Rush (Hastings' Dictionary)

See Ueed. RUTH (nn, LXX 'PoiJe).- The heroine of the Bk. of Ruth. She was a Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon (Ru 4'°) the son of Elimelech and Naomi ■who were residing in the land of Moab because of a famine in Judah (Ru I'"'-). Bv the time that the famine ceased, Elimelech and his two sons were dead. Naomi decided to return to her own land, and after she and her daughters-in-law had started she recommended them to stay in their native land and marry again.

Ruth refused, and declared her intention that nothing short of death should part her from Naomi. They went on their way, and arrived at Bethlehem, much to the surprise of the inhabitants. It was the beginning of barley har- vest. Elinielech's kinsman, Boaz, was one of the leading inhabitants of Bethlehem, and Ruth went to glean, and by chance entered a part of his field. Here Boaz noticed her and bade her remain in the same field, and praised her for the care she had taken of her mother-in-law.

He invited her to share the meal of the reapers, and instructed his men to show her proper respect (ch. 2). Instigated by her mother, she introduced herself into his presence at night and claimed his protection. He was quite « illing to give it to her, but there was a nearer kinsman who had prior rights to bis, and he had to be reckoned with first. Boaz therefore sent Ruth home with a present for her mother, whilst he himself took the necessary steps to call upon the nearer kinsman to e.

vercise or refuse to exercise his rights (ch. 3). He summoned him to his side at the gate of the city, with ten elders of the city as witnesses. He then called upon the nearest kinsman to buy or redeem Elinielech's portion of land. He refused to do this, because it involved his taking to wife Ruth the Moabitess, and passed on his rights to Boaz by drawing olT his shoe and giving it to Boaz ; for ' this was the manner of attestation in Israel.'

The people in the gate were called upon as well as the elders to bear witness to the transaction, and invoked the blessing of God upon Boaz and Uuth (4'"'). In this way they were married, and their firstborn son was called Obed, from whom were descended David and Christ (Ru 4""'-, of. Mt 1»). The name Ruth is of uncertain origin. It is to be noticed that her alleged descendant David entered into friendly relations v.ith Moab (cf. 1 S 22'- ).

The transaction recorded in this book is on the same lines as that legalized in Dt 25°'"', though not coming under that law (see Driver, Deut. 285). The actual selling of the laud by Naomi conies nearer to the law of Lv 25^. At- tempts have been made to assign the history to the days of E"lon (Jg 3'^"*), or the time of scarcity preceding Gideon's call (Jg &^] next article. ). See, further, H. A. Redpath.

RUTH, BOOK OF This book, in which the history of Ruth (see preceding article) is narrated, is full of interest. It is an anonymous work, idyllic in its character, describing pastoral life among the Hebrews in a time of peace and order. when old customs were kept up and careftJly observed. i. The Date of the Book. — This must ba considerably later than the history, though how much later is a matter of controversy. The book looks back to ' the days when the juilges ruled' (!')

, to a custom existing 'in former time in Israel' (4'), and carries the descent from Boaz down to David (4-^), unless, as some have with little probability thought, the last verses do not really belong to the book. But it claims no particular date for itself, though the style would lead us to assign it to a comparatively early one. The linguistic dilUculties in the way of its being early have been discu.ssed by Driver [LOT pp. 426, 427 [«454, 455]).

The main argument for a post-exUic date, besides the linguistic one, is the way in which the customs of ch. 4 are treated as quite obsolete. ii. The Object of the Book.— This may be described as twofold. (1) To introduce us to the family from which David was descended ; and (2) to illustrate the marriage laws of the Israel- ites.

The marriage of Rutli the Moabitess with Mahlon seems at first to run counter to the law as laid down in Dt 23'- , and certainly in post- exilic times such a union was held to be unlawful (see Ezr 9'- , Neh 10^), but the law quoted says nothing about marriage, and differs in its terms from that of Dt 7^. Some of those who look upon this book as post-exUic have been tempted to regard it almost as a political pamphlet, and a protest against the action taken both by Ezra and Nehemiah. iii.

Place in the Canon. — In the Jewish Canon the Talmud (Bab. Baba bathra 14) places it first amongst the Hagiographa or third class of sacred writings immediately before the Psalms. In Hebrew Bibles it is one of the five Megilloth or rolls which were read in the Synagogue on five special days in the Jewisli ecclesiastical year — Ruth being read at the Feast of Weeks.

As this was the second of the five days, the Book of Ruth generally appears second in order ; but in Spanish SiSS and m one Bible of A.D. 1009 Ruth comes first (Buld, Canon of the OT, i. § 10). The arrange- ment adopted in modern versions by which Ruth follows Judges goes back to the Vulgate and LXX, and also to Josephus.* Its position in them ia due to its having been linked on to the Book of Judges by its first verse, and having been treated as an appendix to that book. Literature.

— Commentarie8 of Metzgrer 0857), Kei! and Delitzsch, Wright (ISM), Bertlieau (combined with Ju<iije», 1SS3), Hummelauer (lb6S), (Jeltli (Die i/e.sch. Ha'jiog., Nord. lingen, 18!itf),Wildeboer(Ai/rier Udcom. ISUS), Nowack (i/Jtom. 190(1) ; ct. also Driver, LOT 426 f?. [6 454 II.J ; Cornill, Einteit.i 2429.; Wildeboer, Lit. d. AT, 341 ff.; Wellhausen, Bleck ; Kobertson in Book bi/ Book, 75; W. R. Smith, art. 'Kuth' in Encycl. Brit.

^ ; Bee also the relevant sections in the works ol Ejfle, Wildeboer, and Buhl on the Canon of OT. H. A. Redpath.