Ruth.
Loyalty, kindness, and the surprising inclusion of a Moabite woman in the line of David.
Who wrote Ruth?
Anonymous; some scholars suggest a female author given the perspective.
Who was it written for?
Israel — and in particular Israel reconsidering its own ethnic boundaries.
Structure
- Tragedy (1): Naomi loses everything
- Provision (2): gleaning in Boaz's field
- Risk (3): the threshing floor
- Redemption (4): the kinsman-redeemer
Key verses
Why Ruth matters
Ruth is a quiet book in a noisy section of the canon. It tells the story of how an outsider Moabite woman became the great-grandmother of King David and, through him, an ancestor of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). The book reframes Israel's story: God's purpose has always included the nations, and the line that produces the Messiah runs through the loyalty of a woman the Mosaic law would have excluded.
Related tools
Read the book, then test it.
Kerygma's trivia rounds cover Ruth in the Historical Books stream — once you've sat with the overview, the questions go deeper into the text. Free for seven days.
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