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Step by Step
- Read as a group (or have someone present the information) on the Bible Background: The Book of Ruth sheet.
- Read together chapter 1 from the Book of Ruth.
- Discuss: Why is it important that Ruth did not go home to her family, but stayed with Naomi?
- Discuss: How does Ruth represent God in this passage?
- Optional (but cool): If you have time, assign people these parts:
- Naomi
- Ruth
- Orpah
- Boaz
- Group of women at the gate and read the whole Book of Ruth as a play. (It's short!)
- What will you miss most about this group/class?
- What will take you with from this group/class, even though we are moving on?
BIBLE BACKGROUND: The Book of Ruth
The Book of Ruth is a marvelous piece of literature-an ancient short story included by the Jews in the Bible a long time ago. Scholars think that it was written any where from the 10th century BCE to the 4th century BCE. ("BCE" means "before the common era [of Jews and Christians]". It replaces BC [which means "before Christ"] because it's more respectful of the Jews, who do not date their calendars according to the life of Christ.)
We do not know who wrote the Book of Ruth, but more and more scholars today believe it was written by a woman. This would make it unique in biblical literature, most of which was written by men. The Book of Ruth was most probably written by a single author, whereas many biblical books show evidence of being compilations by multiple authors.
One tradition has it that the name "Ruth" in Hebrew means "to irrigate" or "to saturate" with water-something that would have had much meaning for people who lived in the desert like the Israelites did.
The story takes place at a time of great famine, when people every where were starving to death. There was, of course, no such thing as Social Security or soup kitchens or any programs to help the elderly or widows-except for "gleaning," see below. Widows were especially at risk in this time and society because their husbands were their legal representatives and economic providers. Widows therefore had to depend on their sons to care for them. A widow without sons was in deep trouble.
"Gleaning" was a practice that was supposed to help out the poor. It worked like this: As a farming family harvested its crops, they were taught by the rabbis not to pick up any thing that they dropped. Nor could they go back a second time and check for what they missed. After they went through the first time, the poor in the area were then allowed to "glean," that is, to pick up any fruit, vegetable, or grain that was dropped on the ground or missed and not picked. Often this was the only food the poor could get.
One of many remarkable things about this book is this: God does not appear directly as a character. Mentions of God and gods are made, but God does not directly act as a character like God does in the Books of Genesis or Exodus, for example. Nor does God speak directly in this book as in most other books of the Bible.
In this book, Ruth represents God, and Naomi represents the people of Israel. While the Bible often portrays Israel as a woman, as God's wife, it is remarkable that God is represented here by a woman character-and a non-Israelite, too! In this way, the Book of Ruth is an important corrective for the rest of the Bible, reminding us that God does not have a gender or nationality.
