RUTH (Book)
The scroll of the book of Ruth was part of the Hebrew Writings that were read in public on the occasion of certain celebrations. As it describes the harvest, it was read at Pentecost, the festival of first fruits.
In the LXX and in Josephus’s enumeration of the canonical books, Ruth appears immediately after Judges, as in our versions of the Bible.
The story is set in the time of the Judges (Rt. 1:1) sixty years or less before the birth of David (Rt. 4:21-22). The book tells of the marriage of a pious Israelite with a Moabite woman who worships Jehovah and who becomes the great-grandmother of King David.
After the exile, such a marriage would have been considered dishonorable and would not have been invented. Facts confirming the authenticity of the story: In the time of Ruth, Israel maintained friendly relations with Moab (1 Sam. 22:3, 4).
The editor does not make any pejorative comments about this marriage, and does not excuse himself for recounting it, which indicates a writing prior to the Babylonian exile. The language, very pure, also indicates great antiquity, as much as that of chapter. 5 of Judges.
Proof that the book of Ruth did not receive its definitive form until a long time after the event recounted: barefooting, as a sign of testimony, is presented as a custom already suppressed (Rt. 4:7).
The book ends with the genealogy of David, which may be the very object of the story; The author’s design is to point out that his accession to the throne is due to the providential intervention of the One who wants to save not only Israel, but also the nations.