There is much debate about when Ruth was written, but virtually no argument about the time period the story is said to take place: the era of the Judges. One good time marker is that we’re told that Ruth’s father-in-law Elimelech left his home on the west bank of the Jordan to live in Moab because there was a famine in Canaan. We read in Judges 6:3-4 about a severe food shortage caused by the Midianites who came and stole Israel’s food supply and destroyed what they couldn’t carry off. These raids occurred for several years in a row and the effect was fairly widespread. Thus there is good reason to think that the events of the Ruth narrative occurred around the time that Gideon was judging.
Tom Bradford
21 окт 2024
