Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

James, basically, your all argument boils down to a simple one -- Had the
story been written later than David, it would have included at least Solomon
as well.  Well, the simple reason is that the genealogy of David's descendants
might have been so well known.  It was David who was considered the head
of the dynasty -- thus the Messiah is a descendant of David, and God's
promise is voiced in terms of David -- the light of David.  So David was a
significant figure that adding anyone else might detract from the message
of the story.  Ruth and Boaz were ancestors to David, the most righteous
king.

Additionally, you bring up Ruth 1:1.  You suggest that "three generations
is a fair chunk of time."  What is your evidence for this?  Anyway, the
last judges were Samuel's children -- see 1 Sam 8:1.  So it is quite clear
that "the days of the judges" were less than three generations away
during the time of David, at least as far as the Bible describes it.

In the now closed Gen 36 thread (named in honor of Genesis 30), you made
a strong point about searching the history for the most appropriate time.  So
yes, you could theorize that there were some people who objected on
account of David's ancestry.  But if so, where are their voices?  Why does
Saul never says -- "Listen guys, he is a Moabite.  He can't come in our camp.
Forever!"  Why doesn't he point to David's hero (1 Chr 11:46) and say, "Look
at Itmah! his hero is a Moabite!"  None of this is described.

In contrast, in Nehemiah's day we do see it described.  So if we had to
take the most appropriate time period, we would choose Nehemiah's
day, because now we don't have to theorize there were Moabites trying
to gain legitimacy.  We know it!

Yitzhak Sapir