Ruth (JPS Bible Commentary | JPSBC)

by Tamara C. Eskenazi; Tikva Frymer-Kensky

Publisher:

Jewish Publication Society

, 2011

Overview

The moving story of Ruth, with its themes of loyalty, lovingkindness (hesed), and redemption, is one of the great narratives of the Bible. Socially, the Israelites were aware of their responsibility to protect the weak and unprotected among them. Redemption secures the life of the people as a community, not just as individuals. In this story, Boaz fills the familial obligation to marry the widow of a deceased relative who never was able to father children, both to continue the family line and protect an otherwise vulnerable woman.

The authors provide a critical, line-by-line commentary of the biblical text, presented in its original Hebrew, complete with vocalization and cantillation marks, as well as the 1985 JPS English translation. The extensive introduction places the book within its historical, literary, and critical context, discusses contemporary interpretations of the story of Ruth, and examines its major motifs and themes, among them: family, marriage and levirate marriage in biblical and ancient Israel, redemption and inheritance, hesed, and the book’s connection with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.

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Key Features

• Extensive introduction to the Book of Ruth
• Line-by-line commentary

Contents

• Introduction to the Commentary: Ruth
  • Authorship and Date
  • Genre/Style
  • Ruth's Place in the Canon
  • Ruth's Relationship to Other Biblical Books
  • Ruth and Shavuot
  • Background Issue and Themes
  • Levirate Marriage
  • The Marriage of Boaz and Ruth
  • Intermarriage
  • Conversion
  • The Status of the Moabites
  • Hesed
  • The Theology of the Book of Ruth
  • Redemption in the Bible
  • Pre-Modern Rabbinic Interpretations
  • Later Jewish Interpretations
  • Contemporary Readings
• The Commentary to Ruth
  • Departure and Return: The Journey from Loss to Redemption Begins
  • Finding Favor and Food in the Field: When Boaz Meets Ruth
  • The Transformative Midnight Encounter between Ruth and Boaz
  • Redemption and Restoration

Top Highlights

“But in the ancient world, to speak of a woman uncovering any part of a man’s body at night (when that man is not her husband) was highly suggestive.” (Page 53)

“‘the Scroll of Ruth,’ is a book about kindness and audacity—about kindness that propels people to act audaciously for the sake of others. It is a book filled with ḥesed and hutzpah.” (Page xv)

“Ruth is asking for protection or patronage, without spelling out how Boaz is to provide this support. Earlier Boaz prayed that God, under whose wings (kanaf in the plural) she was seeking shelter, would reward Ruth (2:12). Here, she is asking him to spread his wings (kanaf) over her, thus inviting him to become God’s agent. Even if Naomi has designed a sexual strategy for this encounter (3:1–4), Ruth de-sexualizes her plan by calling Boaz to responsibility, not romance.” (Page 59)

“The narrative passage that most intensively displays such usage elsewhere in the Bible (seven times in four verses) is Gen. 19:32–35, where the verb refers to the illicit sexual union between Lot and his daughters, which results in the births of Moab (Ruth’s ancestor) and Ammon (Gen. 19:30–38). Through this verbal allusion, the narrator may intend for the reader to link together these two ‘Moabite’ episodes.” (Page 53)

“Typically, the sexual meaning is made explicit through the use of a preposition (usually ’et or ‘im). The absence of such a preposition in this passage somewhat distances the verb from its sexual subtext, but the verb nonetheless combines with other terms (threshing floor, know, uncover) to evoke a charged situation.” (Page 53)

Product Details

• Title: The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth
• Authors: Tamara C. Eskenazi, Tikva Frymer-Kensky
• Edition: First edition
• Series: JPS Tanakh Commentary
• Publisher: Jewish Publication Society
• Print Publication Date: 2011
• Logos Release Date: 2012
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. O.T. Ruth › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9780827607446, 082760744, 082760744X
• Resource ID: LLS:JPSBBLCOMM08RU
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:08:52Z

About the Authors

Tamara Cohn Eskenazi is Professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College at the Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. She is the first woman appointed as a professor to the rabbinical faculty in HUC-JIR’s long history. Earlier she had been on the faculty of the University of Denver, directed the Institute of Interfaith Studies, and co-founded the Jewish Women Resource Center in Denver.

Dr. Eskenazi is the Chief Editor of The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, the winner of the 2008 Jewish Book of the Year Award presented by the Jewish Book Council. She has served on the executive committee of the Society of Biblical Literature, and her numerous published articles include: In an Age of Prose: A Literary Approach to Ezra-Nehemiah and Second Temple Studies 2: Temple and Community in the Persian Period. An expert in postexilic history and literature and in the Bible, Dr. Eskenazi has presented papers national and international at scholarly conferences.

Tikva Frymer-Kensky was Professor of Hebrew Bible and the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her areas of specialization included Assyriology and Sumerology, biblical studies, Jewish studies, and women and religion. She was the author of Reading the Women of the Bible (which received a Koret Jewish Book Award in 2002 and a National Jewish Book Award in 2003), In the Wake of the Goddesses, and Motherprayer.