Ruth

Abstract

This chapter explores the story of Ruth in terms of the usages it shares, often uniquely, with single verses or discrete contexts elsewhere in the canons of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. A review of its broadly symmetrical structure precedes a listing of more than a dozen such links, mostly with Genesis, Samuel, and Job. Wider allusions follow: to the ideal woman of Proverbs 31, the scandal at Gibeah (Judges 19), and the levirate law (Deuteronomy 25). It is argued that the meaning of Hebrew g’l, conventionally “redeem,” must be recovered within the story rather than imported from other texts. While obviously a women’s book, the role of Boaz as exemplar of biblical tradition should not be underplayed.