The Book of Ruth – Tedious Details

WHO IS THE AUTHOR?

Even though the author of the book of Ruth is unknown, unresolved theories abound.

• Babylonian Talmud suggests Samuel is the author.
• Was the author a man or a woman?
• Some suggest Tamar, David’s daughter and great-great-granddaughter of Ruth, as the author.
  • 2 Sam 13-Amnon’s rape of Tamar, Absalom’s sister, when disgraced lived in Absalom’s house as a “desolate woman”.
• Others argue against a female author due to the beginning and ending which features ‘traditional male perspectives.”
• One source says, “the narrator’s rare literary talent, sensitive disposition toward women, access to the family traditions, devout Yahwistic faith, and the literary integrity of the book …speculates that Nathan may have been the author.” ¹
• The book doesn’t identify the author – explicitly or implicitly.

We simply do not know for certain!

WHEN & WHY WAS IT WRITTEN?

Determining the date is difficult and problematic. Again theories are prolific, but inconclusive:

• Early in the Davidic monarchy to celebrate the resourcefulness of Naomi and Ruth
• The book of Ruth is meant to be heard and not read. It may have been re-enacted “with the rise of the house of David from the chaos of the pre-monarchic period” in the time of the Judges. ².[2]
• Late in the Davidic monarchy to remove the shame of the Moabite in David’s lineage
• See Gen 19:36-38; Numbers 22-25; and Deuteronomy 23:3-6
• Early or late during exile period in Babylon after fall of the monarchy and destruction of temple.
• Perhaps to recapture the longing of who they were meant to be prior to captivity, a remembering the good ‘ole days.
• Early in Persian period:
• Certain linguistic features in Ruth reflect later developments in Hebrew language that would have been accepted at the time of the book’s composition.
• Post-exilic while yet living under Persian empire, but with freedom to practice their faith.
  • to “balance the narrow ethnocentrism” of Ezra and Nehemiah against mixed marriages (Ez 10; Ne 13:23-31) even though no strong polemical tone against a foreign marriage is found in the book.

An interesting attempt of a date is found in The Reese Chronological Bible which holds a Young Earth view of history:

• Reese sets the entire book of Ruth during the 3rd round of apostasy and servitude recorded in Judges.
• Book of Ruth dated during 1268/1251 BC.
• The story is placed chronologically between Judges 4:1-3 (Ruth 1-4) and Judges 4:4-24 between Shamgar – who defeated the Philistines, delivered Israel and after ruling one year the people fell again into apostasy – and Deborah who reigned approximately 40 years (1249-1209 OR 1252-1212). ³

We simply do not know for certain.

RUTH IN THE BIBLE:

he book of Ruth has moved all over the place throughout the evolution of the Bible.

Sopherim Scribes

• During 400 BC- 200 AD: scribes called Sopherim functioned like the “official Bible publication society of their day”
• They meticulously standardized the Hebrew oral/written text to produce a pure Bible. ⁴

Josephus (37 AD – c100 AD)

• Wrote, that “After Moses’s death up until the reign of Artaxerxes who succeeded Xerxes as King of Persia thirteen prophets “whose work was justly believed in” were those who “wrote the history of the events that occurred in their own time.” Apparently Ruth was included among these thirteen prophets. ⁵

Septuagint or LXX (250-150 BC)

• Translated Hebrew text into Greek language in Alexandreia around 250-150 BC.
• Follows a topical system of the books: Law, History, Poetry/Wisdom, Prophecy (Minor/Major prophets)
• The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) places Ruth between Judges and Samuel.

Bishop of Melito of Sardis- 170 AD

• Oldest list of Hebrew Books
• Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Four Kingdoms, Esther is excluded.

