The book of Ruth , which takes place during the time of the Judges in Israeli history, is an example of a true historical play.

1. It is not a factual retelling of specific events at a certain time in Jewish history.
2. Nor it is in fiction, a human story generated by the human imagination with characters who never were conceived by God, never experienced birth, life, or death on the earth.
3. Nor is it a mythical story told about historical facts to explain a particular belief or a natural phenomena.
4. Neither is it a legend whose origin has been lost.

The book of Ruth is an example of

1. historical truth
2. a timeless taste of the kingdom of God intervening in human history
3. a spiritual reality.

The book of Ruth has

1. no distortions
2. no misrepresentations
3. no lies
4. no falsehoods
5. no slander
6. no abusive language
7. no sexual immorality
8. no contrived conflict

Truth is eternal, and truth never changes. Truth cannot change because God Himself is truth, and God never changes.

Facts change because facts can be observed and recorded, but facts can and do change. What is a fact today may not be sustainable tomorrow.

It is a fact that Jesus died on the cross, but His resurrection changed the fact that He would remain dead, and His resurrection life is a truth that cannot be changed.

Thus the book of James admonishes human beings to be careful when making plans about the future.

James 4:14
14. Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are {just} a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
15. Instead, {you ought} to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that."
16. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

The opposite of truth is a lie. A lie can never be fact or truth, and truth can never be a lie. A lie is an untrue statement with the intent to deceive. Jesus explains where the lie originates,

John 8:44
44. "You are of {your} father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own {nature;} for he is a liar, and the father of the lie.

Our Creator and Redeemer has given humanity a small book of four chapters that reveals God is a dramatist, a playwright of truth. We offer The Director's transcript of Ruth as a short example of Biblical drama, Biblical literature that fulfills the Biblical standard. King David, a great grandson of Ruth wrote:

Psalms 101:3
3. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me.

The story of David's great grandmother and great grandfather fits Paul's admonition:

Philippians 4:8
8. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

We offer this transcript as a screen play for the mind with the true historical account of people (characters), geographical settings (scenes), conversations (dialogue), action (stage directions) as the Bible reveals.

This transcript is presented with background information and stage directions that Shakespeare would model thousands of years later. Even though many consider Shakespeare's works to be the epitome of historical drama, his plays do not fit the Biblical standard of David and Paul. We propose that Ruth reveals that God is the perfect, truthful playwright because the Holy Spirit was there, He oversaw what has been passed down through thousands of years, generation to generation.

Therefore this transcript of Ruth is dedicated to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17 :24-28).

Acts 17:24
24. "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25. neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all life and breath and all things;
26. and He made from one, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined {their} appointed times, and the boundaries of their habitation,
27. that they should seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;
28. for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His offspring.'

Note: Man, Myths, and the Master. (1998), a more detailed explanation of Truth and drama, is located at fhc.rodd.us/fhcpam.php?fname=truth

These files are in WISPS (Women in Secret Places Secure) in the color php files

3/06/2009 ruthpl1.php
3/22/2009 ruthpl2.php
3/29/2009 ruthpl3.php
4/19/2009 ruthpl4.php

In Christ, our only hope, Christ in us, our hope in His glory,