Ruth and Esther: Divergent Narratives, Convergent Narratology

For a fuller treatment of the two books, see the introductions to Adele Berlin, The JPS Bible Commentary: Esther (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2001), and Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2011). The comparison between the books is somewhat touched upon by P. Meltsar, Ruth, Da’at HaMikra, Ḥamesh Megillot (Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook, 1990), 21–22. The issue of the comparability of the two is taken up by Orit Avnery, Liminal Women: Belonging and Otherness in the Books of Ruth and Esther (Hebrew) (Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem 2015); she takes a feminist perspective that hardly overlaps with this study. Kudos to Rabbi Dovid Shapiro, Michael Bohnen, Mitchell First, and the editors for their improvements.

For Esther, see Berlin, The JPS Bible Commentary: Esther, p. xli; for Ruth, see Eskenazi and Frymer-Kensky, The JPS Bible Commentary: Ruth, pp. xvii-xviii.

Even in the Bible, the two books lack linkage. In the Protestant Bible, following the Septuagint, their locations conform to their historical context. Ruth is placed near the beginning of the historical section between the Book of Judges and Samuel; Esther is placed near the end between Nehemiah and Job. In the current Jewish version of the Bible, following medieval Ashkenazi manuscripts, the Books of Ruth and Esther are placed with the other three Megillot or Scrolls but not juxtaposed. The five are ordered according to their lectionary use in the synagogue, starting with the Song of Songs for Pesach, Ruth for Shavuot, Lamentations for Tishah B’Av, Ecclesiastes for Sukkot, and finally Esther for Purim. Other traditions resort to a presumed chronological order. The Talmud (b. Baba Batra 14b) places Ruth at the beginning of the Writings, right before Psalms, likely due to the connection of both to David.

The lack of explicit God-directedness correlates with the other historical biblical books of the Persian period, such as Ezra and Nehemiah and, of course, Esther, in contrast to the pronounced presence of God in Samuel and Kings of the classical biblical period.

God’s blessing is also invoked in Ruth (1:8–9, 2:4, 20, 3:10, 4:14) and God’s aid is evoked (1:9, 2:12).

Editor’s note: On the absence of God in the Hebrew book of Esther, see Sara Japhet, “Survival and Revival: Megillat Esther and Ezra-Nehemiah,” TheTorah (2015); on the addition of God to the Greek version of Esther, see Aaron Koller, “A More Religious Megillah: The Jewish-Greek Version of Esther,” TheTorah (2014).

Even Orpah, Naomi’s second widowed daughter-in-law, and Vashti have their parallels. Orpah serves as Ruth’s foil; Vashti serves as Esther’s foil. Orpah and Vashti vacate the stage. Ruth and Esther occupy center stage.

Ruth evokes the salvific mid-night of the Exodus by using the identical expression of the Exodus (12:29):וַיְהִי בַּחֲצִי הַלַּיְלָה, “at mid-night.”

See Rashi, Esther 5:4, 6:1, along with Alshikh and Alkabetz, ad loc., in Sefaria.

By the end of chapter 9, they appear as coregents albeit with a subtle variance. At 9:29, Esther’s name precedes Mordechai’s, whereas at 9:31 Mordechai’s name precedes Esther’s. Esther appears alone at 9:32.

^{רות ד:יד} וַתֹּאמַרְנָה הַנָּשִׁים אֶל נָעֳמִי בָּרוּךְ יְ־הוָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא הִשְׁבִּית לָךְ גֹּאֵל הַיּוֹם וְיִקָּרֵא שְׁמוֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל.

^{Ruth 4:14} And the women said to Naomi: “Blessed be YHWH who has not deprived you of a redeemer today. May he achieve renown in Israel.”

In fact, Haman falls before Esther (7:8).

See Esther 8:11.

There might even be some correlation in the fact that Ruth ends with the planting of the seeds of the Judean monarchy while Esther ends with the Jewish integration into the Persian monarchy.

See Berlin, The JPS Bible Commentary to Esther, p. xxiv.

According to ancient authorities, this portends negatively for both (b. Megillah 10b).

The book of Esther also uses another phrase to express the same idea:

^{אסתר ב:יז} וַיֶּאֱהַב הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת אֶסְתֵּר מִכָּל הַנָּשִׁים וַתִּשָּׂא חֵן וָחֶסֶד לְפָנָיו....

^{Esth 2:17} The king loved Esther more than all the other women, as she gained his favor and grace....

That Esther is favored is reiterated later:

^{אסתר ה:ב} וַיְהִי כִרְאוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת אֶסְתֵּר הַמַּלְכָּה עֹמֶדֶת בֶּחָצֵר נָשְׂאָה חֵן בְּעֵינָי....

