Ruth

A short Hebrew Bible book of loyalty, redemption and the ancestry of King David.

via Wikipedia: Book of Ruth · see source

The Book of Ruth is one of the Five Megillot and belongs to the Writings, the third and last division of the Hebrew Bible. In the usual printed ordering of the Hebrew Bible it sits between Song of Songs and Lamentations. Across four chapters it follows Ruth, a Moabite widow who stays with her Judean mother-in-law Naomi and goes with her to Bethlehem. Ruth's faithfulness leads to her marriage with Boaz, a kinsman of the family, and their son Obed becomes the grandfather of King David. In Judaism Ruth is seen as the model convert, and the book is read in synagogues at the festival of Shavuot.

Quick Facts

Canon section

Writings (Hebrew Bible)

Chapters

Main figures

Ruth
Naomi
Boaz

Likely date

Persian period (550–330 BCE)

Oldest hebrew manuscripts

Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis

Facts from the source article.

Background

The story is set in the era of the judges. Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their sons Mahlon and Chilion leave Bethlehem for Moab, where Elimelech dies and the sons marry Ruth and Orpah. When both sons also die, Naomi heads home and urges her daughters-in-law to stay behind. Orpah goes, but Ruth refuses to part from her. Back in Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest, Ruth gleans in a field owned by Boaz, who treats her kindly. Following Naomi's plan, Ruth approaches Boaz on the threshing floor at night. A nearer relative gives up his right of redemption at the city gate, sealing it by handing over his shoe, and Boaz marries Ruth.

Did You Know?

The entire book is missing from the surviving Codex Sinaiticus.
Rabbinic sources draw several laws of Jewish conversion from Ruth's pledge to Naomi.
Boaz refers to the unnamed nearer kinsman as ploni almoni, meaning "so and so".
Scholars call the marriage "Levirate-like" because Boaz was not Elimelech's brother.