Who’s the Author?

So he said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your slave. Now spread your garment over your slave, for you are a redeemer.”  Ruth 3:9 NASB

Spread your garment – One of the exegetical assumptions of both Judaism and conservative Christianity is that all of the biblical text is ultimately authored by God.  This idea finds its expression in Judaism’s claim that the Torah, both written and oral, were given to Moses at Sinai.  In Christian circles, it is described as plenary inspiration, that is, every part of the biblical text was “divinely breathed” into the human authors (well, really scribes) of the text.  One of the implications of this idea is that texts from later periods can be used to provide exegesis for texts from earlier periods.  For example, since God is really responsible for all the text, then an idea or claim in the prophets can be used to explain a passage in the time of Moses; or a passage in the Jeremiah can be used to explain that meaning of a text in the Psalms.  These exegetical moves are not “retroactive” because, from God’s perspective, it’s all one piece.  Christians use this same idea to explain something Paul wrote in Galatians by examining his letter to the Romans.  Timeline considerations and theological development are of no concern.

Jonathan Sacks employs this assumption in his discussion of Ruth’s behavior on the threshing floor.

“Naomi assumed that it was for Boaz to take the initiative.  Instead, by saying ‘Spread the corner of your garment over me,’ Ruth was initiating the proposal, telling Boaz that it was his duty to marry her (in Ezekiel 16:8, God says about the people Israel, ‘I spread the corner of My garment over you and covered your nakedness.  I gave you My solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you . . . and you became Mine.’  The gesture was thus a proposal of marriage).  In both cases, in other words, Tamar and Ruth boldly force the pace of events.”[1]

In this case, the use of a phrase in Ezekiel is retroactively applied to the phrase in Ruth.  But Ezekiel wrote between 593 and 571 BCE while Ruth was probably written sometime shortly after David became king, about 1010 BCE.  You see the problem.  Ezekiel might use the same phrase, but in ordinary history, he accesses the idea after it has already entered the culture via Ruth.  Therefore, Ruth’s use comes first, and cannot be re-interpreted retroactively as if timelines made no difference to the development of the thought.  Ruth’s action only becomes a proposal of marriage if we use Ezekiel’s words as the filter.

This might seem trivial in the case of Ruth, but it has significant consequences when we try to understand Moses or Paul.  Later thought is a development of earlier thought, not the other way around.  Unless . . . unless you happen to believe that the people who wrote the text were simply expressing what the true Divine Author put in their heads.  So, who is the author and where did the ideas come from?

Topical Index: plenary inspiration, ubiquity, authorship, Ezekiel 16:8, Ruth 3:9

[1] Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Covenant & Conversation: A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible: Genesis: The Book of Beginnings (Maggid Books & The Orthodox Union, 2009), p. 267.