1. AUTHOR. — Possibly Samuel. The facts were perhaps learned from written records.

2. DATE. — About 1060–1055 B. C. After David had become recognized as of importance, but before he became king.

3. HISTORICAL OCCASION. — At the time that it was known that David was to succeed Saul as king.

4. LEADING TOPIC. — The story of Ruth clinging to Naomi, casting in her lot with the Israelites, her marriage with Boaz, and the birth of David's grandfather.

5. CHIEF PURPOSE. — While the book gives the genealogy of David as a descendant of Ruth, it seems intended especially to show the religious character of the Moabitess as exhibited in her leaving her home and religion, to accept the fortunes and blessings of the people chosen of Jehovah. It shows how one from a foreign people be came identified with the chief interests of Israel; how a member of an outside nation was connected with the purposes of the Messianic kingdom.

6. GENERAL ANALYSIS.

(a) The sojourn in Moab, Ch. 1.

(b) Ruth in the fields of Boaz, Ch. 2.

(c) Marriage of Ruth to Boaz, Ch. 3, 4:1-17.

(d) Genealogy of David, Ch. 4:18–22.

7. POINTS OF ESPECIAL INTEREST. — The wonderful fidelity of Ruth to Naomi; the social customs of the Bethlehemites; the godly character of Boaz; the ancestry of David.

8. RELATION TO OTHER O. T. BOOKS. — The events described belong to the period of the judges, The book is closely related to the judges. giving some idea of the times. While the Israelites were forsaking Jehovah, Ruth was seeking him. While they were punished for turning from God, Ruth was blessed for turning to him. This story of the foreigner turning to the people and land of Jehovah, and becoming identified with the interests of the Messianic kingdom, illustrates the promise of the prophets, that the Gentiles would become a part of the people of Jehovah. The book does not so much carry on the history of the Theocracy as give that of an individual.

9. MESSIANIC IDEAS. — The admission of the Gentile into the line of Messianic descent foreshadows the fact that the Gentiles were to share in the Messianic blessings.

10. TOPICS FOR SPECIAL STUDY. — The social customs of the times of the judges; the relation of the Israelites to the surrounding nations.