It is not known who wrote this book. Some have attributed the book to either Samuel, Hezekiah, or Ezra. Since the Holy Spirit has not given us a clear understanding of who wrote the book, we assume that the writer is not important. The fact that it passed Jewish scrutiny of inspired literature in order to be added to the canon of Old Testament Scriptures is enough proof to consider it a part of the Holy Scriptures.
The historical background of the book rests in the period of the judges from 1,000 to 1,300 B.C. King David is mentioned by name (4:22). We would assume, therefore, that it was written after his birth and during his kingship. Since King Solomon is not mentioned, we would assume that he had not yet been anointed as king in Israel. Samuel lived in the early reign of David, and thus, if he were the author we would conclude that the book was written sometime during the reign of David.
The historical events of the book cover a
period of ten to fifteen years. The name of the
book is derived from a young widow named
Ruth. Some have assumed that the book
served as an appendix to the book of Judges
and an introduction to 1 Samuel. However, its
true purpose is discovered in 4:18-22 where
David is mentioned in the genealogy of Boaz.
The significance of this portion of the Messianic
genealogy is revealed in Matthew 1:1-14 where
it is recorded that through Boaz and Ruth,
the Messiah was born into the world (See Lk
3:32).
The book reveals the spiritual stature that
was characteristic of many people during the
early history of Israel when many political
events were transpiring, which events were
described in Judges and continued in 1
Samuel. Throughout the cycle of sin and
repentance of Israel during these years, the
book of Ruth reveals that there were those in
Israel who remained faithful to the Lord and
thus carried on with their normal lives. After
laboring through the national perils of the book
of Judges, one finds relief in the love story of
Ruth. Not all were evil in Israel.
The book reveals the life of the Gentiles,
for Ruth was a Gentile who committed her
faith to the God of Israel. Israel’s priesthood
to the nations of the world is revealed as Ruth
is a true convert to the one true and living God.
Ruth would be a descendant from Lot’s son,
Moab (Gn 19:37). She was a Gentile outside
the covenant that God had established with
Israel at Mt. Sinai. Through her marriage to
Boaz, however, she and her descendants
were brought into God’s covenant with Israel.
Though the Moabites were idolaters who
worshiped Chemosh, she was converted to
the God of Israel through the faithfulness of
her mother-in-law, Naomi. And for this reason
Ruth was brought into the lineage of the Son
of God who would eventually be incarnate into
this world through David. We must not forget,
therefore, that God was working in this obscure
family of history in order to bring His Son into
the world for the salvation of all mankind who
would believe on Him../p>
1 ¶ Now it came to pass in the days when the ajudges ruled, that there was a bfamine in the land. And a certain man of cBethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of dMoab, he and his wife and his two sons.
2 Now the name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife, Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, eEphrathites of Bethlehem in Judah. And they came into the fcountry of Moab and remained there.
3 Then Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died. And she was left and her two sons.
4 And they took for themselves wives of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. And they lived there about ten years.
5 Then Mahlon and Chilion also died. And the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
6 ¶ So she arose with her daughters-in-law so that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how the Lord had gvisited His people in hgiving them bread.
7 Therefore, she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her. And they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
8 Now Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, i“Go. Return each of you to your mother’s house. jThe LORD may deal kindly with you as you have dealt kwith the dead and with me.
9 “The LORD grant that you may find lrest, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
10 And they said to her, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Return, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there still more sons in my womb mthat they may be your husbands?”
12 “Return, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, and I should have a husband tonight and also bear sons,
13 “would you wait for them until they were grown? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes that the nhand of the LORD has gone out against me.”
14 And they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth oclung to her.
15 ¶ And she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to pher people and to her gods. qReturn after your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth said, r“Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you. For where you go, I will go. And where you lodge, I will lodge. sYour people will be my people and your God my God.
17 “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. tThe LORD do so to me and more also, if anything but death separates you and me.”
18 uWhen she saw that she was determined to go with her, then she said no more to her.
19 ¶ So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. Now it came to pass when they had come to Bethlehem that vall the city was stirred about them. And they said, w“Is this Naomi?”
20 And she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
21 “I went out full, but xthe LORD has brought me home again empty. Why then call me Naomi, seeing the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 ¶ So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem yat the beginning of the barley harvest.
