The setting (1:1–2). The story is set in the period of the judges (1:1a). Such an allusion must have conjured up for the original audience visions of the moral and spiritual declivity with the consequent oppressions and chaos that prevailed in that time.2 In identifying the story with the period before the monarchy, a period that the book of Judges depicts as a rough and violent era, the book of Ruth offers a significant contrast, for it presents a serene and pastoral picture. This opening clause forms an inclusio with the historical reference to David in 4:17b so that the leadership vacuum
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