Here ya go, wrfarley:
Mainly: Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BCE, when intermarriage had become controversial [/i]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Ruth
The Book of Ruth (Hebrew: ืืืืืช ืจืืชโโ, Ashkenazi pronunciation: [mษหษกษชlษs rus], Megilath Ruth, "the Scroll of Ruth", one of the Five Megillot) is included in the third division, or the Writings (Ketuvim), of the Hebrew Bible; in the Christian canon it is treated as a history book and placed between Judges and 1 Samuel.[1] It is named after its central figure, Ruth the Moabitess, the great-grandmother of David.
The book tells of Ruth's accepting the God of the Israelites as her God and the Israelite people as her own. In Ruth 1:16-17, Ruth tells Naomi, her Israelite mother-in-law, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." The book is held in esteem by Jews who fall under the category of Jews-by-choice, as is evidenced by the considerable presence of Boaz in rabbinic literature. The Book of Ruth also functions liturgically, as it is read during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot ("Weeks").[2]
The book is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel, but does not name its author.[3] A date during the monarchy (i.e., prior to 586 BCE) is suggested by the book's interest in the ancestry of David, but Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BCE, when intermarriage had become controversial (as seen in Ezra 9:1 and Nehemiah 13:1).[4]
"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne
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