Chapter 1 References: a Jg 2:16-18; b Gn 12:10; 26:1; c Jg 17:8; d Gn 19:37; e Gn 35:19; f Jg 3:30; g Ex 3:16; 4:31; h Mt 6:11; i Ja 24:15; j 2 Tm 1:16-18; k Rt 2:20; l Rt 3:1; m Dt 25:5; n Jg 2:15; o Pv 17:17; p Jg 11:24; q Ja 1:15; r 2 Kg 2:2,4,6; s Rt 2:11,12; t 1 Sm 3:17; u At 21:14; v Mt 21:10; w Lm 2:15; x Jb 1:21; y 2 Sm 21:9
1 ¶ Now Naomi had a akinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth of the family of bElimelech. And his name was cBoaz.
2 And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, “Let me go to the dfield and glean after one in whose sight I will find grace.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
3 So she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
4 ¶ And behold, Boaz came from eBethlehem. And he said to the reapers, f“The LORD be with you.” And they answered him, “The LORD bless you.”
5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 And the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, “It is the Moabite young woman gwho came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab.
7 “And she said, ‘Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued even from the morning until now, except for a short rest in the house.”
8 ¶ Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen carefully, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here. But remain here with my servant girls.
9 “Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them. I have charged the young men that they not touch you. And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink of that which the young men have drawn.”
10 Then she hfell on her face and bowed herself to the ground. And she said to him, “Why have I found ifavor in your eyes that you should take notice of me, seeing I am a foreigner?”
11 And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has fully been reported to me jall that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your nativity, and have come to a people that you did not previously know.
12 k“The LORD repay your work. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, lunder whose wings you have come to trust.”
13 Then she said, m“Let me find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me, and indeed you have spoken kindly to your maidservant, nthough I am not like one of your maidservants.”
14 ¶ At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers and he served her roasted grain. And she ate and owas satisfied and had some leftover.
15 And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not insult her.
16 “And allow some to fall purposely from the bundles for her, and leave them so that she may glean them. And do not rebuke her.”
17 ¶ So she gleaned in the field until evening. And she beat out what she had gleaned and it was about an ephah of pbarley.
18 So she took it up and went into the city. And her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she took it out and gave to her qwhat she had reserved after she was satisfied.
19 Then her mother-in-law said to her, “Where have you gleaned today? And where did you work? Blessed is he who rtook notice of you.” And she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The man’s name with whom I worked today is Boaz.”
20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, s“May he be blessed of the LORD who thas not stopped showing his kindness to the living and to the dead.” And Naomi said to her, “The man is a close relative to us. He is one of uour next kinsmen.”
21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, “He said to me also, ‘You will stay close by my young men until they have ended all my harvest.’”
22 And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his maidens so that you are not harmed in another field.”
23 So she kept close by the maidens of Boaz to glean to the end of the barley harvest and of the wheat harvest. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law.
Chapter 2 References: a Rt 3:2,12; b Rt 1:2; c Rt 4:21; d Lv 19:9,10; 23:22; e Rt 1:1; f Ps 129:7,8; g Rt 1:22; h 1 Sm 25:23; i 1 Sm 1:18; j Rt 1:14-18; k 1 Sm 24:19; l Rt 1:16; m Gn 33:15; n 1 Sm 25:41; o Rt 2:18; p Rt 1:22; q Rt 2:14; r Ps 41:1; s 2 Sm 2:5; t Pv 17:17; u Rt 3:9; 4:4,6
1 ¶ Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, ashould I not try to find a home for you so that it may bbe well with you?
2 “And now is not Boaz of our relatives, with cwhose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing floor.
3 “Wash and danoint yourself, therefore, and put on your clothes, and go down to the threshing floor. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
4 “And it will be when he lies down, that you will mark the place where he lies. And you will go in and uncover his feet and lay down. Then he will tell you what you will do.”
5 So she said to her, “All that you say to me I will do.”
6 ¶ Then she went down to the threshing floor and did according to all that her mother-in-law told her.
7 Now when Boaz had eaten and drunk and ehis heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. And she came softly and uncovered his feet and laid herself down.
