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Introduction
to Ruth
This summary of the book of Ruth provides information about the
title, author(s), date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a
brief overview, and the chapters of the Book of Ruth.
The book is named after one of its main characters, a young woman
of Moab, the great-grandmother of David and an ancestress of Jesus (4:21-22; Mt 1:1,5). The only other Biblical book bearing
the name of a woman is Esther.
The story is set in the time of the judges, a time characterized
in the book of Judges as a period of religious and moral degeneracy, national
disunity and frequent foreign oppression. The book of Ruth reflects a time of
peace between Israel and Moab (contrast Jdg 3:12-30). Like 1Sa
1-2, it gives a series of intimate glimpses into the private lives
of the members of an Israelite family. It also presents a delightful account of
the remnant of true faith and piety in the period of the judges, relieving an
otherwise wholly dark picture of that era.
The author is unknown. Jewish tradition points to Samuel, but it
is unlikely that he is the author because the mention of David (4:17,22) implies a later date. Further, the
literary style of Hebrew used in Ruth suggests that it was written during the
period of the monarchy.
The importance of faithful love in human relationships among God's
kingdom people is powerfully underscored. The author focuses on Ruth's
unswerving and selfless devotion to desolate Naomi (1:16-17; 2:11-12; 3:10;
4:15) and on Boaz's kindness to these two widows (chs. 2
- 4).
He presents striking examples of lives that embody in their daily affairs the
self-giving love that fulfills God's law (Lev 19:18; cf. Ro 13:10). Such love also reflects God's love, in a marvelous
joining of human and divine actions (compare 2:12
with 3:9). In God's benevolence such lives are
blessed and are made a blessing.
It may seem surprising that one who reflects God's love so clearly
is a Moabitess (see map, p. 486). Yet her complete loyalty to the Israelite
family into which she has been received by marriage and her total devotion to
her desolate mother-in-law mark her as a true daughter of Israel and a worthy
ancestress of David. She strikingly exemplifies the truth that participation in
the coming kingdom of God is decided, not by blood and birth, but by the
conformity of one's life to the will of God through the "obedience that
comes from faith" (Ro 1:5). Her place in the ancestry of David
signifies that all nations will be represented in the kingdom of David's
greater Son.
As an episode in the ancestry of David, the book of Ruth sheds
light on his role in the history of redemption. Redemption is a key concept
throughout the account; the Hebrew word in its various forms occurs 23 times.
The book is primarily a story of Naomi's transformation from despair to
happiness through the selfless, God-blessed acts of Ruth and Boaz. She moves
from emptiness to fullness (1:21;
3:17; see notes on 1:1,3,5-6,12,21-22; 3:17;
4:15), from destitution (1:1-5) to security and hope (4:13-17). Similarly, Israel was transformed from
national desperation at the death of Eli (1Sa 4:18) to peace and prosperity in the early
days of Solomon (1Ki 4:20-34; 5:4)
through the selfless devotion of David, a true descendant of Ruth and Boaz. The
author thus reminded Israel that the reign of the house of David, as the means
of God's benevolent rule in Israel, held the prospect of God's promised peace
and rest. But this rest would continue only so long as those who participated
in the kingdom -- prince and people alike -- reflected in their daily lives the
selfless love exemplified by Ruth and Boaz. In Jesus, the great "son of
David" (Mt 1:1), and his redemptive work, the promised
blessings of the kingdom of God find their fulfillment.
The book of Ruth is a Hebrew short story, told with consummate
skill. Among historical narratives in Scripture it is unexcelled in its
compactness, vividness, warmth, beauty and dramatic effectiveness -- an
exquisitely wrought jewel of Hebrew narrative art.
Marvelously symmetrical throughout (see Outline), the action moves
from a briefly sketched account of distress (1:1-5; 71
words in Hebrew) through four episodes to a concluding account of relief and
hope that is drawn with equal brevity (4:13-17; 71 words in Hebrew). The crucial
turning point occurs exactly midway (see note on 2:20).
The opening line of each of the four episodes signals its main development
(1:6, the return; 2:1, the meeting with Boaz; 3:1,
finding a home for Ruth; 4:1, the decisive event at the gate), while the
closing line of each episode facilitates transition to what follows (see notes
on 1:22; 2:23;
3:18; 4:12). Contrast is also used to good effect:
pleasant (the meaning of "Naomi") and bitter (1:20),
full and empty (1:21), and the living and the dead (2:20).
