Ruth and Boaz

During the time of the judges, a severe famine struck the land of Judah. A man named Elimelech took his wife Naomi and two sons from Bethlehem to live in Moab. While there, Elimelech died, leaving Naomi with her two sons. The sons married Moabite women—Orpah and Ruth—but after about ten years, both sons also died. Naomi was left in a foreign land with nothing but two daughters-in-law, bereaved of husband and sons, facing an uncertain future in her old age.

When Naomi heard that the Lord had come to the aid of His people in Judah by providing food, she prepared to return home. Her two daughters-in-law set out with her, but Naomi urged them to return to their mothers' homes, praying that the Lord would grant them rest in new marriages. Orpah eventually returned, but Ruth clung to Naomi and made a declaration of loyalty that has resonated through the ages: 'Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.' This was not just loyalty to Naomi but commitment to Naomi's God—a Moabite woman choosing to worship the Lord.

Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Ruth asked permission to glean grain behind the harvesters, following the edges of the fields to gather what was left behind—a provision in God's law for the poor and foreigners. By God's providence, she found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz, a wealthy relative of Naomi's late husband Elimelech. Boaz noticed Ruth and asked about her. When he learned of her loyalty to Naomi and her sacrificial commitment, he was moved with compassion.

Boaz spoke kindly to Ruth, inviting her to continue gleaning in his fields under his protection. He instructed his workers to leave extra grain for her and ensured she had water to drink. When Ruth asked why he was showing such kindness to a foreigner, Boaz replied, 'I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband... May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.' Ruth gleaned in Boaz's field through the barley and wheat harvests, finding daily provision and divine favor.

Naomi recognized God's hand at work and revealed that Boaz was one of their kinsman-redeemers—a close relative with the right and responsibility to buy back family property and marry a widow to preserve the family line. Following Naomi's instructions, Ruth approached Boaz at night after he had finished winnowing barley, lying at his feet as a symbolic request for him to spread his garment over her as her kinsman-redeemer. Boaz was honored by her request, calling her a woman of noble character, and he promised to fulfill the role of redeemer if the nearer relative declined.

At the city gate before the town elders, Boaz presented the matter to the closer relative, who was willing to buy Naomi's property until he learned that marrying Ruth came with the obligation. Fearing this would endanger his own estate, he declined his right of redemption. Boaz then publicly redeemed Elimelech's property and took Ruth as his wife. The elders blessed them, praying that Ruth would be like Rachel and Leah who built up the house of Israel, and that through the offspring the Lord would give them, Boaz's family would be like Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.

The Lord enabled Ruth to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi, 'Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.' They named the baby Obed. He became the father of Jesse, who was the father of David, making Ruth the great-grandmother of Israel's greatest king and an ancestor of Jesus Christ. This Moabite widow, once an outsider to God's people, became central to His redemptive plan—a beautiful picture of how God's grace extends to all who take refuge under His wings.