CHAPTER VII. THE BOOK OF RUTH." $193. CONTENTS AND DESIGN OF THE BOOK. THIS family history of the royal house of Jesse is placed in the cyclus of the history before the exile. It goes back to the time of the judges, i. 1,' and therefore, in the Alexandrian version, it is placed between the books of Judges and Samuel. The book relates the history of the marriage of Boaz, (which was attended with remarkable circumstances,) the great-grandfather of David, with idyllic simplicity and loveliness, and with a faithful delineation of the manners of the time: a genealogy is appended to the end of the book. This genealogy is incomplete, as genealogies often are with the Hebrews and Arabians." a ment. Jo. Drusi, Bonfrerii, Serrarii, Seb. Schmidii, Jo. Clerici, Maur. Com Rosenmüller, Scholia. Sanctii Comm. in Ruth, Esr., Nehem., Tob., &c.; Lugd. 1628, fol. J. B. Carpzov, Colleg. rabbin.-bibl. in Lib. Ruth; Lips. 1703, 4to. Jo. Jac. Rambachii Annott. (Uberr. annotatt. in Hagiogr. ed. J. H. Michaelis, vol. ii.) [Geddes, 1. c. Palfrey, 1. c. vol. ii.] Ueberss. u. Erkll. von Dereser, 1806; Riegler, 1812. Josephus, Ant. v. 9, 1, erroneously dates this occurrence in the time of Eli. See Bertholdt, p. 2349. See Origen, above, vol. i. p. 89, sqq., and Jerome, ibid. p. 111, sqq. See Eichhorn, § 465, and his Monumenta Antiquissima Hist. Arab. § 7, p. 18. [In this instance, there are but four generations between Nahshon and David, a period of four hundred and eighty years, according to 1 Kings The book was composed in honor of the royal house, but not designed to lend it an outward splendor, - for the mother of the family is a poor Moabitish woman, — but, by means of history and genealogy, to place its origin in a clear light. The mention of Nahshon — a prince of the families of Judah, in the time of Moses among the ancestors, and the favorable moral picture of Ruth and Boaz, tend to honor and exalt the house of David. [But, on the other hand, we must admit that the poverty of the family is not concealed. They are not merely forced to flee from the land, on account of poverty, but, after their return, avail themselves of the rights of the poor. Ruth and her mother live on the gleanings from the fields, and design to sell their inheritance, which they were probably unable to keep; but neither the ancient Orientals, nor the modern, who have not forsaken their simplicity, valued noble blood at a high price.] Umbreit thinks this book was written with a specific moral design; namely, for the sake of showing how even a stranger, and that of the hated Moabitish stock, might be sufficiently noble to become mother of the great King David, because she placed her reliance on the God of Israel." Bertholdt thinks the history is a pure fiction. vi. 1, or of five hundred and ninety-two years, if we accept the reading which is followed by Josephus, (Antiq. i. viii. 3, 1,) and the apostle Paul, (Acts xiii. 21.) But some Hebrew genealogists allow themselves to pass over parts of the scale in their genealogical table. See Gen. v. xi., Ex. vi. 16—20, Matt. i. See, also, Eichhorn, Allg. Bib. vol. i. p. 926, iii. p. 183, sqq., v. p. 400, sqq. Paulus, Repertorium, vol. iii. p. 395, sqq.] See his essay Uber Geist und Zweck des Buches Ruths, in Theol. Stud. und Krit. for 1834, p. 308. See Hävernik, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 113. [Eichhorn (§ 463) thinks it was obviously written to honor the house of David, though it does not conceal the poverty of the family.] But he decides on insufficient grounds, and misunderstands i. 21, and thinks it is a contradiction of iv. 3-6. He thinks it was designed to recommend the duty of a man to marry his kinswoman. Certainly we do not know the source whence this narrative was drawn, but it was probably tradition." [The arguments of Bertholdt are merely nugatory. The chief stress is laid on the symbolic meaning of the names,' and on the above contradiction, which, if it really exist, is much more likely to occur in a history than a fictitious narrative. He calls it a "romantic family picture." But since it contains nothing impossible, or even improbable, it seems uncritical, at this time, to attempt to decide that it must be a fiction throughout. The most beautiful and splendid robe