Most striking is the contrast between two of the main characters, Ruth and
Boaz: The one is a young, alien, destitute widow, while the other is a
middle-aged, well-to-do Israelite securely established in his home community.
For each there is a corresponding character whose actions highlight, by contrast,
his or her selfless acts: Ruth -- Orpah, Boaz -- the unnamed kinsman.
When movements in space, time and circumstance all correspond in
some way, a harmony results that both satisfies the reader's artistic sense and
helps open doors to understanding. The author of Ruth keeps his readers from
being distracted from the central story -- Naomi's passage from emptiness to
fullness through the selfless acts of Ruth and Boaz (see Theme and Theology).
That passage, or restoration, first takes place in connection with her return
from Moab to the promised land and to Bethlehem ("house of food"; see
note on 1:1). It then progresses with the harvest
season, when the fullness of the land is gathered in. All aspects of the story
keep the reader's attention focused on the central issue. Consideration of
these and other literary devices (mentioned throughout the notes) will aid
understanding of the book of Ruth.
I.
Introduction: Naomi Emptied (1:1-5)
A.
Ruth Clings to Naomi (1:6-18)
III.
Ruth and Boaz Meet in the Harvest Fields (ch.
2)
IV.
Naomi Sends Ruth to Boaz's Threshing Floor (ch.
3)
V.
Boaz Arranges to Fulfill His Pledge (4:1-12)
VI.
Conclusion: Naomi Filled (4:13-17)
──《New International Version》
Introduction to Ruth
We find in this book excellent examples of
faith, piety, patience, humility, industry, and loving-kindness, in the common
events of life. Also we see the special care which God's providence take of our
smallest concerns, encouraging us to full trust therein. We may view this book
as a beautiful, because natural representation of human life; as a curious
detail of important facts; and as a part of the plan of redemption.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Ruth》
00 Overview
RUTH
INTRODUCTION
The Date of the Book
The story is placed “in the days when the judges ruled” (Ruth 1:7), about a century before the
time of David; but on its own showing it was not written till long after the events
it describes (Ruth 4:7). How long afterwards is a
question on which critics are not agreed; most of them consider it to be exilic
(Ewald) or post-exilic (Bertheau, Wellhausen, Kuenen), mainly on the linguistic
and genealogical evidence; but Driver (Introduction to O.T., 1891) thinks that
the general beauty and purity of the style, which stand on a level with the
best parts of Samuel, point rather to a date, which he does not seek to fix
more definitely, before the exile. That the book was not received into the
canon till a very long time after the captivity is shown by its place in the
original Hebrew, where it occurs as one of the Hagiographa or “writings,”
standing second among the five
Megilloth or Festal Rolls, between Canticles and Lamentations, a position which
proves that it did not become canonical till after the series of “former
prophets,” extending from Joshua to 2 Kings, had been finally closed. In the
LXX, however, which gives it the place it claims in the historical order, it
comes between Judges and Samuel, and the same order is observed in the Vulgate
and in the English A.V. That Josephus also must have reckoned it as an appendix
to Judges is shown by his enumeration of the books of the O.T. as numbering
only 22. (Chambers’s Encyclopaedia.)
More than one reason may be found for supposing the book to have
been written in Solomon’s time, probably the latter part of his reign, when law
and ordinances had multiplied and were being enforced in endless detail by a
central authority; when the manners of the nations around--Chaldea, Egypt,
Phoenicia--were overbearing the primitive ways of Israel; when luxury was
growing, societies dividing into classes, and a proud imperialism giving its
colour to habit and religion. If we place the book at this period, we can
understand the moral purpose of the writer and the importance of his work. He
would teach people to maintain the spirit of Israel’s past, the brotherliness,
the fidelity in every relation that were to have been all along a distinction
of Hebrew life because inseparably connected with the obedience of Jehovah. The
splendid temple on Moriah was now the centre of a great priestly system, and
from temple and palace the national, and to a great extent the personal, life
of all Israelites was largely influenced, not in every respect for good. The
quiet suggestion is here made that the artificiality and the pomp of the
kingdom did not compare well with that old time when the affairs of an
ancestress of the splendid monarch were settled by a gathering at a village
gate. (R. A. Watson, M. A.)
