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Ruth and Esther are the only two women for whom books of the Hebrew Bible are named. This distinction in itself sets the books apart from other biblical texts that bear male names, address the community through its male members, recall the workings of God and human history through a predominately male perspective, and look to the future through male heirs. These books are particular stories of...

Lamentations names God as the enemy and challenges God’s rejection of God’s people (Lam 2:1–8). Qoheleth questions the futility of human action and throws in the cards before an incomprehensible God (Qoh 3:16–22). Esther lets God off the hook, naming a human enemy and ordering the Jews to thwart a Persian law aimed at Jewish annihilation. In Ruth, whatever happens, God is named. In Esther, whatever happens, humans are accountable. As festival scrolls, the five cross the full range of human experience
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