Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Introduction
Here is woven out the genealogy of Judah the Patriarch from his son Perez all the way to David, from whom Christ was born, with this purpose: that Christ (whom, as its goal and end, all of Sacred Scripture regards) might be shown to have been born from Judah, as Jacob had promised and foretold when blessing his son Judah, Genesis 49:10. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess and Gentile is introduced here into this genealogy — though she soon became a believer and proselyte — who by a wonderful chance, or rather by God's providence, entered into it, just as Rahab the Canaanite did: "To show," says St. Jerome, "that He did not disdain to be born from sinners — He who had come to take away the sins of all — and that the calling and election of the Gentiles, to be accomplished with the Jews excluded from Christ, was signified in Ruth, a Gentile woman and grandmother of Christ." Tropologically, so that in Ruth a model and example of a pious, modest, and holy wife might be given. Symbolically, to indicate that nobility of lineage is given by God, inasmuch as He adopted Ruth — a Gentile, lowly, and poor woman — into the family of Abraham and Judah, and made her the mother of David and his descendants, and indeed of Christ Himself. Hence Ruth is called by the Rabbis and by St. Chrysostom and Blessed Peter Damian "the Mother of the kingdom and of kings." For all the kings of Judah descended from her.
This book is an appendix to the Book of Judges, whence it is also joined to it by the Hebrews: for its history took place under the Judges, as is clear from chapter 1, verse 1. And it is a prelude and, as it were, a guide leading to the Book of Kings; for in it the deeds of David and the other kings descended from Ruth are described. Therefore this book is rightly inserted between the Book of Judges and the Book of Kings. Moreover, this book has been held as Canonical Sacred Scripture by all, both Catholics and heretics (except the Manicheans, who rejected and blasphemed the entire Old Testament, and consequently the Book of Ruth as well, as proceeding from an evil God, as St. Augustine testifies in his books Against Faustus), although it is not found in some Arabic manuscripts, being handwritten copies only.
The author of the book is uncertain; for by some he is thought to have been King Hezekiah, by others Ezra, but by most Samuel, and this seems more probable, both because Samuel lived during this time, and because he himself wrote the First Book of Kings, to which this book is directed.
Those who have written on Ruth include Rupert, Abulensis, Lyranus, Hugo, Dionysius, Cajetan, Serarius, and Fevardentius, who draws many beautiful moral lessons from this book.