Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

First, I think we should look at the way the book presents itself before
considering other factors for dating the book. Verses 17b to 22 may well
have been added to the book at a later date but they seem to suggest that
the book can be no later than the time of David. The book in its entirety
seems to have little value other than a story of David's lineage. Of course,
no great percentage of Israel's populace would be particularly interested in
David's lineage until he had become king. The tradition that Samuel wrote
this book would seem to fit and I see no great reason why we should doubt
it. Obviously, the version Samuel wrote may slightly differ from the
canonical version of Ruth but that's a different matter entirely.

I suppose if we are to do a professional job of dating the book we need to
establish boundaries both for late composition and early composition. Its
earliest composition, of course, aside from final comments on David's
lineage could be no earlier than the time of the events themselves. A
version of the story may have circulated in oral tradition or even in
written form until the time of David. It's not every day that something like
this happened so doubtlessly the story was gossiped about. Something like
its final canonical form may well have been penned in David's reign with the
genealogy pinned to the end.

As for establishing a late boundary I'll let the minimalists take over and
present their case. Then we can start taking each statement apart and giving
it a date.

James Christian