Talk:Ruth: Difference between revisions

I am removing this incredible claim:

:It is generally believed this book was written to protest the ethnic cleansing policies prevalent during the restoration of [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] under the domination of the [[Persian Empire]]. During that time, there was a strong movement to expel all peoples who were deemed not to have a sufficiently Jewish ancestry to prevent a reemergence of the perceived pollution of foreign faiths that brought God's wrath on the nation.

 

::I don't know why this book was written. Maybe the theory you point out is correct. I do know that many scholars believe that this theory is incorrect. I really don't have a favorite. But to quote from my digi-Rebbe, The Encyclopedia Judaica entry on the Book of Ruth says that this theory "has no basis at all. If the story intended to imply such a tendency this would have come to expression in one way or another in the story itself, for instance, as a reason in the mouth of the kinsman for not marrying Ruth or as an opposition to this reason in the mouth of Boaz. From the literary point of view the story reflects the classical style of Hebrew literature and especially that of the period of United Monarchy, and in contradistinction to the late books like Esther, Ezra Nehemiah, and Chronicles, no post-Exilic linguistic phenomena of real significance can be demonstrated." The EJ goes on to discuss other theories of its purpose, primarilly establishing a geneology for King David. (Encyclopedia Judaica, ''Book of Ruth'', Keter Publishing)