Ruth, the woman who became part of a family in a foreign land

When Ruth first appears, the Bible does not tell us where she grew up, who her parents were, or what her childhood was like. It says that a famine in Judah led Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to live in Moab. Ruth was a woman of Moab. Naomi’s sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, and the families lived there for about ten years. Then Elimelech died, and later both Mahlon and Chilion died. Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were left without their husbands. This is the first setting Scripture gives for Ruth’s life: a household marked by loss.

Naomi heard that food was again available in Judah and decided to return to Bethlehem. She urged both daughters-in-law to go back to their mothers’ homes and seek a new life. Orpah said goodbye. Ruth did not leave Naomi. When Naomi urged her again to return to her people, Ruth said that she would go where Naomi went and stay where Naomi stayed. Naomi’s people would be her people, and Naomi’s God would be her God. Her words did not make the road ahead safe or certain. They were a decision to travel with a widowed mother-in-law after leaving her husband and homeland. Naomi saw that Ruth was determined and stopped urging her to turn back.

They arrived in Bethlehem as the barley harvest began. Women in the town recognized Naomi and were startled to see her. Naomi said she no longer wanted to be called by her old name, because she felt that she had left full and returned empty. Ruth went out to gather grain left behind by the harvesters. Gleaning could provide food, but Ruth was a Moabite woman in Bethlehem, a place unfamiliar to her. She did not begin the day knowing whose field she would enter. The field where she happened to glean belonged to Boaz, a man connected to Elimelech’s family.

Boaz came to the field and asked his workers who Ruth was. They told him that she was the young woman who had returned from Moab with Naomi, and that she had been gathering since morning. Boaz told Ruth not to go to another field but to stay with his young women. He said he had instructed the young men not to trouble her, and he invited her to drink from the water his workers had drawn. Ruth asked why he had shown such kindness to a foreigner. Boaz answered that he had heard what she had done for Naomi after her husband’s death: how she had left her father, mother, and homeland to come among people she had not known. At the meal he gave her roasted grain, enough for her to eat and have some left. He also told the workers to pull out stalks deliberately for her and leave them behind. By evening Ruth had threshed about an ephah of barley, which she carried back to Naomi with the food left from her meal.

Ruth brought the grain and the food she had saved home to Naomi. When Naomi learned that Ruth had worked in Boaz’s field, she said that Boaz was one of their close relatives, a man able to act for the family. Naomi told Ruth to remain with Boaz’s young women, and Ruth continued to glean there through the barley and wheat harvests. Scripture says briefly that she lived with Naomi during that time. When the harvest was over, Naomi said she wanted to seek security for Ruth. She knew that Boaz would be winnowing barley at the threshing floor that night.

Naomi instructed Ruth to wash, put on perfume and her cloak, and wait until Boaz had finished eating and drinking before making herself known. Ruth was to uncover his feet and lie down; Naomi said he would tell her what to do. Ruth did as Naomi said. At midnight Boaz woke in surprise and found a woman at his feet. Ruth identified herself and asked him, as a close relative, to spread his garment over her. Boaz praised her for not pursuing young men, whether poor or rich, and said that the people of the town knew she was a worthy woman. But he also named a difficulty: another relative was closer than he was. Boaz promised that if that man would not take the responsibility, he himself would do it. Ruth stayed at his feet until morning and left before people could recognize one another. Boaz gave her six measures of barley to take back to Naomi.

That same day Boaz went to the town gate, where legal business was handled. He sat with the nearer relative and ten elders. He explained that Naomi was selling the land connected with Elimelech and that the nearer relative had the first right to redeem it. The man said he would buy it. Boaz then explained that taking the land also involved Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, so that the dead man’s name might continue with his property. The nearer relative declined, saying that he could not do it without damaging his own inheritance. He gave the right to Boaz. In that setting, handing over a sandal confirmed the transaction. Before the elders and people, Boaz declared that he was acquiring what had belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon, and that he was taking Ruth as his wife to preserve Mahlon’s name with his inheritance. The people present became witnesses.

The people and elders at the gate blessed Ruth, asking that she become like Rachel and Leah, who built the house of Israel. They also asked that the house of Boaz become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah. Their words publicly welcomed the household Ruth and Boaz were about to establish in Bethlehem.

Boaz married Ruth, and she gave birth to a son. The women of Bethlehem spoke to Naomi and rejoiced that she now had a close family redeemer. They said that Ruth loved Naomi and was better to her than seven sons. Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The neighboring women named him Obed. Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. The book closes with a genealogy from Perez to David. Matthew’s genealogy also names Ruth as Obed’s mother and carries the line through Jesse to King David, but adds no later scene from Ruth’s life. Scripture does not tell us what else happened in Ruth’s later years or when she died. Her biblical story ends with the Moabite widow who set out with Naomi becoming established in Bethlehem and becoming the mother of Obed.