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Book of Ruth
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This article is about the ancient Hebrew religious text. For the 20th-century English language novel, see The Book of Ruth (novel). For the 1960 film, see The Story of Ruth. For the 2009 film, see The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith.
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The Book of Ruth (Hebrew: מגילת רות, Ashkenazi pronunciation: [məˈɡɪləs rus], Megilath Ruth, "the Scroll of Ruth", one of the Five Megillot) is included in the third division, or the Writings (Ketuvim), of the Hebrew Bible; in most Christian canons it is treated as a history book and placed between Judges and 1 Samuel,[1] as it is set "in the days when the judges judged",[2] although the Syriac Christian tradition places it later, between Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs. It is named after its central figure, Ruth the Moabitess, the great-grandmother of David.
The book tells of Ruth's accepting the God of the Israelites as her God and the Israelite people as her own. In Ruth 1:16–17, Ruth tells Naomi, her Israelite mother-in-law, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me."[3] The book is held in esteem by Jews who fall under the category of Jews-by-choice, as is evidenced by the considerable presence of Boaz in rabbinic literature. The Book of Ruth also functions liturgically, as it is read during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot ("Weeks").[4]
Contents
[hide]
1 Structure
2 Summary
3 Composition
4 Themes and background
4.1 Levirate marriage and the "redeemers"
4.2 Mixed marriage
4.3 Contemporary interpretations
5 Genealogy: the descent of David from Ruth
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 Bibliography
10 External links
Structure[edit]
The book is structured in four chapters:[5]
Act 1: Prologue and Problem: Death and Emptiness (1:1–22)
Scene 1: Setting the scene (1:1–5)
Scene 2: Naomi returns home (1:6–18)
Scene 3: Arrival of Naomi and Ruth in Bethlehem (1:19–22)
Act 2: Ruth Meets Boaz, Naomi's Relative, on the Harvest Field (2:1–23)
Scene 1: Ruth in the field of Boaz (2:1–17)
Scene 2: Ruth reports to Naomi (2:18–23)
Act 3: Naomi Sends Ruth to Boaz on the Threshing Floor (3:1–18)
Scene 1: Naomi Reveals Her Plan (3:1–5)
Scene 2: Ruth at the threshing-floor of Boaz (3:6–15)
Scene 3: Ruth reports to Naomi (3:16–18)
Act 4: Resolution and Epilogue: Life and Fullness (4:1–22)
Scene 1: Boaz with the men at the gate (4:1–12)
Scene 2: A son is born to Ruth (4:13–17)
Genealogical appendix (4:18–22)
Summary[edit]
Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah to return to the land of Moab by William Blake, 1795
During the time of the Judges when there was a famine, an Israelite family from Bethlehem – Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilion – emigrated to the nearby country of Moab. Elimelech died, and the sons married two Moabite women: Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpah.
After about ten years, the two sons of Naomi also died in Moab (1:4). Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. She told her daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers and remarry. Orpah reluctantly left; however, Ruth said, "Intreat me not to leave thee, [or] to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people [shall be] my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, [if aught] but death part thee and me." (Ruth 1:16–17 KJV)
The two women returned to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest, and in order to support her mother-in-law and herself, Ruth went to the fields to glean. As it happened, the field she went to belonged to a man named Boaz, who was kind to her because he had heard of her loyalty to her mother-in-law. Ruth told Naomi of Boaz's kindness, and she gleaned in his field through the remainder of barley and wheat harvest.
Boaz was a close relative of Naomi's husband's family. He was therefore obliged by the Levirate law to marry Mahlon's widow, Ruth, in order to carry on his family's inheritance. Naomi sent Ruth to the threshing floor at night and told her to go where he slept, and "uncover his feet, and lay thee down; and he will tell thee what thou shalt do" (3:4). Ruth did so. Boaz asked her who she was, and she replied: "I [am] Ruth thine handmaid: spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid; for thou [art] a near kinsman." (3:9) Boaz blessed her and agreed to do all that is required, and he noted that, "all the city of my people doth know that thou [art] a virtuous woman." (3:11) He then acknowledged that he was a close relative, but that there was one who was closer, and she remained in submission at his feet until she returned into the city in the morning.
