Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Outline
  I. Naomi's predicament ch. 1A. The deaths of Naomi's husband and sons 1:1-5B. Naomi's inability to provide husbands for Ruth and Orpah 1:6-14C. Ruth's profession of faith in Yahweh 1:15-18D. Naomi's weak faith 1:19-21E. Hope ...
• I. NAOMI'S PREDICAMENT ch. 1
  As is often true in literature, the structure of the piece sometimes reveals the purpose of the writer. This is certainly the case in the Book of Ruth. The writer constructed the whole book with a chiastic (crossing) structur...
• II. NAOMI AND RUTH'S PLANS chs. 2--3
  Chapter 1 in a sense prepares for chapters 2-4 that constitute the heart of the book. Chapter 1 presents a problem, but chapters 2-4 provide the solution. The key to the solution on the human level was the planning of Naomi a...
• B. The plan to obtain seed ch. 3
  Having obtained food and safety the two women could look beyond their immediate physical needs to their greater need. Whereas Ruth took the initiative in proposing a plan to obtain food (2:2), Naomi now suggested a plan to ge...
• 2. Ruth's encouragement and Boaz's response 3:6-13
  Ruth carried out Naomi's instructions exactly, further demonstrating her loyal love to her mother-in-law, and encouraged Boaz to pursue the possibility of marriage (vv. 6-9)."Note that the threshingfloor was a public place an...
• 3. Ruth's return to Naomi 3:14-18
  Ruth had risked danger by sleeping on the threshing floor (v. 14). Other people might have seen her and assumed that something bad was taking place. Evidently some of Boaz's reapers were aware of her presence, but Boaz told t...
• B. Boaz obtains the right to marry Ruth 4:7-12
  Probably the practice of standing on land one possessed led to the custom of using the sandal as a symbol of possession in land transactions (v. 7; cf. Gen. 13:17; Deut. 1:36; 11:24; Josh. 1:3; 14:9).80Most scholars believe t...