Assignment<\/strong>: Read the entire Book of Ruth as a story.<\/p>\n The book of Ruth takes place during the later years covered by the book of Judges (Ruth 1:1). It serves as a contrast to the overall gloomy description of the decay of Israel (Judges 21:25). Here we find a story of love and high moral standards. Like the characters mentioned in Judges, the main characters in this story are unexpected heroes: a devastated widow and a widowed Moabite woman.<\/p>\nThe book is named after the woman from Moab and she isn\u2019t even an Israelite. It explains how Ruth became the ancestress of Israel\u2019s famous King David, and ultimately the Messiah (Matthew 1:5). But the story is also about Naomi, a woman who loses everything: husband and sons, but in the end, she gains a devoted daughter in Ruth and a family through Boaz and Ruth. Her life is restored (Ruth 4:15). In a way, Naomi\u2019s life is an echo of the life Job.<\/p>\n But the core of the story tells us how God rewards those who make wise spiritual choices and show steadfastness in their lives.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know who wrote the Book of Ruth. Implied in the first statement of the book: \u201cNow it came about in the days when the judges governed\u201d is that the author lived in an era when the judges no longer ruled over Israel. Looking at the genealogy at the end of the book, the author clearly lived during the time of David and before Solomon became king since David is mentioned (Ruth 4:17) and Solomon was not. It would also be after the significance of David was known; thus, most people place the writing early in David\u2019s kingship.<\/p>\n In regards to when the events of Ruth took place, the book starts out telling us that there was a famine in the land which lead to Elimelech moving to Moab. The only mention of a food shortage in Judges was during the days of Gideon (Judges 6:3-6), though this shortage was caused by Amalekite raiders. It could just as easily been during another period where a famine was not recorded.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Study of Ruth\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Background to the Book of Ruth Assignment: Read the entire Book of Ruth as a story. Understanding What You Read: List out the people mentioned in Ruth and what you know about them. What do you think is the purpose of this book? Why did God see fit to include this story in the Bible?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":19844,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19851","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22407,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-ruth\/","url_meta":{"origin":19851,"position":0},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Ruth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Ruth by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ruth 1:15-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The book of Ruth takes place during the later years covered by the book of Judges - Ruth 1:1 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It serves as a contrast to the overall gloomy description of the decay of Israel - Judges\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20424,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-ruth\/joy-returns\/","url_meta":{"origin":19851,"position":1},"title":"Joy Returns","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Joy Returns Text: Ruth 4 Understanding What You Read: Why do you suppose the near relative is not named? Why did the near relative change his mind about redeeming Elimelech\u2019s property? How was the near relative\u2019s refusal to redeem Elimelech\u2019s property confirmed? Why wasn\u2019t Boaz concerned that marrying Ruth would\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19844,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-ruth\/","url_meta":{"origin":19851,"position":2},"title":"A Study of Ruth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A Study of Ruth by Jeffrey W. Hamilton, 2020 \u00a0 Contents Background of the Book of Ruth A Series of Unfortunate Events (Ruth 1:1-18) Kindness Shown (Ruth 1:19-2:23) An Opportunity to Repay (Ruth 3) Joy Returns (Ruth 4) Bible Studies","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Boaz Sees Ruth Ruth 2:5-6","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0015-7.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19824,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/ruth\/","url_meta":{"origin":19851,"position":3},"title":"Ruth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Ruth by Bryan M. Dockens Questions and answers for studying the book of Ruth. The questions can be separated from the answers to provide study questions for the lessons. Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Bible Studies","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0016-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19827,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/ruth\/ruth-chapter-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":19851,"position":4},"title":"Ruth: Chapter 1","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Ruth: Chapter 1 1. During which historical period in Israel did this narrative occur? \u201c\u2026It came to pass in the days when the Judges ruled...\u201d (Ruth 1:1), a period of about 450 years between the conquest and the kingdom (Acts 13:20). 2. What was the moral climate in Israel at\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/image_2-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/image_2-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/image_2-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82567,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gallery\/the-story-of-the-bible\/joshua-through-ruth\/","url_meta":{"origin":19851,"position":5},"title":"Joshua Through Ruth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The Story of the Bible by Charles Foster published by the Charles Foster Publishing Co., 1884 Joshua Through Ruth The Story of the Bible","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Front Cover, The Story of the Bible","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG001-210x300.avif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19851\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Understanding What You Read:<\/h2>\n
\n
\nAnother character in the story is Boaz. He is the son of another famous woman, Rahab the Harlot (Matthew 1:5). He was a wealthy kin of Naomi\u2019s husband, Elimelech (Ruth 2:1). We do know there is another man who was closer in kinship than Boaz (Ruth 4:3) and Boaz refers to Elimelech as \u201cour brother,\u201d so it is possible that Boaz was a younger brother of Elimelech.\nDating and Authorship<\/h2>\n