Early that day, Boaz went to the city gate to meet with the other male relative before the town elders. The relative is not named: Boaz addresses him as "Friend", ploni almoni, literally "so and so".[6] The Expanded Bible's editors comment that "the man is not named, perhaps ironically because he refused to preserve Naomi’s family name".[7]
The unnamed relative was unwilling to jeopardize the inheritance of his own estate by marrying Ruth, and so relinquished his right of redemption, thus allowing Boaz to marry Ruth. They transferred the property and redeemed it, ratified by the nearer kinsman taking off his shoe and handing it over to Boaz. Ruth 4:7 notes for later generations that:
This was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.
Boaz and Ruth were then married and have a son. The women of the city celebrate Naomi's joy, for Naomi found a redeemer for her family name, and Naomi takes the child and places it in her bosom.
The child is named Obed, who we discover is "the father of Jesse, the father of David" (Ruth 4:13–17), that is, the grandfather of King David.
The book concludes with an appendix which traces the Davidic genealogy all the way back from Perez, "whom Tamar bore to Judah", through to Obed, down to David.
Composition[edit]
The book does not name its author.[8] It is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel, but Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BCE, when intermarriage had become controversial (as seen in Ezra 9:1 and Nehemiah 13:1).[9] A substantial number of scholars therefore date it to the Persian period (6th–4th centuries BC).[10] The genealogy that concludes the book is believed to be a post-exilic Priestly addition, as it adds nothing to the plot; nevertheless, it is carefully crafted and integrates the book into the history of Israel running from Genesis to Kings.[11]
Themes and background[edit]
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld: "Ruth in Boaz's Field", 1828
Levirate marriage and the "redeemers"[edit]
The Book of Ruth illustrates the difficulty of trying to use laws given in books such as Deuteronomy as evidence of actual practice.[10] Naomi plans to provide security for herself and Ruth by arranging a Levirate marriage with Boaz. Her plan is overtly sexual: Ruth is to go to the threshing floor (a place associated with sexual activity), wait until Boaz has finished eating and drinking (a possible allusion to the story of Lot and his daughters, ancestors through incest of the Moabites), and to lie at his uncovered "feet" (a euphemism for genitals).[12][Note 1] Since there was no heir to inherit Elimelech's land, custom required a close relative (usually the dead man's brother) to marry the widow of the deceased in order to continue his family line (Deuteronomy 25:5–10). This relative was called the go'el, the "kinsman-redeemer". As Boaz is not Elimelech's brother, nor is Ruth his widow, scholars refer to the arrangement here as "Levirate-like".[13] A complication arises in the story: another man is a closer relative to Elimelech than Boaz and has first claim on Ruth. It is resolved through the custom that required land to stay in the family: a family could mortgage land to ward off poverty, but the law required a kinsman to purchase it back into the family (Leviticus 25:25ff). Boaz meets the near kinsman at the city gate (the place where contracts are settled); the kinsman first says he will purchase Elimelech's (now Naomi's) land, but, upon hearing he must also take Ruth as his wife, withdraws his offer. Boaz thus becomes Ruth and Naomi's "kinsman-redeemer."[13]
Mixed marriage[edit]
The book can be read as a political parable relating to issues around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (the 4th century BCE).[5] The fictional nature of the story is established from the start through the names of the participants: the husband and father is Elimelech, meaning "My God is King", and his wife is Naomi, "Pleasing", but after the deaths of her sons Mahlon, "Sickness", and Chilion, "Wasting", she asks to be called Mara, "Bitter".[5] The reference to Moab raises questions, since in the rest of the biblical literature it is associated with hostility to Israel, sexual perversity, and idolatry, and Deuteronomy 23:3–6 excluded an Ammonite or a Moabite from "the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation".[5] Despite this, Ruth the Moabitess married a Judahite and even after his death still regarded herself a member of his family; she then married another Judahite and bore him a son who became an ancestor of David.[14] Contrary to the message of Ezra-Nehemiah, where marriages between Jewish men and non-Jewish women were broken up, Ruth teaches that foreigners who convert to Judaism can become good Jews, foreign wives can become exemplary followers of Jewish law, and there is no reason to exclude them or their offspring from the community.[14]
Contemporary interpretations[edit]
Scholars have increasingly explored Ruth in ways which allow it to address contemporary issues. Feminists, for example, have recast the story as one of the dignity of labour and female self-sufficiency, and even as a model for lesbian relations, while others have seen in it a celebration of the relationship between strong and resourceful women. Others have criticised it for its underlying, and potentially exploitative, acceptance of a system of patriarchy in which a woman's worth can only be measured through marriage and child-bearing. Others again have seen it as a book that champions outcast and oppressed peoples.[15] Contemporary believers often see it as a way to help young people have faith even in difficult situations.
