Why is God's name not mentioned in the book of Ruth?

Answer 1

Another answer from our community:

Because the story is about God's unseen involvement in the world - everything works out for the Jews in the story even though there are no open miracles. It is a message for a time where God is not openly revealed to us, to know he is still there even though we can't see him.

Scholars regard the Book of Esther as a second-century-BCE Jewish novel that was not originally intended as a religious text, so it contains no mention of God. A later version of the Book of Esther, still in use by the Roman Catholic Church, contains additions that do mention God.

Answer 2

When you think about it, lots of books do not mention God. To those who believe Esther to be a historical book, it was written as a record of events, not as a scripture in the usual sense. To those who say that the Book of Esther contains too many historical errors to be a genuine record of events, it was simply a novel written to demonstrate to the Jews their superiority over the people of Babylon.

Some late elaborations to the book do include mention of God. These were included in the Latin Vulgate, although Jerome recognised that they were not original to the text.

Answer 3

1) The Book of Esther, written by Mordecai and Esther, was first promulgated at the hands of non-Jewish emissaries to the various Jewish communities. They left out the name of God in case any of these epistles got lost, trampled etc. 2) More to the point, the time of Esther (the Babylonian Exile) was a fulfillment of Deuteronomy 31:19, which speaks of a time when "God's face will be hidden." Leaving out the name of God alluded to this state of affairs.

See also:

More about Esther and her book

Answer 4

The question is wrong. You will find God's name in Ruth 1:6.