Theodoret of Cyrus

In his own words on Ruth

• Ruth 1:16

  The constancy of Ruth, who because of the piety of her spirit and the memory of her husband preferred to her parents a woman worn out in old age and laboring in poverty, is praiseworthy.

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH

• Ruth 2:12

  The blessing followed as Boaz said it would. For Ruth received the full reward from God, so that she was the progenitor of the blessing of the nations.

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH

• Ruth 2:12

  The story of Boaz also teaches us about virtue. For he not only liberally shares his grain with Ruth but also consoles her with words. Not only does he share food with her but also was himself the minister of his kindness; so that whoever does not order another person to be his minister, but prepares the flour and bread himself, will have given very liberally indeed.

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH

• Ruth 2:20

  With a heart thankful for the remembrance of kindness, Naomi rewarded the absent benefactor of her daughter-in-law with a blessing. For she said, "May he who has acknowledged you be blessed, for he has filled an empty soul by doing what he did. He took notice not of poverty but only of the Lawgiver, who ordered that widows be shown care."

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH

• Ruth 3:1-4

  What does Naomi suggest to her daughter-in-law? When Ruth heard her mother-in-law saying, "Our neighbor is a true man," she was reminded of his great kindness and thought to want him [to be] married to her in law, so that she might keep up the memory of the dead. Therefore, she [Naomi] suggests to her that she sleep at Boaz's feet, not that she might sell her body (for the words of the narrative signify the opposite); rather, she trusts the man's temperance and judgment. Moreover, the actions corroborate the words.

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH

• Ruth 3:10

  He praised Ruth's deed and, moreover, he did not betray temperance, but he kept to the law of nuptial congress. "You show by your deed," he said, "that this was not done out of voluptuousness. In fact, you might have gone to those who are young and blooming, with only the intent of enjoying voluptuousness, but you went to the man who stands in place of a father to you." Twice indeed, he calls her daughter.

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH

• Ruth 4:1-6

  The man was so virtuous that he did not rush into a marriage outside the law, but he spoke with his neighbors about the marriage. However, his words are also worthy of admiration. For his first words were not about the marriage but about the possession of fields, etc. Moreover, when, on account of the prospective marriage he [the relative] in fact refused the contract for the land and indeed took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz, in accordance with the law, Boaz then took Ruth to be his wife. Furthermore, because he was not serving lust, he took her in the spirit that one should take a wife, and his words also showed themselves worthy of praise, You are witnesses today, etc. "I do not," he said, "transgress the law in marrying a Moabite woman; rather, I diligently fulfill divine law, so that the memory of the dead is not extinguished."

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH

• Ruth 4:11

  The elders confirmed the marriage with a blessing, saying, "The Lord made this woman," etc. Moreover, "So that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrathah," they predicted the salvific birth through which Bethlehem was made famous among all people.

  QUESTIONS ON RUTH