The
Book_of_Ruth
is a book of the
Bible Old_Testament and Jewish
Tanakh.
The history it contains covers a period perhaps about one hundred and twenty-six years before the birth of
David. It gives
#an account of
Naomi's going to
Moab with her husband,
Elimelech, and of her subsequent return to
Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law
#the romance and marriage of
Boaz and
Ruth
#the birth of
Obed, of whom
David sprang.
There is some debate about when and why the book was written. According to many scholars, it was originally a part of the
Book_of_Judges, but it was later separated from that book and made into an independent book. It is, in fact, the shortest book in the Jewish Tanach, the
Minor_Prophets being considered a single book. Furthermore, the language and description seem to make the authorship contemporary with that of Judges. On the other hand, the message of the book, which shows acceptance of marriages with Gentiles, has been used to suggest that the book was written during the early days of the Persian period. At that time,
Ezra condemned intermarriages and, according to his eponymous book, forced the Israelites to abandon their Gentile wives. According to this theory, the book was written in response to Ezra's reform and in defense of these marriages.
-----
Initial text from ''Easton's Bible Dictionary'',
1897 -- Please update as needed
Home |
Index |
mail
Search at Google.Com | Search at MSN.Com
History:
Copyright (c) 2004
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
"GNU Free Documentation License".