Ruth.
Ruth.
§ 127. Ruth. The author of this book is unknown. It consists of four chapters in which it describes the history of the Moabite woman Ruth, how she was placed into God’s people through her marriage to Boaz, David’s forefather, and in this way was in the genealogy of the Savior. For this reason this history has been especially marked and holds a special place. The Jesuit Sandaeus writes that the Protestants “erased the Book of Ruth from the sacred canon” (in Thema seculare de deserenda Synagog. Protestant., thesis 27). Either he is greatly deceived or lies boldly, for none of us denies that the Book of Ruth is canonical. The opinions of interpreters vary with regard to the time at which the history described in this book occurred. The Chaldean paraphraser says, “Ruth was the daughter of King Eglon of Moab,” who is mentioned in Judg. 3:12. However, no authority of Scripture proves this nor is it likely that a king’s daughter wanted to marry a foreigner’s son, abandon her fatherland and ancestral area, and go off to another land to look for food. Rabbi D. Kimchi, on Ruth 1, and other rabbinic scholars claim that “Boaz, who married Ruth, is the judge whom Judg. 12:8 calls 
(Ibzan),” who immediately followed Jephthah. From a comparison of Matt. 1:5 and the end of this book, Tremellius tries to show that this history occurred at the time of Deborah. Augustine, on the other hand, refers the time of this account to the beginning of the kings (De doctrin. Christ., bk. 2, c. 8). Josephus (Antiq., bk. 5) and Cardinal Hugh [of St. Cher] apply it to the time of the priest Eli, which almost coincides with Augustine. The account of Ruth, however, seems older, for it is written as having occurred in the days of one of those judges who is described in the Book of Judges. In a doubtful matter it is better to suspend judgment than to define something rashly. The account of this book can be divided into the antecedents, act, and consequences of the marriage contracted between Boaz and the widow Ruth. It contains eighty-five verses.