Popis: |
Modern discussion of social issues provides an analogy to the historical and cultural analysis of Old Testament narratives by contemporary readers. Implied and expressed tensions regarding multiethnic marriage in the books of Ruth, Ezra, and Nehemiah are discussed as ways to understand the social contexts influencing these three books and how various generations in ancient Israel might have responded to the accounts, given these tensions. Interpreters have proposed that the book of Ruth originated as a story to counter the rejection of marriage to foreign women presented in the books of Ezra and that proposal is examined for its strengths and weaknesses and as an example of exploring the world behind a text. |