Old Testament Commentary: Ruth

The Book of Ruth, a humble love story, a endearing tale of customs, a small rural drama full of the flavors of the countryside and the voices of country folk, is also a brilliant literary jewel delicately embedded in the royal crown formed by the sixty-six canonical books of the Bible.

Ruth is not a fable, nor an allegory, but a biblical story that also constitutes an essential link in the royal and messianic genealogy of Israel. But its story, so finely crafted, holds within it a complex symbolic, theological, and existential reality.

This brief chronicle, which narrates the adventures of a Hebrew family in the pre-monarchical period of Israel, holds a prominent place in the history of the world's redemption. In this ingenious narrative, artistic creativity and historical fidelity go hand in hand, merge, and like its protagonists, Boaz and Ruth, under the impulse of the Spirit of God, present to the world a new, living, astonishing, and singular creature.