Book of Ruth

A well-known episode, taken from the history of David's ancestors. Ruth the Moabite (Hebrew: Rut; Septuagint: Ῥούθ) is truly its center and heroine, for it is around her that the other characters and the various incidents of the narrative are grouped. Her misfortunes, her filial piety, her ardent desire to belong to the theocratic nation, her happy marriage to Boaz, her role in the genealogy of the future kings of Israel: such is the summary of this family portrait, which produces the most striking contrast with the turbulent history of the Judges.

The first chapter serves as an introduction; the following three contain the body of the narrative, which is entirely devoted to Ruth's marriage to Boaz.

Dates of the events and composition. — The first line of the book, 1:1, tells us that Ruth lived during the time of the Judges. But naturally, people have sought to be more specific. Josephus, AntJewish Laws, 5:9:1, pushes back the events to the time of the high priest Eli; which is too late a period. By comparing 4:21 with Matthew 1:5, we see that Boaz's father, Salmon, had married the famous Rahab, Joshua 2, 1; from which it follows that Boaz was born some time after the capture of Jericho.

Rationalist writers claim without reason that the Book of Ruth was written only during the Babylonian captivity. The Talmud (Tractate Baba Bathra, (f. 14, b.) attributes its composition to Samuel: which is not impossible, although positive evidence is lacking. The author, whoever he may be, appears to have been a contemporary of King David, since he stops at the name of this prince in the final genealogy (4, 18-22).

The place of the Book of Ruth in the biblical canon. — In the Hebrew Bible, it occupies the second rank among the five M^egillôt, which are themselves part of the K^etubim or Hagiographers. It would seem, however, that the Jews themselves originally placed it immediately after the Judges, like the Septuagint and the Vulgate: indeed, Josephus (C. Aplon, 1, 8) counts these two writings as forming only one.

The purpose and importance of the book. — It is evident that the story of Ruth was preserved in writing only for the purpose of the genealogical list that concludes it; the book's aim, therefore, is to establish the lineage of some of the ancestors of David, the founder of the royal line. But the intention of the writer's divine inspirer went beyond this initial goal: the Holy Spirit primarily wished to establish, for this period, the list of the Messiah's ancestors. This is clearly apparent from the parallel passage in Matthew 1:3b-5; and this was indeed the thinking of the early Christian exegetes. Why was a story written about Ruth? Primarily because of Christ the Lord (Theodoret). Moreover, according to Origen (RuthThe union of Boaz and Ruth symbolizes that of the Israelites and the Gentiles within the Church of Christ. In this twofold respect, the book of Ruth is therefore truly at the threshold of the Gospel: which gives it a crucial importance, despite its brevity.

Furthermore, it completes the history of the Judges. Without it, we would have known Israel only in a very imperfect way, and only from the outside, during this tragic period. But this little book reveals to us the private lives of the pious Israelites of that time, and shows them to us in their most favorable light. It is peace fields after the clash of weapons, a series of graceful scenes after the arduous exploits of the war. A truly idyllic picture, an exquisite work of art, of inexpressible charm, worthy of being included in inspired writings.

Ruth 1

¹ In the days when the Judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. A man of Bethlehem The man from Judah went away, with his wife and two sons, to live in the fields of Moab. ² The name of this man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahalon and Cheljon; they were Ephrathites, from Bethlehem from Judah. They went to the fields of Moab and settled there. ³ Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left alone with her two sons., ⁴ They took Moabite wives, one named Orpha and the other Ruth, and they remained there about ten years. ⁵ Mahalon and Cheljon also both died, and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. ⁶ So she and her daughters-in-law got up and left the fields of Moab because she had heard in the countryside of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them bread. ⁷ So she left the place where she had settled, with her two daughters-in-law, and they set out to return to the land of Judah. ⁸ Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, each of you, return to your mother’s house. May the Lord show you kindness, just as you have shown kindness to the dead and to me.”. ⁹ May the Lord grant each of you rest in the home of a husband, and she embraced them. They raised their voices and wept. ¹⁰ And they said to him, "No, we will return with you to your people.". ¹¹ Naomi said: Go back, my daughters, why should you come with me? Do I still have sons in my womb who can become your husbands? ¹² Go back, my daughters, go away. I am too old to remarry. And even if I were to say, 'I have hope,' even if I were to be married tonight and bear sons, ¹³ Would you wait until they were grown for that? Would you refrain from remarrying for that? No, my daughters. It is very bitter for me because of you that the hand of the Lord has come down heavily upon me. ¹⁴ And, raising their voices, they wept again. Then Orpha kissed her stepmother, but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵ Naomi said to Ruth, "Your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god; go back with your sister-in-law.". ¹⁶ Ruth replied, “Do not urge me to leave you by turning back from following you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die and be buried. May the Lord deal with me in all his severity, if anything but death separates me from you. ¹⁸ Seeing that Ruth was determined to accompany her, Naomi did not insist any further. ¹⁹ They both went on their way, until they reached Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, The whole city was moved because of them and women They were saying: Is that Naomi? ²⁰ She told them: Do not call me Naomi, call me Marah, for the Almighty has filled me with bitterness. ²¹ I went away with my hands full, and the Lord brings me back empty. Why would you call me Naomi after the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me? ²² So Naomi returned, and with her her daughter-in-law, Ruth the Moabite, who had come from the fields of Moab. They arrived at Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Ruth 2

