Tradition says Samuel wrote it. The text doesn't name an author. But someone decided a Moabite widow's story needed to be preserved — and the genealogy at the end shows you why.

In this letter

- The mystery of authorship — Samuel and the Talmudic tradition

- The period of the judges as historical setting

- Why Moabites were forbidden from the assembly of the Lord (Deut 23:3)

- Ruth in the Hebrew Ketuvim (Writings) and the Megillot (festival scrolls)

- Why Ruth is read at Shavuot / Pentecost

- Matthew 1 and the women in the line of Christ

- The family tree of the Messiah, built from outsiders

Scripture

- Ruth 1:1 (the historical setting)

- Deuteronomy 23:3 (the Moabite exclusion)

- Judges 21:25 (the world Ruth was set in)