Ruth/Esther

Ruth/Esther. By Frederic W. Bush. WBC 9. Dallas: Word, 1996, 514 pp., $29.99.

Bush, professor of ancient Near Eastern Studies at Fuller Seminary, follows the format for his studies of Ruth and Esther contained in this volume that has come to be associated with the widely acclaimed Word Biblical Commentary series. The study begins with a lengthy introduction dealing with questions of canonical status, text, unity, date and authorship, genre and theology. Bush introduces each of his studies with an outline of the book that he uses as the basis for a study of individual pericopes. Each pericope is introduced by an impressive bibliography of relevant studies. Then the author offers his original translation, followed by notes containing the literal Hebrew when it differs from his translation. His notes also include textual variants found in other ancient versions. Next is an excellent technical analysis that will be most helpful to those interested in the structure of each pericope under consideration. It includes detailed diagrams that reveal the carefully composed literary structure, especially the chiastic structure found in both books.

The heart of each study are the comments, verse-by-verse discussions, including explanations of Hebrew words and expressions that clarify their grammatical significance. His comments interact with a wide range of English- and German-language commentaries and scholarly articles that confirm his meticulous homework before attempting his own commentary.

Bush is not reluctant to agree with other scholars' interpretations but argues persuasively when he disagrees with them. As an indication of the thoroughness of his comments, his discussion of a single verse or part of a verse may occupy four, five or more pages. He does not like to read speculative ideas into the narratives (a favorite pursuit of some scholars) that are more than the text can legitimately support.

The final section of Bush's study of each pericope, entitled "Explanation," appears to be a less technical summary of the passage he has just analyzed in detail. For those without the patience or background to benefit from his detailed analysis, his summary will be appreciated and may serve as a reminder that it is easy to lose sight of the forest (the overall picture) by intense focus on the individual trees (detailed critical studies). There is a place for both emphases in a well-balanced study, and Bush has succeeded admirably in maintaining both perspectives.

Bush deals with Ruth and Esther in separate studies, though he occasionally makes comparisons between them (e.g. see pp. 311, 325). In the introduction to the book of Ruth, he concludes that Ruth was written at the beginning of the post-exilic period (p. 30). He wastes few words on the question of the book's authorship because he rightly calls such speculation an "exercise in futility" (p. 17), as no amount of guessing can yield a single valid clue as to the identity of Ruth's author.

Bush is convinced that the determination of genre is "unmistakably of critical importance for the interpretation of the book of Ruth" (p. 32), but at the same time he admits the difficulty of determining genre. He provides an extensive discussion of the genre of Ruth (pp. 30-47), concluding that it could best be called "an edifying short story" (p. 46), rather than a novella, idyll, legend or other designations preferred by some scholars.

Bush deals carefully and responsibly with the three questions that are most often raised in connection with the book of Ruth. (1) He argues that the marriage of Ruth and Boaz was not an example of levirate marriage by pointing out the differences between them (pp. 223-227). (2) He denies the sexually implicit interpretations held by some scholars of the events between Ruth and Boaz at the threshing floor, stating that seducing Boaz would be "totally incompatible" with the character of Ruth and Naomi (p. 165). (3) He argues that 4:18-22 is not a "contradictory and clumsy secondary appendage as it is often interpreted" (p. 267). By affirming the genealogy of 4:18-22 as an integral part of Ruth, rather than a later appendage, Bush concludes that "the book is brought into relationship with the Bible's main theme of redemptive history" (p. 268).

He offers the interesting observation that Naomi, not Ruth, is the central figure in the book of Ruth (p. 252), "the person whose 'trial' really holds the whole story together" (quoting E. F. Campbell, AB 7, p. 168). I am not quite persuaded, however, to abandon Ruth as the central character around whom the events of the book largely revolve.

The same overall commendation that I give to Bush's treatment of the book of Ruth is also appropriate for his study of the book of Esther. Using the same format, Bush first deals with the critical questions associated with Esther. His extensive bibliography is followed by a detailed study of the problem of Esther's acceptance into the canon that continued at least until the end of the third century AD, though he believes Esther had achieved canonicity in the second century BC (p. 276). Although it may have received canonical status early in the Jewish community, early acceptance was withheld among Christians. Bush observes that none of the church fathers wrote a commentary on Esther. It was not until the 9th century that a commentary was devoted to Esther, written by Rhabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz (p. 277).