Ruth is the story of how one Gentile woman was rewarded for
her great sacrifices and love regarding a woman she had
no blood ties to, and therefore no true responsibility for. Naomi and
Elimelech sojourned to Moab
to avoid a famine in the land of their nativity along with their two sons,
Mahlon and Chilion. After the death of
her husband, Naomi and her sons continued to live in Moab
and make their lives there. The sons
married and then died within ten years, leaving their mother and wives to
return to their people to find mercy within the houses of their fathers or
relatives. One of these wives, Ruth,
refused to leave Naomi, however, and went with her into the land
of Judah, while the other wife,
Orpah,
returned to her father’s house.
She told Naomi that she was, in a nutshell, now her
kinsman unto death
out of love for the woman, and that she would worship Naomi’s God and live in
her lands. Once returned, Ruth found her
path in the fields of Elimelech’s kinsman, Boaz, who let her glean the sheaves
of barley in thanks for her treatment of Naomi.
When she returned to her house with her gleanings of barley, Naomi
instructed her to go to Boaz that evening to make him comfortable after he had
rested from working and had taken his food and drink, and that she should
entreat him to take up the lands that Naomi and she still had to their
names. They had no husbands, and so the
nearest relative or neighbor would buy it from them and take it from their
family line. She did so, and Boaz was struck by Ruth's generosity and good soul. He went to the nearest
relative and asked for him to take the lands and to take Ruth as his wife, but
the man declined. Boaz stated in front
of witnesses that he would do these things himself, thus giving the two women
hope and bright blessings for the future.