Genealogy: the descent of David from Ruth[edit]
Elimelech
Naomi
Boaz
Ruth
Mahlon
Orpah
Chilion
Obed
Jesse
David
See also[edit]
Goel
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ For "feet" as a euphemism for genitals see, for example, Amy-Jill Levine, "Ruth," in Newsom and Ringe (eds.), The Women's Bible Commentary, pp.78-84. The usual interpretation, as given here, is that Ruth is told to uncover Boaz's genitals, but see Kirsten Nielsen, "Other Writings," in McKenzie and Graham (eds.), The Hebrew Bible Today, pp.175-176, where it is argued that Ruth is to uncover herself.
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Coogan 2008, p. 8.
Jump up ^ Ruth 1:1
Jump up ^ New International Version
Jump up ^ Atteridge 2006, p. 383.
^ Jump up to: a b c d West 2003, p. 209.
Jump up ^ New King James Version, footnote to Ruth 4:1.
Jump up ^ Ruth 4:1, accessed 11 March 2017
Jump up ^ Hubbard 1988, p. 23.
Jump up ^ Leith 2007, p. 391.
^ Jump up to: a b Grabbe 2004, p. 105.
Jump up ^ West 2003, p. 211.
Jump up ^ West 2003, p. 210.
^ Jump up to: a b Allen 1996, p. 521-522.
^ Jump up to: a b Grabbe 2004, p. 312.
Jump up ^ Irwin 2008, p. 699.
Bibliography[edit]
Allen, Leslie C. (1996). "Ruth". In LaSor, William Sanford; Hubbard, David Allan; Bush, Frederic William; et al. Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837882.
Atteridge, Harold W. (2006). The HarperCollins Study Bible. HarperCollins.
Coogan, Michael D. (2008). A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195332728.
Grabbe, Lester L. (2004). The History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 1: Yehud, the Persian Province of Judah. Continuum. pp. 105 & 312. ISBN 9780567089984.
Hubbard, Robert L. Jr. (1988). The Book of Ruth. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802825261.
Irwin, B.P. (2008). "Ruth 4: Person". In Longman, Tremper; Enns, Peter. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830817832.
Leith, Mary Joan Winn (2007). "Ruth". In Coogan, Michael D.; Brettler, Marc Zvi; Newsom, Carol Ann; et al. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195288803.
West, Gerald (2003). "Ruth". In Dunn, James D.G.; Rogerson, John William. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837110.
External links[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Ruth (Bible)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Book of Ruth.
Jewish translations and study guides
Ruth at Mechon Mamre – (Jewish Publication Society of America Version)
Jewish Virtual Library
Jewish Encyclopedia
Ruth – English translation [with Rashi commentary]
Christian translations and study guides
The Kinsman Redeemer
Online Bible – GospelHall.org
Biblegateway
Bible Study on Cross-Cultural Love – InterVarsity website
Book of Ruth public domain audiobook at LibriVox Various versions
Encyclopedic entries
Catholic Encyclopedia
Book of Ruth
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Preceded by
Song of Songs Hebrew Bible Succeeded by
Lamentations
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Judges Christian
Old Testament Succeeded by
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text:
I Vow to Thee, My Country
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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I Vow to Thee, My Country
Genre
Hymn
Written
1921
Text
Cecil Spring-Rice
Meter
13.13.13.13 D
Melody
"Thaxted" by Gustav Holst
"I Vow to Thee, My Country" is a British patriotic hymn,[1][2] created in 1921, when a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice was set to music by Gustav Holst.
