Shaddai, Providence, And The Narrative Structure Of Ruth -- By: Terrance R. Wardlaw, Jr.

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 58:1 (Mar 2015)
Article: Shaddai, Providence, And The Narrative Structure Of Ruth
Author: Terrance R. Wardlaw, Jr.


Shaddai, Providence, And The Narrative Structure Of Ruth

Terrance R. Wardlaw Jr.*

* Terrance R. Wardlaw is a linguist and translator with SIL International, 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, TX 75236.

The themes of faithfulness and divine providence have drawn many to the book of Ruth through the centuries. In particular, Brevard Childs concluded that the major purpose of the canonical shape of Ruth is to show the ways of God in the life of one family. Childs focused on the speech of Naomi when he observed that:

The original story was structured around a theological issue, as is evident from Naomi’s discourse (1.21f.): ‘I went away full and Yahweh has brought me back empty … the Almighty has brought calamity upon me!’ The mysterious ways of God form the major thread of the plot in chs. 2 and 3 (2.12, 20; 3.10, 13), and culminate in the blessing in 4.14. All the features which make up the qualities of a good story bear witness to God at work.1

Similarly, Robert Hubbard finds that this book “portrays God as involved in life’s ordinary affairs; indeed, they are exactly the arena in which he chooses to operate. It describes how God works through, not despite, the everyday faithfulness of his people.”2

However, this traditional understanding runs counter to many recent literary and feminist readings of the book of Ruth where there is either a minimization of the divine or a preoccupation with human characterization to the exclusion of the divine. For example, in his folklorist work, Jack Sasson concludes that

of the twenty-four references to a divine figure, only two could be considered as contributing to the development of the tale. These two instances, it is interesting to note, occur at the tale’s extremities: The first occurs in 1:6, in which God’s grace to the Bethlehemites sets Naomi (and the story) in motion; the second is recorded in 4:13, in which Ruth’s pregnancy is permitted by God.3

Similarly, feminist readings tend to focus upon gender issues from a humanist perspective rather than exhibiting sensitivity to how the canonical shape of the book of Ruth portrays the providence of God in relation to both men and women.

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