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RUTH, BOOK OF
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See also:RUTH, See also:BOOK OF , in the Old Testament. The See also:story of Ruth (the Moabitess, See also:great-grandmother of See also:David) is one of the Old Testament Hagiographa and is usually reckoned as the second of the five Megilloth (Festal Rolls). This position corresponds to the Jewish practice of See also:reading the book at the feast of See also:Pentecost; See also:Spanish See also:MSS., however, See also:place it at the See also:head of the Megilloth; and the See also:Talmud (Baba Bathra, 14b) gives it the first place among all the Hagiographa. On the other See also:hand, it follows See also:Judges in the See also:Septuagint, the See also:Vulgate and the See also:English version. But although it was very natural that a later rearrangement should See also:transfer Ruth from the Hagiographa to the See also:historical books, and place it between Judges and See also:Samuel, no See also:motive can be suggested for the opposite See also:change, and the presumption is that it found a place in the last See also:part of the Jewish See also:canon after the second (with the historical books) had been definitely closed. See See also:BIBLE: Old Testament, See also:section I. Canon "; See also:CANTICLES; See also:LAMENTATIONS. That the book of Ruth did not originally See also:form part of the See also:series of " Former Prophets" (See also:Joshua—See also:Kings) is further probable from the fact that it is quite untouched by the See also:process of " prophetic " or " Deuteronomistic " editing, which helped to give that series its See also:present shape after the fall of the See also:kingdom of See also:Judah. The narrative has no See also:affinity with the point of view which looks on the See also:history of See also:Israel as a series of examples of divine See also:justice and See also:mercy in the successive rebellions and repentances of the See also:people of See also:God.' But if the book had been known at the See also:time when the history from Joshua to Kings was edited it could hardly have been excluded from the collection; the ancestry of David (iv. 17, 18—22) was of greater See also:interest than that of See also:Saul, which is given in I Sam. ix. 1, whereas the old history names no ancestor of David beyond his See also:father See also:Jesse. In truth the book of Ruth presents itself as dealing with times far back (Ruth i. 1), and takes delight in depicting Date. details of See also:antique See also:life and obsolete usages (iv. 7); it views the stormy See also:period before the institution of the kingship through the softening See also:atmosphere of time, which imparts to the See also:scene a See also:gentle sweetness very different from the harsher See also:colours of the old narratives of the book of Judges. It has indeed been argued that, as the author seems to take no offence at the See also:marriage of Israelites with Moabite See also:women, he must have lived before the time of See also:Ezra and See also:Nehemiah (Ezra ix.; Neh. xiii.); but the same See also:argument would prove that the book of See also:Esther was written before Ezra. The very designation of a period of See also:Hebrew history as " the days of the judges " is based on the Deuteronomistic additions to the book of Judges (ii. 16 sqq.) and does not occur till the period of the See also:exile. It is true that the See also:language has some features which appear to See also:link it with the narratives in Samuel and Kings, but it might fairly be assumed either that the book is the See also:work of a See also:late author well acquainted with the earlier literature, or that an old narrative had undergone some rewriting at a later See also:age. No definite conclusion can be See also:drawn from the fact that the language stands in marked contrast to that of See also:Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, &c., since writings presumably more or less See also:con-temporary did not necessarily See also:share the same characteristics (observe, for example, the See also:prose parts of See also:Job). Like the stories appended to Judges (by a See also:post-Deuteronomic hand) the book of Ruth connects itself with See also:Bethlehem, the See also:Design, traditional birthplace of David. Some connexion between Bethlehem and See also:Moab has been found in the (now corrupt) See also:text of r Chron. iv. 22 (where the See also:Targum and late rabbinical exegesis discover references to the story of Ruth), and is more explicitly suggested by the isolated 1 Sam. xxii. 3 seq. which evidently knew of some relationship between Moab and the illustrious descendant of Boaz and Ruth. Next, the writer claims the sympathy of his readers ' The religious See also:pragmatism lacking in the See also:original is in part supplied by the Targum (i. 5, 6).for Ruth, upon whose Moabite origin he frequently insists, and this feature is noteworthy in view of the aversion with which intermarriage was regarded at a certain period (Deut. See also:xxiii. 3; Neh. xiii.; Ezra ix. seq.). The See also:independent See also:evidence for the present post-exilic form of the book has consequently led many scholars to the conclusion that it was directed against the drastic steps associated with the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah, which, as is known, were not every-where acceptable. Thus, not only do we have a beautiful portrait of a woman of Moabite origin, but she becomes the ancestress of David himself, and in the days of these See also:measures the charming and See also:simple story would inevitably' suggest the question whether the exclusiveness of Judaism could not be carried too far. There is no See also:reason, however, to believe that this was the original See also:object of the story. It contains other features of considerable interest to which more importance seems to be attached, and, the writer is evidently an artist who takes See also:manifest delight in the touching and graceful