Contents
1 History
2 Tune
3 Lyrics
4 Contemporary use
5 Notes
6 External links
History[edit]
Cecil Spring Rice
The origin of the hymn's text is a poem by diplomat Cecil Spring Rice, written in 1908 or 1912, entitled Urbs Dei ("The City of God") or The Two Fatherlands. The poem described how a Christian owes his loyalties to both his homeland and the heavenly kingdom.
In 1908, Spring Rice was posted to the British Embassy in Stockholm. In 1912, he was appointed as Ambassador to the United States of America, where he influenced the administration of Woodrow Wilson to abandon neutrality and join Britain in the war against Germany. After the United States entered the war, he was recalled to Britain. Shortly before his departure from the US in January 1918, he re-wrote and renamed Urbs Dei, significantly altering the first verse to concentrate on the themes of love and sacrifice rather than "the noise of battle" and "the thunder of her guns", creating a more sombre tone in view of the dreadful loss of life suffered in the Great War. The first verse in both versions invoke Britain (in the 1912 version, anthropomorphised as Britannia with sword and shield; in the second version, simply called "my country"); the second verse, the Kingdom of Heaven.
According to Sir Cecil's granddaughter, the rewritten verse of 1918 was never intended to appear alongside the first verse of the original poem but was replacing it; the original first verse is nevertheless sometimes known as the "rarely sung middle verse".[3] The text of the original poem was sent by Spring Rice to William Jennings Bryan in a letter shortly before his death in February 1918.[4]
The poem circulated privately for a few years, until it was set to music by Holst, to a tune he adapted from his Jupiter to fit the words of the poem. It was performed as a unison song with orchestra in the early 1920s, and it was finally published as a hymn in 1925/6 in the Songs of Praise hymnal (no. 188).
It was included in later hymnals, including:[5]
Publication
Year
No.
Songs of praise: enlarged edition 1931 319
Methodist Hymn Book 1933 900
Songs of Praise for America 1938 43
The Book of Common Praise: being the hymn book of The Church of England in Canada 1939 805
Hymns Ancient & Modern, Revised 1950 579
Songs of Praise for Schools 1957 49
Church Hymnal, Fourth Edition 1960 312
Hymns Ancient & Modern, New Standard Edition 1983 295
Common Praise: A new edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern 2000 355
Church Hymnary (4th ed.) 2005 704
Tune[edit]
Main article: Thaxted (tune)
The tune "Thaxted"
Gustav Holst's "Jupiter" theme from The Planets (Duration: 2 min 39 s)
In 1921, Gustav Holst adapted the music from a section of Jupiter from his suite The Planets to create a setting for the poem. The music was extended slightly to fit the final two lines of the first verse. At the request of the publisher Curwen, Holst made a version as a unison song with orchestra (Curwen also published Sir Hubert Parry's unison song with orchestra, "Jerusalem"). This was probably first performed in 1921 and became a common element at Armistice memorial ceremonies, especially after it was published as a hymn in 1926.[6]
In 1926, Holst harmonised the tune to make it usable as a hymn, which was included in the hymnal Songs of Praise.[7] In that version, the lyrics were unchanged, but the tune was then called "Thaxted" (named after the village where Holst lived for many years). The editor of the new (1926) edition of Songs of Praise was Holst's close friend Ralph Vaughan Williams, which may have provided the stimulus for Holst's co-operation in producing the hymn.
Holst's daughter Imogen recorded that, at "the time when he was asked to set these words to music, Holst was so over-worked and over-weary that he felt relieved to discover they 'fitted' the tune from Jupiter".[8]
Lyrics[edit]
The hymn as printed in Songs of Praise (1925) consisted only of the two verses of the 1918 version, credited "Words: Cecil Spring-Rice, 1918; Music: Thaxted", as follows:[9]
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
The final line of the second verse is based on Proverbs 3:17, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace" (KJV), in the context of which the feminine pronoun refers to Wisdom.
The original first verse of Spring-Rice's poem Urbs Dei/The Two Father Lands (1908–1912), never set to music, was as follows:[10]
I heard my country calling, away across the sea,
Across the waste of waters, she calls and calls to me.
Her sword is girded at her side, her helmet on her head,
And around her feet are lying the dying and the dead;
I hear the noise of battle, the thunder of her guns;
I haste to thee, my mother, a son among thy sons.
