History · Old Testament
Ruth
c. 1100 BC
- Section
- History · Old Testament
- Events span
- c. 1100 BC
- Written
- c. 1015 BC
- Author
- Samuel (by tradition)
Set in the dark days of the judges, Ruth tells of a Moabite widow who clings to her mother-in-law Naomi and to Naomi's God. Her loyalty and Boaz's kindness lead to marriage, and she becomes the great-grandmother of King David.
Historical setting: Living in the land during the unsettled era of the judges.
Key themes
- Loyal love (hesed)
- Redemption
- God's quiet providence
- Kindness to the outsider
- The line of David
Key events
- Famine drives Naomi's family to Moab, where her husband and two sons die
- Ruth vows to stay with Naomi and returns with her to Bethlehem
- Ruth gleans in the field of Boaz, a relative of Naomi, who shows her favor
- At Naomi's urging, Ruth appeals to Boaz at the threshing floor as her kinsman-redeemer
- Boaz redeems the family land and marries Ruth
- Ruth bears Obed, the grandfather of King David
Key lessons
- Loyal love (hesed) that keeps its commitments through loss and at real cost is the thread God uses to carry the whole story. Ruth 1:16–17
- God’s providence often works quietly, through ordinary kindness and seemingly chance meetings rather than miracles, to accomplish his purposes. Ruth 2:3
- Boaz the kinsman-redeemer, who pays to restore another’s future, shows redemption as costly rescue and foreshadows a greater Redeemer to come. Ruth 4
- God draws outsiders into his people: a Moabite widow becomes great-grandmother to King David and an ancestor in the line of the Messiah. Ruth 4:17
“for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:”
Critical scholarship view
Where mainstream critical scholarship dates or attributes this book differently from the traditional view above.
- Written
- c. 5th century BC (post-exilic)
- Author
- Anonymous, possibly post-exilic