The tone of the book throughout is liberal and tolerant to the
Gentiles; and part of its design--unconsciously to its author perhaps, but not
the less intentional with God--seems to be to prepare for the time when through
the promised Messiah the middle wall of partition between the Jews and other
nations should be broken down. Now the reign of David appears to have been the only
portion of Jewish history during which such a spirit towards the Gentiles was
shown without any breach of loyalty to Jehovah. This fact, taken in connection
with the personal relation of David to the heroine of the story, seems to make
it probable that the book was written some time during David’s reign; and we
know that the royal psalmist had contemporaries who, under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, might have produced such a work. Indeed, there is much in the
simple pathos of the parable of the ewe lamb to remind us of the idyllic beauty
of the Book of Ruth, and both might well enough have come from the prophet
Nathan. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The Place of the Book in the Bible
The walls of the great palace at Versailles are covered with
paintings of battles. The Bastille, Jena, Austerlitz, the Pyramid! Agony,
passion, and death! Heroism and victory! One grows weary with the endless
profusion of art. He sits down at last on the casement of a little window. He
looks out. Here, too, is a picture. Peaceful France, with its green grass, its
forests and fields, and its church tower beyond the placid lake. The Book of
Ruth is such a little window amidst the historical pictures, the battle pieces
of Israel. Through this window we see the home life which the pictures have
hidden--godliness, unselfishness, love and peace. Is it not well for us to turn
from the historic, the heroic, and, through some rift, take a swift, sweet
glimpse of the pastoral and domestic scenes of life? We read of Sisera’s murder
and Jephthah’s vow and Samson’s revenge, and we think ill of Israel. Ruth gives
us another view and a truer view. It is not for books and newspapers to publish
what is ordinary and commonplace. They publish the remarkable, the wonderful. The
very fact that a matter is publishable is fair evidence that it is exceptional.
Let us remember this. Let us remember that little Ruth is the rule, and not the
exception. Thus, we will think better of Israel and of all the world. (R. S.
Barrett.)
Object and Contents of the Book
These four things seem the object of the Book of Ruth: to present
a supplement by way of contrast to the Book of Judges; to show the true spirit
of Israel; to exhibit once more the mysterious connection between Israel and
the Gentiles, whereby the latter, at the most critical periods of Israel’s
history, seem most unexpectedly called in to take a leading part; and to trace
the genealogy of David. Specially perhaps the latter two. For, as one has
beautifully remarked, if, as regards its contents, the Book of Ruth stands on
the threshold of the history of David, yet, as regards its spirit, it stands,
like the Psalms, at the threshold of the gospel. Not merely on account of the
genealogy of Christ, which leads up to David and Boaz, but on account of the
spirit which the teaching of David breathes, do we love to remember that
Israel’s great king sprang from the union of Boaz and Ruth, which is symbolical
of that between Israel and the Gentile world. (A. Edersheim, D. D.)
It is a supplement to the Book of Judges, and an introduction to
that of Samuel. Neither of these give an account of David’s ancestors; this
omission our story supplies. Ruth was that glorious king’s great grandmother.
Now, unless we had known this, and also that Boaz was of the house of Judah, it
would have been impossible to verify the prophecy that Christ the Messiah
should descend from the royal tribe. This is one prominent purpose to announce
David’s ancestry, and consequently to prove that the Saviour was “a lion of the
tribe of Judah.” And what an attractive picture of those ancestors it is! What
uprightness and singleness of heart, what piety and modesty and purity of life
are found to characterise them! Though it was not accounted a flattering
distinction, but quite the reverse, to have heathen progenitors, yet if any
character could effectively destroy this deeply-rooted prejudice, then that of
the gentle and loving Ruth must do it. (Wm. Braden.)
Does it not tell us that not only on the city and the palace, and
on the cathedral and the college, on the assemblies of statesmen, and on the
studies of scholars, but upon the meadow and the cornfield, the farm-house and
the cottage, is written by the everlasting finger of God, “Holiness unto the
Lord”? That all is blessed in His sight? That the lowly dwellers in villages,
the simple tillers of the ground, can be as godly and as pious, as virtuous and
as high-minded, as those who have nought to do but to serve God in the offices
of religion? Is it not an honour and a comfort, to such as us, to find one
whole book of the Holy Bible occupied by the simplest story of the fortunes of
a yeoman’s family in a lonely village among the hill of Judah? (Canon
Kingsley.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》