The תורה in רות – Notes on Judean Literary Onomastics

Abstract

Scholars have long recognized that the proper names in the Book of Ruth are narratively relevant, signaling characters’ and places’ natures, fates, and so on. Nonetheless, the various historical and modern explanations of the name of the book’s protagonist, the Moabite Ruth, are of relatively weak philological and narrative merit and, as such, are in stark contrast to the vivid explanations of many of the other names in the story. This study posits a novel etymology and maintains that the name רות is ultimately derived from the important term תורה .This derivation is grounded in the stylistics practice and the kinds of etymological speculation otherwise evinced by the scribes who composed the Hebrew Bible. Ultimately, the transparent relationship between רות on the one hand and תורה on the other has the potential to impact how the character is to be understood vis-à-vis the issue of the integration of non-Judean wives into the Judean community at the time of the biblical book’s composition.