NEW STUDIES IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY 41

Series editor: D. A. Carson

Unceasing kindness

A BIBLICAL THEOLOGY OF RUTH

Peter H. W. Lau and Gregory Goswell

InterVarsity Press

downers grove, illinois 60515

APOLLOS (an imprint of Inter-Varsity Press, England)

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London SW1P 4ST, England

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Email: ivp@ivpbooks.com

InterVarsity Press, USA

P.O. Box 1400

Downers Grove, IL 60515, USA

Website: www.ivpress.com

Email: email@ivpress.com

© Peter H. W. Lau and Gregory Goswell 2016

Peter H. W. Lau and Gregory Goswell have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Authors of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press.

InterVarsity Press®, USA, is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA® and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Website: www.intervarsity.org.

Inter-Varsity Press, England, originated within the Inter-Varsity Fellowship, now the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, a student movement connecting Christian Unions in universities and colleges throughout Great Britain, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. Website: www.uccf.org.uk. That historic association is maintained, and all senior IVP staff and committee members subscribe to the UCCF Basis of Faith.

Unless stated otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Scripture quotation marked nrsv is from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

First published 2016

USA ISBN 978-0-8308-2642-1 (print)

USA ISBN 978-0-8308-9175-7 (digital)

UK ISBN 978-1-78359-448-1 (print)

UK ISBN 978-1-78359-453-5 (digital)

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Contents

Series preface

Authors’ preface

Abbreviations

1 Introduction

2 Reading Ruth in the early restoration period

Inclusion or exclusion

The law and the practice of ḥesed

God’s sovereignty and human initiative

The temple and prayer

The kingdom of God and the Davidic kings

Conclusion

3 Ruth and the house of David

Royal promise

The differing canonical positions of the book of Ruth

Ruth between Judges and Samuel

The David connection

The genealogy leading to David

The hidden polemic of the book of Judges

Rereading the book of Ruth

Divine providence

Kindness, human and divine

Conclusion

4 Ruth as a wise woman

The book of Ruth in the Writings

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UK:BTR

About Unceasing Kindness: A Biblical Theology of Ruth

The Old Testament book of Ruth is understandably a firm favorite in the church for small-group study and preaching: a heart-warming story of loyalty and love, a satisfying tale of a journey from famine to fullness. In the academy, the book has been a testing ground for a variety of hermeneutical approaches, and many different ways of interpreting it have been put forward. However, the single interpretative lens missing is the one that is most beneficial for the church: biblical theology. While commentaries have adopted a biblical-theological approach of one form or another, there has not been a detailed treatment of the themes in Ruth from that perspective until now.

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