Heidegger's Bible Handbook: Ruth: Title and Canonical Position

1. Ruth is an appendix to Judges. The name of the book. It is the Second of the Megilloth.

The Megilloth

The Book of Ruth is to a certain extent an appendix to the Book of Judges. For, what things are narrated in it, happened בִּימֵי הַשֹּׁפְטִים, in the days of the Judges (Ruth 1:1). And the book is called רוּת/Ruth, ἐπειδὰν καὶ τὴν περὶ τῆς Ροὺθ ἱστορίαν μόνην περιέχει, because it comprehends only the history of Ruth, says Saint Athanasius in his Synopsi. The Hebrews put it in a second place among the חמשׁ מגלות, Hamesh Megilloth, the Five Little Books (Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther), so called κατ᾽ ἐξοχὴν, par excellence, by them, and wont to be read throughout the year at the feasts.