Hesed in Ruth: A Frail Moral Tool in an Inflexible Social Structure
Scholars have paid much attention to the attribute of hesed in the book of Ruth, pinpointing it as a pivotal feature and the main message of the book. However, the protagonists in the tale do not seem to exhibit hesed out of free will or as part of their natural conduct. They rather resort to such a...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
MDPI
2023
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| In: |
Religions
Year: 2023, Volume: 14, Issue: 5 |
| Further subjects: | B
levirate marriage
B Divine Intervention B Widowhood B social rigidness B foreign women B social mobility B Poverty B Book of Ruth B hesed B patriarchal society B social perversions B endogamy |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Scholars have paid much attention to the attribute of hesed in the book of Ruth, pinpointing it as a pivotal feature and the main message of the book. However, the protagonists in the tale do not seem to exhibit hesed out of free will or as part of their natural conduct. They rather resort to such a maneuver in order to survive and extricate themselves from dire predicaments. This article argues that the virtue of hesed attributed to the protagonists in the book of Ruth reflects a mechanism for surviving in the confining communal structure of the Judean patriarchal society, which allowed limited social mobility. While the actions exhibited in the story can be argued to be an amendment of the previous generations’ perversions, the story effectively accepts and preserves the common inflexible social system. |
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| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel14050604 |