¹ Naomi had a relative on her husband's side, he was a powerful and rich man, from the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. ² Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “I would like to go out to the fields to glean ears of grain after the one in whose eyes I have found favor.” She replied, “Go, my daughter.”. ³ Ruth went away and came to glean in a field behind the reapers, and it happened that she came to the piece of land that belonged to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. ⁴ And then Boaz came from Bethlehem And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you.” They answered him, “The Lord bless you.”. ⁵ And Boaz said to his servant stationed over the reapers, "Whose young woman is this?" ⁶ The servant in charge of the reapers replied: It is a young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the fields of Moab. ⁷ She told us: Let me glean and gather ears of grain between the sheaves behind the harvesters, and from this morning when she arrived until now, she has been on her feet, and this rest that she takes in the house is short. ⁸ Boaz said to Ruth: Listen, my daughter, do not go gleaning in another field, do not leave this place and stay here with my servants. ⁹ Look at the field that will be harvested and go behind them. Have I not forbidden the servants to touch you? And when you are thirsty, you will go to the jars and drink from what the servants have drawn. ¹⁰ Then, falling on her face, she prostrated herself to the ground and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take an interest in me, a foreigner?” ¹¹ Boaz answered him: I have been told all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and came to a people you did not know before. ¹² May the Lord repay you for what you have done and may your reward be full, from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. ¹³ And she said, "Oh, that I find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not even like one of your servants.". ¹⁴ At mealtime, Boaz said to Ruth, “Come here, eat some bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat down beside the reapers, and Boaz gave her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied, and she kept some for herself., ¹⁵ Then she got up to glean. And Boaz gave this order to his servants: let her glean among the sheaves and do not shame her., ¹⁶ and you will even pull out some ears of grain from the sheaves for her, which you will leave on the ground, so that she may gather them up, and you will not reproach her. ¹⁷ She gleaned in the field until evening and she threshed what she had gleaned; there was about an ephah of barley. ¹⁸ She took it with her and returned to the town, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gathered. She also took what she had kept left over from her meal and gave it away. ¹⁹ Her mother-in-law said to her, "Where did you glean today and where did you work? Blessed is he who took an interest in you." And Ruth told her mother-in-law where she had worked, saying, "The man I worked for today is called Boaz.". ²⁰ Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed by the Lord, for he has not ceased to be merciful to the living and to the dead.” Naomi also said to her, “This man is a close relative of ours and one of those who have a right of redemption over us.”. ²¹ Ruth the Moabite said: He also said to me, “Stay with my servants until they have finished all my harvest.”. ²² And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maids so that you will not be mistreated in another field.". ²³ So she stayed with Boaz's servants to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, and she remained with her mother-in-law.