details of his picture, and is not simply guided by a See also:desire to impart historical See also:information or to enforce some particular See also:lesson. One does not look for See also:absolute consistency in See also:oriental narratives, and even this little book contains several See also:internal intricacies which demand investigation. The See also:genealogy See also:critical from See also:Perez to David in iv. 18-22 is of little value p,,obtema: since Salma (See also:Salmon), father of Boaz, is a Calebite See also:clan- name, not associated with its earlier seat S. of See also:Hebron as in Judges i., 1 Sam. See also:xxv., &c., but as " father " of Bethlehem, representing exilic or later conditions (1 Chron. ii. 51; see See also:CALEB). Apart from other signs of a late date in this See also:list of the ancestors and descendants of Boaz, iv. 12 certainly implies that the genealogical lines of Perez and Boaz were not identical, and thus verses 18—22 in the See also:opinion of most scholars are a later addition. Further, the story involves points of old See also:family usage which are no longer clear. The well-known See also:custom which gives the nearest See also:heir of the dead a right to inherit the widow is naturally distinct from the See also:levirate (q.v.), where it is the See also:brother's See also:duty to marry his widowed See also:sister-in-See also:law if childless, and where the eldest son succeeds to the name and See also:inheritance of the deceased. In Hebrew usage the refusal to perform the levirate brought ignominy (see Deut. xxv. 5—10), and Gen. xxxviii. relates how Tamar, when Shelah was not given to her, obtained a See also:child through her father-in-law Judah (see esp. vers. 14, 26).2 In addition to these customs to prevent the See also:alienation of the See also:estate and to perpetuate the family name, the post-exilic story in Num. See also:xxvii. 1—11, See also:xxxvi. gives daughters the right of inheritance provided they do not marry outside the tribe. Although the levirate still continued (Matt. xxii. 24 sqq.), the late See also:laws in Lev. xviii. 16, xx. 21, as also this story, may be aimed against it. Finally, the goel (" next kinsman, lit. " avenger "; see See also:Driver, Ency. 
Bib. See also:col. 1745 sqq.) has the first right of See also:purchase to an estate (Jer. xxxii. 6-15), and indeed must redeem the See also:property which his needy relative might be compelled to sell (Lev. xxv., see ver. 25). Now it appears that Boaz combines the essential duty of the goel in purchasing the estate over which Naomi holds rights, and at the same time marries, not Naomi, who is now old, but her daughter-in-law Ruth, in See also:order to perpetuate her See also:husband's family. Naomi, who had realized the impossibility of the levirate in her See also:case (i. II seq.), returned See also:home a disconsolate and childless widow (i. 20 seq.), but the filial Ruth See also:fell in with her plans and put herself entirely into the hands of the kinsman Boaz (iii.). In the happy See also:finale, Naomi is the recipient of congratulations upon the See also:birth of a son to the faithful Ruth (iv. 17a, "there is a son See also:born to Naomi "); the name of the dead is thus " raised up " (iv. 5, 10), and the child Obed is clearly recognized 2 See further, W. R. See also: 12 to the story of Tamar and Judah. Compare, for the retention of simple methods of transacting business, the striking of hands (Prov. vi. I, xxii. 26). as of the See also:line of Elimelech and Mahlon (Naomi's husband and son). In point of fact, a nearer kinsman than Boaz had agreed to purchase the estate (as goel), which Naomi evidently had not yet sold (see commentaries on iv. 3); but he was unwilling to marry Ruth (reading in ver. 5, "and also Ruth See also:thou must buy "; cf. ver. 1o), recognizing that if a son were born the estate would revert to the line of Elimelech, thus leaving him at a disadvantage. He was evidently unprepared for what seems a novel See also:condition (contrast Boaz in iii. 12 seq.), although, from the felicitations in iv. 11—13, the issue of the marriage is actually reckoned to the husband (Boaz). It is improbable that these conflicting features in v. 11—13 and ver. 17a, and all that they involve, co-existed, and it is possible that the former (with the implied reference to the coming David) is not part of the original. However, as in the equally complicated story in Gen. xxxviii., it is difficult to trace the extent or growth of the various motives, e.g. the See also:primary interest in Naomi, the romantic marriage of Ruth, the selling of the See also:land (which comes only in ch. iv.), &c. (W. R. S.; S. A. C.) RUTHENIANS, a name applied to those of the Little Russians who are See also:Austrian subjects. The name is a form of the word See also:Russian. The Ruthenians were separated from the bulk of Russians by the See also:accident of the two feudal principalities of the old Red See also:Russia, See also:Hale' and See also:Volhynia, having fallen to Lithuania, which in turn was See also:united with See also:Poland. At the See also:partition of Poland no one troubled about ethnological boundaries. The language is in substance like the Little Russian of the See also:Ukraine, though it has marked See also:differences; the most interesting dialects are those in the extreme W., which approach to Slovak and that of the Huzuli in See also:Bukovina. The Ruthenians number some three million in See also:Galicia, Bukovina, and in the Carpathians along the edges of See also:Hungary from the 21st See also:meridian eastwards. Throughout Galicia the Poles form the See also:aristocracy, though in two-thirds of it Ruthenians form the bulk of the See also:population, while the See also:middle class is Jewish or See also:German. The Ruthenians are therefore under an See also:alien yoke both politically and economic-ally: in See also:religion they mostly belong to the Uniate See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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