinic interpretation of Deuteronomy 23.3 ("No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admittted to the assembly") as referring exclusively to males and not females (Mishnah Yebamoth 8.3).
The stance of Ruth is clear and unambigious: 'hesed,' kindness and loyalty, are more important than ethnicity.
Ruth
Ruth 1.1-5: Famine. Leaving Canaan because of famine is a repeated theme in Genesis (12.10; 26.1; 47.4).
Ruth 1.1: Bethlehem, translated as "house of bread," opens the book on an ironic note. Bethlehem is 5 miles south of Jerusalem, and the home of David's family.
Ruth 1.5-19a: The return to Bethlehem.
Ruth 1.19b-22: The arrival at Bethlehem.
Ruth 2.1-23: Ruth and Boaz's first encounter.
Ruth 2.11-12: Now here we find a wonderful sentiment on kindness to foreigners and the downtrodden. This is just nice.
Ruth 3.1-18: Ruth and Boaz's nighttime encounter.
Ruth 4.1-22: Ruth is redeemed, Obed is born: the faimly's name continues.
Ruth 4.18-22: The line of Perez. The narrative names Obed as the grandfather of David, and a full genealogy is provided, positioning David as being of the tenth generation, mirroring that of Adam to Noah, as well as Shem to Abraham.
Well, a very short book, indeed. There are really not many notes to make on the text itself, but the nature and placement of the book as a whole is fascinating. The story can be read as allegorical, with Boaz representing God and/or how Israel should act within deuteronomic law, and how it is this grace and charity that redeems Ruth, a foreign convert. Taken at face value, however, the message is just as rich, with Boaz going out of his way, to the point of risking his own social standing, in order to help and then marry a Moabite, something he arguably had no legal or moral requirement to do given the harshness with which the pentateuch treated issues of intermarriage.
On the specific point of intermarriage itself, the political undertones of the text couldn't be more clear; existing as a counter-narrative to the xenophobic Ezra/Nehemiah, Ruth makes a biting point: had there not been intermarriage in the case of Boaz and Ruth, there would have been no King David, and that the Deuteronomic Code is certainly open to interpretation when it comes to analysing such cases (was not such case law itself prevalent throughout Leviticus and Deuteronomy?). The scriptural and societal tensions of this book's historical context make what would be an otherwise throwaway story incredibly engaging. Thumbs up.
Tired, working the fields,
I find myself gleaning grain.
Is it not you who
is so merciful and kind,
that provides the fields and grain?
Introduction to Ruth
Named after its heroine, a young Moabite widow who leaves her land and family to follow her mother-in-law to Bethlehem in Judah, the book of Ruth is in the third division of the Hebrew Bible, the Writings. In Christian Bibles, it comes between the books of Judges and Samuel, since it begins "in the days when the judges ruled."
The language of the book of Ruth supports a Second Temple period dating: its words and expressions, and their spelling, attest to a substantial Aramaic influence. Moreover, it shows no signs of the Deuteronomistic redaction that characterizes the earlier historical books (Joshua-Kings). An alternative view is that the book's interest in the ancestry of King David suggests that it was written during the period of the monarchy.
While Ruth is one of the shortest of the Bible's books, it comprises one of the Bible's longest stories, a markedly poetic and villainless story bathed in an optimistic light, full of hope for a better future; the protagonists are all helpful, considerate, and well intentioned. The absence of conflict also characterizes the relations with God—the protagonists are notable in their willingness to go above and beyond what the law requires, and they are rewarded accordingly.
The author of the book knows Pentateuchal law, and the book boldly combines and reinterprets such law in a way that suggests a dynamic and shifting cultural context regarding Second Temple debates over intermarriage, for instance: In Ruth, the law regarding the redemption of a woman becomes a logical extension of the law of levirate marriage, as in later rabbinic interpretation in which different laws are combined and their discrepancies reconciled. The book may even anticipate later rabbinic interpretation of Deuteronomy 23.3 ("No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admittted to the assembly") as referring exclusively to males and not females (Mishnah Yebamoth 8.3).
The stance of Ruth is clear and unambigious: 'hesed,' kindness and loyalty, are more important than ethnicity.
Ruth
Ruth 1.1-5: Famine. Leaving Canaan because of famine is a repeated theme in Genesis (12.10; 26.1; 47.4).
Ruth 1.1: Bethlehem, translated as "house of bread," opens the book on an ironic note. Bethlehem is 5 miles south of Jerusalem, and the home of David's family.
Ruth 1.5-19a: The return to Bethlehem.
Ruth 1.19b-22: The arrival at Bethlehem.
Ruth 2.1-23: Ruth and Boaz's first encounter.
Ruth 2.11-12: Now here we find a wonderful sentiment on kindness to foreigners and the downtrodden. This is just nice.
Ruth 3.1-18: Ruth and Boaz's nighttime encounter.
Ruth 4.1-22: Ruth is redeemed, Obed is born: the faimly's name continues.
Ruth 4.18-22: The line of Perez. The narrative names Obed as the grandfather of David, and a full genealogy is provided, positioning David as being of the tenth generation, mirroring that of Adam to Noah, as well as Shem to Abraham.
Well, a very short book, indeed. There are really not many notes to make on the text itself, but the nature and placement of the book as a whole is fascinating. The story can be read as allegorical, with Boaz representing God and/or how Israel should act within deuteronomic law, and how it is this grace and charity that redeems Ruth, a foreign convert. Taken at face value, however, the message is just as rich, with Boaz going out of his way, to the point of risking his own social standing, in order to help and then marry a Moabite, something he arguably had no legal or moral requirement to do given the harshness with which the pentateuch treated issues of intermarriage.
On the specific point of intermarriage itself, the political undertones of the text couldn't be more clear; existing as a counter-narrative to the xenophobic Ezra/Nehemiah, Ruth makes a biting point: had there not been intermarriage in the case of Boaz and Ruth, there would have been no King David, and that the Deuteronomic Code is certainly open to interpretation when it comes to analysing such cases (was not such case law itself prevalent throughout Leviticus and Deuteronomy?). The scriptural and societal tensions of this book's historical context make what would be an otherwise throwaway story incredibly engaging. Thumbs up.
Tired, working the fields,
I find myself gleaning grain.
Is it not you who
is so merciful and kind,
that provides the fields and grain?