Ruth 3

¹ Naomi, her stepmother, said to her: My daughter, I want to find you a place of rest where you will be happy. ² And now, Boaz, with whose servants you have been, is he not our relative? Behold, he must winnow tonight the barley that is in the threshing floor. ³ Wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor. Do not let him see you until he has finished eating and drinking. ⁴ And when he goes to bed, observe the place where he lies down, then go in, lift the cover from his feet and lie down, he himself will tell you what you have to do. ⁵ She replied: I will do everything you tell me. ⁶ She went down into the area and did everything her stepmother had ordered her to do. ⁷ Boaz ate and drank and his heart was glad. He went and lay down at the end of the pile of sheaves, then Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. ⁸ In the middle of the night, this man was frightened, he bent down and, behold, a woman was lying at his feet. ⁹ He said, "Who are you?" She replied, "I am Ruth, your servant. Spread the corner of your cloak over your servant, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.". ¹⁰ He said: Blessed are you by the Lord, my daughter, your latter love surpasses the former, for you have not sought out young men, poor or rich. ¹¹ Now, my daughter, do not be afraid; whatever you ask, I will do for you, for all the people of Bethlehem knows that you are a virtuous woman. ¹² Now it is true that I have a right of redemption, but there is another one closer than me. ¹³ Spend the night here, and tomorrow if he wants to redeem you, good, let him redeem you; but if he doesn't want to redeem you, I will redeem you myself. The Lord lives. Lie down until morning. ¹⁴ So she lay at his feet until morning, and she got up before one man could recognize another. Boaz said: Let no one know that this woman entered the threshing floor. ¹⁵ And he added: Give her the cloak that is on you and hold it. She held it and he measured out six measures of barley, which he loaded onto her, then he returned to the city. ¹⁶ When Ruth returned to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked her, "What have you done, my daughter?" Ruth told her everything that man had done for her: ¹⁷ He gave me, she added, these six measures of barley, saying to me: You will not return empty-handed to your mother-in-law. ¹⁸ And Naomi said, “Stay here, my daughter, until you know how the matter will end, for this man will not rest until he has finished this matter today.”.

Ruth 4

¹ Boaz went up to the city gate and sat down. Now the man who had the right of redemption, of whom Boaz had spoken, happened to pass by. He said to him, “Sit here, you, so-and-so.” So the man stopped and sat down. ² Then Boaz took ten men from among the elders of the city and said, “Sit here.” And they sat down. ³ He said to the one who had the right of redemption: The portion of field that belonged to our brother Elimelech has been sold by Naomi, who has returned from the fields of Moab. ⁴ And I said, “I want to inform you and tell you: Buy it in the presence of those who sit here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, redeem it; if you do not want to, tell me, so that I may know, for there is no one before you who has the right of redemption; I come after you.” He answered, “I will redeem it.”. ⁵ And Boaz said: On the day that you acquire the field from Naomi, you shall also acquire it from Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the deceased, to revive the name of the deceased in his inheritance. ⁶ The one who had the right of redemption replied: I cannot redeem it for myself, for fear of destroying my own inheritance. Exercise my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it. ⁷ It was formerly the custom in Israel, in the case of redemption and exchange, to validate any transaction, for the man to remove his sandal and give it to the other; this served as a testimony in Israel. ⁸ The one who had the right of redemption said to Boaz: Buy for yourself, and he took off his sandal. ⁹ And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Shelion and Mahalon.” ¹⁰ And I also acquired Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahalon, as my wife, to revive the name of the deceased in his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased would not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his city. You are witnesses of this today. ¹¹ All the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses that the Lord will make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. Be strong in Ephrathah and make a name for yourself in Bethlehem. ¹² May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman. ¹³ Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife, and he went in to her. The Lord enabled Ruth to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ Women They said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a man to redeem today. May his name become famous in Israel.” ¹⁵ He will restore your soul and be the support of your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, bore him, she who is better to you than seven sons. ¹⁶ Naomi took the child, placed him on her breast, and nursed him. ¹⁷ The neighbors gave him a name, saying: A son is born to Naomi, and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. ¹⁸ Here is the posterity of Phares: Phares fathered Esron, ¹⁹ Esron begat Aram, Aram begat Aminadab, ²⁰ Aminadab begat Nahasson, Nahasson begat Salmon, ²¹ Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, ²² Obed begat Jesse, Jesse begat David.

Notes on the Book of Ruth

1.1 From Judah, is added to Bethlehem, because there was another Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun. ― Bethlehem, A graceful village, about two hours south of Jerusalem, built on a double hill covered with vineyards and olive groves. See Matthew 2, 1. ― Moab, east of the Dead Sea.

1.2 Ephrathites, means here men of Ephrath, or of Bethlehem, which was formerly called Ephrath ; and not men of the tribe of Ephraim, as in several other places.

1.8 Come on, etc. Women lived in separate lodgings from those of the men; thus the girls lived in their mothers' apartments.

