two women. The first of these is “cling” (davaq). While this verb frequently appears in the Old Testament to describe an individual clinging to God, it appears only eight times in reference to one human clinging to another human (and four of these are in Ruth—1:14; 2:8 [“keep close to”] 2:21, 23 [“stay close by”]). The other four refer to an act of a male: a man leaves father and mother and clings to his wife (Gen. 2:24); Shechem is “drawn” to Dinah the daughter of Jacob (Gen. 34:3); Joshua forbids