KING DAVID'S
ORIGINS:
_____
King David was descended from the convert Ruth a princess from Moab".

This may be a new idea for many readers. Is there any (extra-Biblical) tradition that Ruth was a princess?



Hi, Let me quote you verbatim from the Artscroll commentary (Artscroll Inc. 1976) on Ruth, p.67: "... The sages tell us that Machlon and Killion (married to Ruth and Orpah), were wealthy and distinguished, rose to such prominence while living in Moab that Eglon King of Moab, offered them his daughters' hands in marriage. Ruth and Orpah were the daughters of Eglon, as it is written in the book of Judges 3:19 ;(When Ehud came to Eglon to deliver God's message)'..and Ehud said:I have a message from God to you. And (Eglon) arose from his throne.' The Holy One , blessed be He,said of him:'You stood up from your throne in My honor, I will cause to emerge from you a descendent who will sit upon My throne' ..." MIDRASH.

Now, ofcourse one can quible and say that the Midrash is not reliable. But what other records can be relied upon ? Since the books of the Bible, such as the Scroll of Ruth ( attributed to the prophet Samuel ) are the original and primary sources for this information, they are very reliable. After all we are talking here about religious and spiritual ideas..not just "commercial marketing" which is downright silly. Judaism has had the WORST marketing possible ("Buy this product and you are persecuted??? Makes no sense") So we can safely rely on the record as handed down thru the ages by the Jewish sages of the Torah who were meticulous in reporting and recording only the TRUTH. And it is not necessary for some archeologist to dig up an obilisk in Iraq and tell us wow, see what it says here guys...that too is downright silly. If it happens, nice! But we don't hold our breath waiting for a historian to confirm Jewish history in it's primary location, otherwise , why bother with these "stories" altogether?; just skip the sections on religion and move on to the science lessons

- posted by Izak @ 6:47 AM