In Context

"A text without a context is a con." - Andrew Sach

"A text without a context is a pretext for a prooftext." - D. A. Carson

Contextuality

Contextuality is the notion of the effect on meaning of the relative position of a biblical book within a prescribed order of reading. What is the semantic effect of a book's relative position within the Old Testament Canon? The book of Ruth, for example, follows the book of Judges in the English Bible, whereas in the Hebrew Bible it follows the book of Proverbs. How does its changing canonical position affect its overall meaning?

As is well known, the book of Proverbs closes with an acrostic on the theme of a "virtuous woman". The acrostic opens with the statement, "a virtuous woman, who can find?" (Proverbs 31:10); and closes with the statement, "her deeds will praise her in the gates" (Proverbs 31:31).

In the Hebrew Bible, following directly on these last words of Proverbs, we find the book of Ruth. Climactically within the plot structure (inner-textuality) of the book of Ruth, the defining moment of the book is cast in Boaz's words to Ruth, "All those in the gate of my people know that you are a virtuous woman" (Ruth 3:11).

If read within the context of the acrostic at the close of Proverbs, Boaz's words do more than simply acknowledge and thematise what every reader already understands about Ruth from the narrative itself. Viewed contextually, when Boaz calls Ruth a "virtuous woman", he also links her, as a narrative character, to the wisdom idea in the book of Proverbs. Such a linkage can play a major role in integrating the theme of the book of Ruth with those of the wisdom literature in general.

- John H. Sailhamer, Introduction to Old Testament Theology: A Canonical Approach

Link: Eshet Chayil (5 Jun 10)