Esther and Ruth

There are two books in the Bible which take their names from women: Esther and Ruth. Esther was a Jew; Ruth a Gentile. The author sees these two women as types of ‘the Israel of God’ – a term used to describe Christians during the time covered by the Acts of the Apostles. He paints many parallels and draws many similarities between events in the personal lives of these two women and the experiences of the Jewish and Gentile Christians of the Acts period.