of virtue, says this writer, is drawn over the whole. The author has taken particular pains to delineate the characters of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. In the former we have the finest picture of intelligent resignation, brought into the closest connection with a mother's anxiety. She does not complain, like a weak woman, at the death of her husband and sons, and is not comfortless in her poverty. In the person of Ruth we have a woman who lives entirely in her duties; she does for her mother-in-law what the national myth commanded a faithful wife to do for her husband. The whole book is a beautiful idyllic piece of composition, descriptive of the ancient simplicity of rural life." a b Bertholdt, p. 2337-2357. [He mentions the following: Boaz,, one in whom is refuge; Mahlon, 177, diseased; Chilion, 77, pining; Naomi, 27, my beauty; Elimelech,, god-king; Ruth, 77, beauty. But the same may be said of almost all Hebrew names.] To me it seems that the genealogy (iv. 18-22) is the work of a later hand, and originally formed no part of the book. The relation of Ruth to David is mentioned in verse 17. When Boaz announces in public that he has bought her for his wife, the elders utter a blessing, which seems to have been a popular form of benediction, — "Let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah." Then a later writer, connecting the two facts in verses 12 and 17, supplies some of the links in the genealogical chain, and gives an air of completeness to the whole. Jahn thinks he discovers a reference to earlier documents, especially in the use of the second of kin, (ii. 20.) Eichhorn, though without sufficient evidence, refers it to the author of the books of Samuel.] § 194. ITS AGE AND AUTHOR. It follows, from the contents and design of the book, that it was written a considerable time after David. The language, though akin to that of the books of Samuel, seems to differ from that in its Chaldaisms' and other peculiarities, and to be more modern. с Chap. iv. 7, contains an allusion to more ancient times-"In former Chap. i. 17, n. Comp. 1 Sam. iii. 17, xiv. 44. But comp. also 1 Kings ii. 23, 2 Kings vi. 31. Chap. iv. 4, 2D IN DEN. Comp. 1 Sam. ix. 15, xx. 2, 12, [and 2 Sam. vii. 27.] с 7, 19, i. 13; 17, for, for, i. 20;, suff. for 1, i. 8, 9, 11. ibid.; p, p, iii. 3, 4; §, According to Sanct., (Comm. in Ruth Prolegg. iv.,) there are in the book Moabitisms; according to Dereser, (Vor. p. 6,) Bethlehemitisms. time, ...... to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel." Therefore it is improbable that this is by the same author with the books of Samuel, though it must have been written at a time when marriage with a foreign woman was not unallowed." Now, it is forbidden in Deut. xxiii. 3, Ezra ix. 1, sqq., Neh. xiii. 1—3, 23— 27. But we nowhere find any proof that a descent from Ruth was objectionable; nowhere is there the slightest apology for it. [It is not possible, either from the language or any other circumstances of the book, to determine in what age it was written. Perhaps the narrative circulated some time orally, and was successively enriched with the explanatory passage, iv. 7, and the genealogy of David, (iv. 18-23.) The conjectures of the learned are, as usual in such matters, various, and sometimes absurd. Thus Kimchi considers Boaz the same person with Jozan, a contemporary of Jephthah; Junius refers the events of the book to the time of Deborah; Usher, to that of Shamgar; Patrick, on account of the famine, mentioned i. 1, to the time of Gideon, when a famine also occurred, (Judg. vi. 3—6.) According to Matt. i. 5, 6, Salmon, the father of Boaz, married Rahab the harlot, the contemporary of Joshua; and accordingly the great-grandfather of David lived nearly four hundred years before him. Admitting the genealogy to be true, • See Pareau, Instit. Interp. p. 144. See the ancient opinions in Carpzov, 1. c. vol. i. p. 198, sqq. [In Hebrew, this book was perhaps considered a second appendix to that of Judges. Jerome says, Prol. Galeato, subtexunt Hebraii Judicum librum et in eundem compingunt librum Ruth. In the סטר שפט השפטים final Masora of a Spanish MS., Kennicott finds it called See Bruns, in Kennicott, Diss. Gen. p. 18, and Eichhorn, § 465.] |