For those who see the Book of Ruth as a fiction, we encounter two more names that may be descriptive into the story. Part of the picture also has to hang on whether the names are their Moab-given names or Israeli appropriate names. Tales are common of Europeans arriving in the United States being renamed at the immigration desk because it was convenient for the government clerks. Similarly, an alien or otherwise meaningless name might get changed when telling of Moab in Israel. Not knowing otherwise, we proceed with what we do know and hope we are close. In that same fashion, the minimalist will find excuse to use the names of Naomi’s two daughters-in-law as telling part of the story, chosen for some effect.
The two sons of Naomi each took a wife while they were in Moab. One was Orpah, which is either the nape of the neck, a horse’s mane (hair), or simply a great head of hair. Considering that she would have been named at birth or shortly afterward, Orpah either was not a bald-headed baby or the name was some sort of mockery. It is possible that she was simply child, as in girl child, and did not merit a name until some attribute were recognized later.
Ruth, similarly, was given an interesting name. Assuming it actually represents what her parents named her Ruth was essentially given a blessing of very high hopes. Her name, rab, is also used as an expression of great numbers or strength through numbers elsewhere in the Old Testament. In what Israel calls the Prophets, and Christian circles call the History books, rab is merely abundant or many (see 1 Samuel 2:5 as one of numerous uses).
There is also the aspect of chronology. The Scriptures are famous and famously frustrating for the handling of time. This is one of the precious few places where anything specific is provided for time: ten years. With the minimalist treatment of Ruth as fiction, it because a distraction. The maximalist sees the ten years as yet another clue that we are speaking of distinct and discrete events that are founded upon fact, not fiction.
Commentary by Larry Swinford Posted on:
5/20/2009 20:18 pm
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For those who see the Book of Ruth as a fiction, we encounter two more names that may be descriptive into the story. Part of the picture also has to hang on whether the names are their Moab-given names or Israeli appropriate names. Tales are common of Europeans arriving in the United States being renamed at the immigration desk because it was convenient for the government clerks. Similarly, an alien or otherwise meaningless name might get changed when telling of Moab in Israel. Not knowing otherwise, we proceed with what we do know and hope we are close. In that same fashion, the minimalist will find excuse to use the names of Naomi’s two daughters-in-law as telling part of the story, chosen for some effect.
The two sons of Naomi each took a wife while they were in Moab. One was Orpah, which is either the nape of the neck, a horse’s mane (hair), or simply a great head of hair. Considering that she would have been named at birth or shortly afterward, Orpah either was not a bald-headed baby or the name was some sort of mockery. It is possible that she was simply child, as in girl child, and did not merit a name until some attribute were recognized later.
Ruth, similarly, was given an interesting name. Assuming it actually represents what her parents named her Ruth was essentially given a blessing of very high hopes. Her name, rab, is also used as an expression of great numbers or strength through numbers elsewhere in the Old Testament. In what Israel calls the Prophets, and Christian circles call the History books, rab is merely abundant or many (see 1 Samuel 2:5 as one of numerous uses).
There is also the aspect of chronology. The Scriptures are famous and famously frustrating for the handling of time. This is one of the precious few places where anything specific is provided for time: ten years. With the minimalist treatment of Ruth as fiction, it because a distraction. The maximalist sees the ten years as yet another clue that we are speaking of distinct and discrete events that are founded upon fact, not fiction.