8 ¶ Now it came to pass at midnight that the man was afraid and turned himself, and behold, a woman was lying at his feet.
9 And he said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth fyour maid. Spread, therefore, your covering over your maid, for you are a gnear kinsman.”
10 Then he said, h“The LORD bless you, my daughter, for you have shown more kindness afterward than iat the beginning, inasmuch as you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich.
11 “And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do to you all that you request, for all the city of my people know that you are a jvirtuous woman.
12 “And now it is true that I am your knear kinsman. However, lthere is a kinsman closer than I.
13 “Remain this night and it will be in the morning that if he will mperform to you the part of a kinsman, good. Let him do the kinsman’s part. But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to you, then as nthe LORD lives I will do the part of a kinsman to you. Lie down until the morning.”
14 ¶ So she lay at his feet until the morning, and she rose up before one could recognize another. And he said, o“Let it not be known that a woman came into the threshing floor.”
15 He also said, “Bring the veil that you have upon you and hold it.” And when she held it, he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. And she went into the city.
16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did it go, my daughter?” And she told her all that the man had done for her.
17 And she said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said to me, ‘Do not go empty to your mother-in-law.’”
18 Then she said, p“Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out, for the man will not rest until he has finished the thing this day.”
Chapter 3 References: a 1 Tm 5:8; b Rt 1:9; c Rt 2:3,8; d 2 Sm 14:2; e Jg 19:6,9,22; f Ez 16:8; g Rt 2:20; 3:12; h Rt 2:20; i Rt 1:8; j Pv 12:4; 31:10-31; k Rt 3:9; l Rt 4:1; m Dt 25:10; n Jr 4:2; 12:16; o 1 Co 10:32; p Ps 37:3,5
1 ¶ Then Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, athe kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by, to whom he said, “Come over here, my friend and sit down.” And he turned aside and sat down.
2 And he took ten men of the belders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” And they sat down.
3 Then he said to the kinsman, “Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, is selling a parcel of land cthat belonged to our brother Elimelech.
4 “And I thought to inform you, saying, d‘Buy it ebefore those who are here and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me so that I may know, ffor there is no one to redeem it beside you, and I am after you.’” And he said, “I will redeem it.”
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead gin order to raise up the name of the dead with his inheritance.”
6 hAnd the kinsman said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem my right for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
7 ¶ iNow this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchange of property, for to confirm all things a man took off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor. And this was the manner legalizing transactions in Israel.
8 Therefore, the kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” So he took off his shoe.
9 And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that was Elimelech’s and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s.
10 Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance so jthat the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brethren and from the town records. You are witnesses this day.”
11 And all the people who were in the gate and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. kThe LORD make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two lbuilt the house of Israel. And may you do well in mEphratah and be famous in nBethlehem.
12 “And let your house be like the house of oPerez, pwhom Tamar bore to Judah, because of qthe seed that the LORD will give you from this young woman.”
13 ¶ So Boaz rtook Ruth and she became his wife. And when he went in to her, sthe LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son.
14 And tthe women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD who has not left you this day without a kinsman so that his name may be famous in Israel.
15 “And he will be to you a restorer of your life and a provider for your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is ubetter to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
16 Then Naomi took the child and laid it in her bosom and became a nurse to him.
17 vAnd the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 ¶ wNow these are the generations of xPerez: to Perez was born Hezron,
19 and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram was born Amminadab,
20 and to Amminadab was born yNahshon, and to Nahshon was born zSalmon,
21 and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz was born Obed,
22 and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse was born aDavid.
Chapter 4 References: a Rt 3:12; b 1 Kg 21:8; c Lv 25:25; d Jr 32:7,8; e Gn 23:18; f Lv 25:25; g Mt 22:24; h Rt 3:12,13; i Dt 25:7-10; j Dt 25:6; k Ps 127:3; 128:3; l Gn 29:25-30; m Gn 35:16-18; n Mc 5:2; o Mt 1:3; p Gn 38:6-29; q 1 Sm 2:20; r Rt 3:11; s Gn 29:31; 33:5; t Lk 1:58; u 1 Sm 1:8; v Lk 1:58; w 1 Ch 2:4,5; x Nm 26:20,21; y Nm 1:7; z Mt 1:4; a Mt 1:6