2.2 Go to the fields ; near the place where they were. — The wheat harvest usually begins in Palestine towards the end of May. The harvesters, taking the ears of grain in their left hand, cut them with a sickle in their right, or pull them up by the root; they tie them into sheaves with a ribbon made from the very straw they have just cut and leave them, thus tied, in the place. Men and women work in the 19th century, as in Ruth's time, at this operation. They advance diagonally across the field they are harvesting. It is not the ordinary farmers who harvest, but men hired for the day.

2.3 Gleaning in a field behind the harvesters. Today, as in Ruth's time, the poorest among the people, the widow and the orphan, are often seen following the harvesters, gathering the ears of grain that have been left behind.

2.8 My servants; that is to say, the young girls who serve me.

2.9 And When you are thirsty, you will go to the jugs. Harvesters are always very thirsty, so they often drink from a jug of water kept hidden in the shade of a tree or in some bushes. Egyptian paintings depicting the harvest almost always show us water skins for the workers. Sometimes a woman brings them water, sometimes they are seen drinking in long gulps.

2.13 Although I am not even like one of your servants : I am below.

2.14 In the past, vinegar was a common part of country people's meals. When mealtime came, the harvesters would all gather together in the shade of a tree around a dish provided by the landowner. Their favorite dishes were... leben or sour milk, roasted grains, salad, or vinegared dishes—meaty but refreshing, and therefore very pleasant amidst the sweltering heat that consumes the workers. Regarding roasted ears of wheat, here is what a traveler says: «Between Acre and Sidon, I met a shepherd leading the largest flock of goats I had ever seen in the country. He dined on half-ripe ears of wheat, which he ate, after roasting them, with as much gusto as the Turks do their…” pillaus. He treated us to the same dish and offered us warm milk to drink. These roasted ears of corn are mentioned in the Book of Ruth, proof that this food is very ancient in the East. It is similarly used in Egypt, with this difference that the poor people substitute ears of wheat for ears of wheat Türkiye and millet. The first men who used this food were ignorant of the refinements of the art, and probably those who use it today still are. However, I see a great difference between good wheat bread and these roasted ears of corn.»

2.17 L'’epha contained about thirty pints. ― In liters: 38.88 liters. ― When the quantity of barley or wheat is small, the grain is separated from the ear by beating it with a stick and it is winnowed by means of a current of air which carries away the straw.

3.4 If one considers Naomi's advice, which Ruth followed, from a purely physical standpoint, without regard to the circumstances, it appears immoral. If, on the other hand, one examines the intention and the circumstances surrounding it, it appears quite different (Ambrose of Milan). Among the Jews, there was a moral obligation to contract these kinds of marriages, by virtue of the law of levirate marriage, in order to produce children who would carry on and perpetuate the name of the deceased husband. Naomi regarded Boaz as her only and closest relative. As for the advice to approach Boaz at night, knowing him to be wealthy and elderly, she believed he would not readily agree to marry a poor woman like Ruth unless he was surprised by some extraordinary circumstance. Naomi counted on Ruth's proven virtue and Boaz's wise austerity. Her firm conviction was that there was no reason to fear that either of them would lose sight of religion and honor, and subsequent events proved her right.

3.7 And that he had gone to sleep near the pile of sheaves. From the moment the wheat begins to be transported to the threshing floor until the day it is removed, after being threshed and winnowed, the owner sleeps at night beside his sheaves, some of which serve as his bed and protect him from the night's dew. It is necessary to guard the harvest in this way to protect it from thieves, if the threshing floor is not far from the village, or to protect it from the ravages of wild boars, when one is far from inhabited areas. In the mountainous regions of Palestine, deer and bears are also a threat to the piles of wheat. Along the banks of the Jordan River, farmers are often forced to cut the crops before they are fully ripe, to steal them from the Bedouins who come from the desert, seize the grain, load it onto their camels or horses, and carry it off.

3.10 Your last love surpasses your first : the zeal you put into reviving the memory and name of your first husband, by marrying an older relative rather than a younger man, whom you should naturally be seeking when you were young yourself.

3.13 THE The Lord is alive. See Judges, 8, 19.

4.3 Our brother ; that is to say, our relative.

4.7 See Deuteronomy 25:7.

4.11 Like Rachel and Lia, the wives of Jacob. See Genesis, chapters 29 and 30.

4.12 See Genesis 38:29.

4.18 See 1 Chronicles 2:5; 4:1; Matthew 1:3.