RUTH
Apollos Old Testament Commentary
By L. Daniel Hawk
IVP / Apollos. 166 pages. £19.99
ISBN 978 1 783 593 071
This is a technical commentary, with a focus on literary devices.
The introduction is helpful for situating the book. Particularly interesting was the comparison between Ruth and several other OT women. However, the author approaches Ruth from the perspective that it was written as a polemical argument against the Ezra/Nehemiah reforms, which seems to pit Ruth against Ezra/Nehemiah in arguing for/against inter-marriage. Hawk’s arguments are not totally convincing on this. What’s more they leave one questioning the historical reliability of Ruth and hence biblical inspiration. Also worrying, however, is Hawk’s argument that ‘Ruth portrays God at work in response to rather than as the cause of human acts of blessing and hesed.’ One could read a hint of the prosperity gospel. Needless to say, Hawk’s theology influences how Ruth is interpreted.
Helpful but severely deficient
The commentary proper is helpful on the Hebrew text, in highlighting how the literary devices tell the story and in focusing our attention on details we might miss. However, as with the other Apollos commentaries, it can be repetitive as you move from ‘Notes on the text’, to ‘Form and structure’, to ‘Comment’, to ‘Explanation’.
The Explanation sections touch on areas of application, but they are far from exhaustive. Chapter 1 mentions immigration in passing, before tackling theodicy. Also, strikingly, the focus is on Naomi, not Ruth. In chapter 2, the Ezra inter-marriage issue surfaces. Immigration is the sole area of application. Chapter 3 broaches the topic of relations between rich and poor. Chapter 4 attempts to speak about how OT laws are applied in narrative and once more inter-marriage becomes the focus. But most concerning is that Hawk fails to point us to Christ. In that sense the book is severely deficient.
If you are after a commentary on Ruth, don’t let this one be your only one.
