The book of Jonah is infused with allusions to earlier biblical characters: its prophet flees like Cain, wills the city overturned–unlike Abraham, collapses like Elijah, passes through a Noah-like storm, and quotes Moses’ words of compassion as a complaint. Taken together, the book invites readers to measure Jonah against Israel’s remembered heroes of intercession, judgment, and repentance.

Does Naomi appreciate Ruth? Is she embraced by the women of Bethlehem? How does the narrator of the Book of Ruth regard her? And why, at the end of the story, is Ruth effectively erased, and her child appropriated by Naomi?

In his Peri Pascha, the 2^nd century Bishop Melito of Sardis critiques the Jews with a list that begins, "Ungrateful Israel, come to trial with me concerning your ingratitude." Centuries later, the song Improperia, inspired by the theme of Jewish ingratitude to God, entered the Catholic liturgy. Scholars have long noted its similarity to Dayenu, a song that first appears in Saadiah Gaon's Haggadah in the 10^th century. Which song is responding to which?

When Boaz sees Ruth gleaning in the field, and learns who she is, he offers her protection from his own workers’ predatory behavior, giving us a glimpse at what poor women, gleaning in the field, had to contend with.

It is clear in the Bible and ancient Near Eastern texts that men were sorcerers, yet Exodus 22:17 seems to single out women in its command, “You shall not permit a witch to live.”