The Book of Ruth

One of the first questions the scholars tend to ask is, Who wrote this book and when was it written? The Talmud refers to Samuel as the author of Ruth, but scholars, generally speaking, say: No, Samuel died before David became king and the way in which the author writes the genealogy in Ruth, chapter four—right at the end of the Book of Ruth—supposes that this whole lineage is well known to the people who are reading it. It talks about this child that is born and Naomi takes him, lays him in her lap, and cares for him. And the woman living there said, Naomi has a son, and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. This, then, is the family line of Perez. Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz—who is the male lead in this play—and Boaz the father of Obed, who is the father of Jesse, and Jesse is the father of David. Now, what is this book about? Well it’s about David, as a matter of fact, about what leads up to him.