^{Esth 5:2} As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she gained his favor....

Also connecting the two narratives is their distinctive use of קים as “legally authorizing” (from the root קום, “to arise”; see Ruth 4:7; Esth 9:21, 29, 31, 32), a sense that is elsewhere matched only in the Aramaic of Daniel (קימה in 6:8). The verb, and the related adjective, elsewhere carries the sense of “established, valid, fulfilled.” See Ezekiel 13:6; Psalm 119:28, 106; Daniel 4:23; 6:16, 27. The four occurrences in Daniel and Esther reflect its frequency in post-exilic Hebrew.

As confirmed by Moses’s metaphorical use in Numbers 11:12.

See 2 Samuel 4:4; 2 Kings 10:1, 5; Isaiah 49:12, 60:4.

See Psalms 104:27, 119:166, 145:15.

Ruth uses a form of the verb שב, “return,” some twelve times in chapter one, about half of which refer to returning to the land. Its repetition of the lexeme גאל, “redeem,” twenty-one times (nine as a noun and twelve as a verb) is concentrated in the last two chapters. The repeated mention of redemption, albeit of individuals and land, cannot help but allude to that of the people in its land constituting real redemption. The term is just too repercussive to be contained in or restrained by its denotation, especially in the light of: (1) the echoes of Exodus’s אָנֹכִי יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים, “I YHWH am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage” (20:2) in the formulation of Ruth: וּגְאַלְתִּיךְ אָנֹכִי חַי יְ־הוָה, “I will redeem you, as YHWH lives!” (3:13); (2) Ruth’s redemptive allusion in וַיְהִי בַּחֲצִי הַלַּיְלָה, “At mid-night,” (3:8) to the final plague in Exodus (12:29); and (3) the revealing double mention of the genealogical line of David (4:17b, 22) making “David” the final word. The redemptive resonances of גאל are most audible in כִּי גֹאֵל אָתָּה, “you are the redeemer” (3:9), and in the reverberating speech of the local women after Obed’s birth—בָּרוּךְ יְ־הוָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא הִשְׁבִּית לָךְ גֹּאֵל הַיּוֹם וְיִקָּרֵא שְׁמוֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, “Blessed be YHWH who has not deprived you of a redeemer today. May he be renowned in Israel” (4:14)—thereby intimating not so subtly the to-be Davidic role in the redemption of Israel. The combination of גֹּאֵל with וְיִקָּרֵא שְׁמוֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל is the clincher. The standard way of naming is merely יִקָּרֵא שְׁמוֹ, “he named him” (e.g., וַתִּקְרֶאנָה שְׁמוֹ עוֹבֵד, “they named him Obed,” in v. 17), whereas וְיִקָּרֵא שְׁמוֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל is unique to Ruth (albeit close to the related formulation of Deut 25:10), intimating that the גֹּאֵל that emerges on the horizon today is to be renowned in Israel. This conforms to the usage of the comparable terminology in Isaiah’s redemption-oriented verse:

^{ישׁעיה נד:ה} כִּי בֹעֲלַיִךְ עֹשַׂיִךְ יְ־הוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁמוֹ וְגֹאֲלֵךְ קְדוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלֹהֵי כָל־הָאָרֶץ יִקָּרֵא.

^{Isa 54:5} For He who made you will espouse you—His name is YHWH of Hosts. The Holy One of Israel will redeem you—He is called “God of all the Earth.”

The Ruth reference thus far exceeds the otherwise unknown Obed. Limiting גֹּאֵל to Obed who somehow redeems Naomi, his mother’s mother-in-law, with which he has no blood relationship, is an unattested usage unable to account for either denotation or connotation. This leads to the allusive possibility that the “redemption” encompasses also the return to the Land. This is all the more likely were Ruth composed in the Persian period.

This builds on Esther’s use of biblical motifs especially that of the Joseph story; see Berlin, The JPS Bible Commentary: Esther, pp. xxxvii, lvi-lvii. Note specifically Esther’s contraction and inversion of יֵּט אֵלָיו חָסֶד וַיִּתֵּן חִנּוֹ, “he extended kindness to him and gave his favor,” for Joseph (Gen 39:21) into the unique biblical use of חֵן וָחֶסֶד for Esther (2:17), where, adhering to classical usage, the shorter term precedes.

For the prior application to Esther, see Rashi, b. Pesahim 108b.

אין הדורות נגאלים אלא בזכות נשים צדקניות שבדור, “Generations are only redeemed by the virtue of righteous women in the generation” (Midrash Ruth Zuta 4.11, ed. S. Buber, p. 48).

Editor’s note: See Moshe Lavee and Shana Strauch-Schick, “The ‘Egyptian’ Midwives,” TheTorah (2015).