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THE BOOK OF RUTH: JOURNEY OF FAITH is the classic Bible story of faith, loyalty, and redemption. The story of trusting God even through grief and disaster tells the story of the Book of Ruth.
 * Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith (Film)**

Part 1 [] Part 2 [] Part 3 [] Part 4 [] Part 5 [] Part 6 [] Part 7 [] Part 8 [] Part 9 []

**Date of Writing** Chilttister, D. (2000) states that the vocabulary and style are consistent with a date between 1000 and 500 BCE. The date of writing depends on which linguistic cues we choose to follow, therefore there is no accurate date.

**Details of Authorship** The author isn’t known. There have been many suggestions that it could have been written by those who wrote the Book of Judges because the Book of Ruth was once part of Judges.

**Genres used within the book.** The Book of Ruth is a narrative. It is a highly artistic story that describes historical events. It also highlights the operation of the laws of ancient Israel. It contains four chapters and is both a classic love story and also an essential book of prophecy.

**Glossary**
 * Word || Description ||
 * Almighty || It is an adjective used only in connection with God. Almighty God is the awesome creator. ||
 * Attesting || A verb, to bear witness to; certify; declare to be correct, true or genuine. ||
 * Forsaken || To give up (something formally held dear); renounce or to leave altogether, abandon. ||
 * Glean || The act of collecting left over crops from farmers’ fields after they have been harvested. ||
 * Levirate || Is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obligated to marry his brother’s widow, and the widow is obligated to marry her deceased husband's brother. ||
 * Moabite || A person from Moab. Located in the area of Jordan east of the Dead Sea. ||
 * Prostrate || To cast (ones self) face down on the ground in humility, submission or adoration. ||
 * Reap || To cut (wheat, barley, etc.) with a sickle or other implement, as in harvest. ||
 * Reproach || An expression of rebuke or disapproval. To find fault with (a person, group, etc.); blame. ||
 * Sheaf/sheaves || Large bundle/s in which cereal plants are bound after reaping. ||
 * Winnowing || To free (grain) from the lighter particles of chaff, dirt, etc., especially by throwing it into the air to blow away impurities. ||

**Map** Set in the period of the judges, the book of Ruth records how a famine in Judah forces Naomi and her husband to leave Israel and move to Moab, where their sons marry Moabite women. When Naomi's husband and sons die, she decides to return to her home in Bethlehem in Judah, and her daughter-in-law Ruth chooses to go with her.

**Summary and Key Messages.** The book of Ruth takes place in a time of Jewish history when the judges ruled over Israel from 1370 to 1010 BC. The story tells of Naomi, wife of Elimelech, of the tribe of Judah. Elimelech moved his family from the Promised Land to Moab during a severe famine. Naomi stayed in land of Moab for 10 years. Elimelech dies, and the sons marry two Moabite women: Mahlon marries Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah. After her two sons die, Naomi decides to return to her hometown of Bethlehem, impoverished. She tells her daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers and remarry. Her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth insist on following Naomi, proclaiming, "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me." (Ruth 1:16–17)

The two women return to Bethlehem. It is the time of the barley harvest, and in order to support her mother-in-law and herself, Ruth goes to the fields to glean. She happens to be gleaning in the field of a wealthy kinsman named Boaz. The field she goes to belongs to a man named Boaz, who is kind to her because he has heard of her loyalty to her mother-in-law. Ruth tells her mother-in-law of Boaz's kindness, and she gleans in his field through the remainder of the harvest season. Boaz is a close relative of Naomi's husband's family. He is therefore obliged by the Levirate law to marry Mahlon's widow, Ruth, in order to carry on his family line (“redeem” her). Naomi sends Ruth to the threshing floor at night and tells her to "uncover the feet" of the sleeping Boaz. Ruth does so; Boaz awakes and asks, "Who are you?" Ruth identifies herself, then asks Boaz to spread his cloak over her. The phrase "spread your cloak" was a woman's way of asking for marriage. For a man to spread his cloak over a woman showed acquisition of that woman. Boaz states he is willing to "redeem" Ruth via marriage, but informs Ruth that there is another male relative who has the first right of redemption. The other male relative is unwilling to jeopardize the inheritance of his own estate by marrying Ruth, and so relinquishes his right of redemption. They transfer the property and redeem it by the nearer kinsman taking off his sandal and handing it over to Boaz, thus allowing Boaz to marry Ruth. ( Ruth 4:7-18) They have a son named Obed (who by Levirate customs is also considered a son or heir to Elimelech (and Naomi). He is to become the Grandfather of King David.

Chittster, J. (2000). The Story of Ruth: Twelve Moments in Every Woman’s Life. Cambridge, U.K: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Coogan, M., & Metzger, B. (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. New York: Oxford University Press.

The Catholic Youth Bible:International Edition. (2004). Winona, USA: St. Mary's Press.

**Text Origin** The story is set in the period of the Judges before the birth of King David, but it was almost certainly written much later, when the two tribes of Judah were set free from their captivity in Babylon and allowed to return to Jerusalem.