Beginning of Essay
Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the peopleâ ....

Middle of Essay
.... promotes further analyses of the text. Aside from Job, Ruth is the only book in the Biblical canon named after a non-Israelite, as well as the only other book, aside from Esther, with a titular female character . The rare similarities encourage the comparison to Job, a non-Israelite, finding favor in God, and the parallel with Esther marrying a Gentile husband, suggesting Gentiles were to only be blessed through Abraham’s seed. However, the extent to which God actually provided for Ruth is questionable; the text gives nothing of God’s thoughts on Ruth. Ruth’s desire to worship Naomi’s god seems to only affirm her love for Naomi, not God ....