Contemporary use[edit]
I Vow to Thee, My Country is popularly sung at Remembrance Day services
Further information: Thaxted (tune) § Other uses
First performed in 1921, it is still associated with Remembrance Day services all over the Commonwealth of Nations.[11]
It was sung at the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill on 30 January 1965.
Diana, Princess of Wales, requested that the hymn be sung at her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981, saying that it had "always been a favourite since schooldays". It was also sung at her funeral in 1997 and her tenth year memorial service in 2007.[12] It is included on the BBC Recording of the Funeral Service.
It was quoted by Margaret Thatcher in 1988 in her Sermon on the Mound to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
It was sung at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher on 17 April 2013.[13]
In August 2004, Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Hulme criticised the hymn in a diocese newsletter, calling it "heretical".[14]
It featured in the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
It was played at former Prime Minister of Australia Gough Whitlam's state funeral service in 2014.
Was sung at the Centenary Memorial of the Battle of Delville Wood in 2016 at St Andrews College, Grahamstown in South Africa.
It is the school hymn of St Paul's Girls' School, Wykeham House School and The Diocesan College,[15] and the "house hymn" of Edith Nainby at Havergal College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[16]
Julian Mitchell's 1981 play Another Country, and the 1984 film of the same name, derive their titles from the words of the second stanza of I Vow to Thee, My Country.[17]
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Jessica Elgot (2013-11-10). "'I Vow To Thee My Country' Could Be 'Obscene', Says Church Of England Vicar Gordon Giles". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
Jump up ^ Doughty, Steve (2013-11-09). "Patriotic hymn I Vow To Thee My Country are 'almost obscene' and not fit for Christians | Daily Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
Jump up ^ "Cecil Spring-Rice: Singing the Unsung Hero". Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 4 June 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
Jump up ^ Bernard Simon, This memorial is poetic justice for Sir Cecil Spring-Rice The Telegraph, 31 May 2013. Mark Browse, O Little Town: Hymn-tunes and the places that inspired them (2015), p. 69.
Jump up ^ editions cited after Harry Plantinga, hymnary.org
Jump up ^ "I Vow to Thee, My Country". G4 Central. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
Jump up ^ Vaughan Williams & Shaw, Songs of Praise, Oxford University Press 1926
Jump up ^ Holst, Imogen (1974). A Thematic Catalogue of Gustav Holst's Music. Faber. p. 145.
Jump up ^ Songs of Praise (1925), no. 188; c.f. oremus.org (online transcription)
Jump up ^ published in 1929 in The Letters and Friendships of Sir Cecil Spring Rice (p. 433).
Jump up ^ "The sound of silence". BBC News Online. 14 November 2005. Retrieved 20 April 2007.
Jump up ^ "I vow to thee, my Country". 15 March 2015. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012.
Jump up ^ "What time is Margaret Thatcher's funeral? Guest list, date, cost, travel and all the details". 16 April 2013.
Jump up ^ "According to the Daily Telegraph, Bishop Lowe claimed the rise in English nationalism had parallels "with the rise of Nazism. Later, he told Sky News that the paper had misreported him when it said he had called for the hymn to be banned. [...] A spokesman for the Church of England said the bishop was entitled to his own opinions. " Mark Oliver, Hymn has racist overtones, says bishop, The Guardian 12 August 2004. Gerry Hanson, Patriotism and sacrifice. The Diocese of Oxford Reporter, 28 September 2004. Today programme (13 August 2004). "I Vow To Thee My Country". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 31 August 2007. Hanson, Gerry (28 September 2004). "Patriotism and Sacrifice". Diocese of Oxford Reporter. Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
Jump up ^ "St Paul's Girls' School".
Jump up ^ Robinson, Shirleene; Sleight, Simon (17 November 2015). Children, Childhood and Youth in the British World. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137489418.
Jump up ^ Childs, Peter (2006). Texts: Contemporary Cultural Texts and Critical Approaches: Contemporary Cultural Texts and Critical Approaches. Edinburgh University Press. p. 101. ISBN 9780748629183. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
External links[edit]
I Vow to Thee, My Country at CyberHymnal.
I Vow to Thee, My Country at Hymnary.org.
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