A long title. I shall have to find a shorter version, but it gets at the challenge we often find in Targumic studies. For those who are not familiar with the Targumim a very simplistic description is this: Aramaic translation of the biblical text PLUS interpretive material. A little more […]
Ruth
39 posts
I had done this ages ago, but apparently failed to do it in Aramaic. I still think it is actually quite a useful tool. The visualization of the frequency of words is interesting. Compare the size of נעמי to רות or בועז.
Other resources for the Book of Ruth, including a short commentary, and its Targum can be found by navigating the menu above. Last month [July 2012] I presented my paper on the conversion of Ruth in Targum Ruth. I noted, in passing, that the Targum also explains why the two […]
I am just reading through an article by my friend Tod Linafelt (“Narrative and Poetic Art in the Book of Ruth,” Interpretation 64:2, 117-129 [2010]). It is a broad and useful reading of Ruth. You may recall from my earlier post I quoted Campbell who said, It is inherent in […]
In response to my earlier post on Campbell‘s comments about characters in the Bible, John asked for a little guidance. “I have just started teaching Ruth on Wednesday nights. If you will, give me a little insight that would improve my job as teacher. We are going through the OT/HB […]
I thought I had mentioned this on Targuman before, but apparently not. In his commentary on Ruth Campbell asserts: It is inherent in biblical thought generally that a person’s actions and words offer a true picture of the person’s character. Hebrew stories do not have characters with hidden motives and […]
I had originally planned two articles on the character of Boaz and subsequently presented two separate papers. The first was on the figure of Boaz strictly within the biblical book of Ruth. The other was on how the Targumist had transformed the figure of Boaz in Targum Ruth. This progression […]
I am now working on moving two papers I have presented on Boaz into (likely) a single article for submission to a journal to be named later. In re-reading my paper “Boaz Centrally Marginalized” it occurred to me that men as a whole are very deliberately moved to the edges […]
It is well known to those who give the Book of Ruth even a cursory reading that Boaz is older than Ruth and, in fact, is closer to Naomi in age. In the comments of a paper on Boaz that I posted here over a year ago, Robert Holmstedt, who […]
I am very (very) pleased to post my translation of Targum Ruth. It can be found here and the opening comments and first verse are below. This is a first draft and the English needs smoothing, but I thought I would do a bit of “crowd sourcing.” Feel free to […]