Syriac Peshitta (100-200 AD)

• Language is Classical Syriac, a literary dialect of Eastern Aramaic
• It is the oldest Hebrew Testament
• Book order: Pentateuch, Job, Joshua, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Song of Songs, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah, 12 Minor Prophets, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel

The Masoretic Text (compiled during the 7^th -11^th century AD)

• Ruth is moved from the Prophet section and placed in the Megilloth section to be used in the Jewish liturgical years: Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther
• Song of Solomon read at Passover 1^st month of the year (April)
• Ruth read at Pentecost 3^rd month (June)
• Lamentations read on 9^th of Ab 5^th month (August)
• Ecclesiastes read at Feast of Tabernacles in 7^th month (October)
• Esther read at Feast of Purim 12^th month (March) ⁶
• Most Protestant translations use the Masoretic text: KJV, RSV, NRSV, ESV, NIV

The Christian Bible – Follows the ordering in the LXX

• Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel

DEAD SEA SCROLLS – 1946-47- proves written texts dating back to 3^rd century BC.

• Approximately nine hundred scrolls dating from the third century BC to the first century AD discovered in the desert above the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea, not far from Masada. ⁷.
• Of the 944 scrolls… the number of extant copies of each may be an indication of their relative importance for the community.” ⁸
• There are 4 scrolls of Ruth, but none of Esther or Nehemiah.

View the 4 different scrolls of Ruth at the following links. Copy link and put in the browser.

• https://dssenglishbible.com/scroll4Q104.htm
• https://dssenglishbible.com/scroll4Q105.htm
• https://dssenglishbible.com/scroll2Q16.htm
• https://dssenglishbible.com/scroll2Q17.htm

WHAT WE DO KNOW

As we have seen in our quick overview, there are many things we do not know, nor can we confirm with absolute certainty about the Book of Ruth. But this we do know: the Book of Ruth—tells the ancient story of a woman whose obedient life is linked to the most valued king in Israel. And for the Jews who followed Jesus—Ruth is linked to the King of Kings, Messiah Jesus. Centuries ago Jews highly esteemed the book of Ruth that it was hidden in clay pots in the Qumran caves to preserve it.

READING RUTH

The Bible is 75% story and the remaining 25% is prophecy, poetry, wisdom literature, and letters. The Book of Ruth is described as a “superlative literary achievement of ancient Israel.”

Read the following. Discuss issues we might encounter when we begin to read Ruth?

“God did a strange thing in consenting to be known to Israel through the slippery and always ambiguous medium of stories. Now if I were writing the Bible, I would put at the very beginning what we all need and long for: clear explanatory statements about who God is and what God has in mind in setting up and running the world. Yet those are strikingly absent. Rather, we are given these stories, and somehow we are supposed to find our way to God through them, following an uncertain trail of words that we affirm are somehow “the word of the Lord.” It was an enormous risk on God’s part, choosing to be known to Israel and to us through stories, some of which bewilder and offend us. Yet God had to take the risk, and for some reason: stories lead us into mysteries we cannot grasp through ordinary explanatory language, the language of the classroom lecture or the news report.” ⁹

“The book of Ruth, if one were to follow the consensus of modern interpreters, tells a story of such utter simplicity and naivete as to verge on the banal. To be sure, one would be hard-pressed to find a commentator who would actually describe the story as banal, yet the adjectives one does find applied to the book—pretty, sentimental, idyllic, charming, beautiful, and delightful, to name the most common—betray a view of the narrative as fundamentally facile. Yet the more time I have spent with the book the more convinced I have become that it is exceedingly complex and ambiguous.” ¹⁰

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1. Daniel Block, Ruth, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament, 2015, p. 30.
2. Daniel Block, Ruth, p 34.
3. Daniel Block, Ruth, p 34.
4. Gleason L. Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, (revised, expanded) 2007, p. 61-70.
5. Survey of OT, See FN 2, p. 70.
6. Dates are taken from a chart in Reese Chronological Bible.
7. D. M. Peters, “Dead Sea Scrolls,” ed. Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Second Edition (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 166.
8. D. M. Peters, “Dead Sea Scrolls,” ed. Joel B. Green, Jeannine K. Brown, and Nicholas Perrin, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Second Edition (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 167.
9. Ellen F. David, The Art of Reading Scripture, 2003, p. 277-78.
10. Tod Linafelt, Ruth, in Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative & Poetry, p.xiii.