![]() The characters are real people-women and men who struggle and long and wonder and rejoice, just like us. What’s wonderful is that these stories show God’s redemptive work, not in the abstract, but in real live flesh and blood. What we’re seeing is God’s sovereign hand throughout all his earth, drawing people from other nations, and using his people among the nations. Think of these settings in relation to the characters: Ruth is a foreign Moabitess who finds a home among God’s people Esther is one of God’s people called to live in a foreign land. Of course, that’s how stories work: they put characters in certain settings to work out carefully shaped plots. Neither woman is described in physical detail in the text, although we know Esther was smashingly gorgeous.īut I’m guessing you included the settings in your pictures-Ruth perhaps out in the barley fields of Bethlehem, and Esther in the ornate Persian palace. Our pictures might be partially shaped by children’s Sunday school classes long ago, or by art or film representations we’ve taken in. Take a minute and call up pictures of these two women in your imagination. Of course, that’s not the only reason to study them-although God clearly means for us (both men and women) to pay attention to the crucial role of women in the big story of redemption. Ruth and Esther make quite a distinguished pair: they’re the only two books in the Bible named after women. ![]() ![]() This article is part of the Why Study the Book? series. ![]()
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