(M14)

Ruth

A Moabitish woman, Ruth was the wife, first, of Mahlon, secondly of Boaz, and by him mother of Obed, the ancestress of David and of Christ, and one of the four women (Thamar, Rahab, and Uriah's wife being the other three) who are named by St Matthew in the genealogy of Christ. The incidents in Ruth's life, as detailed in the book that bears her name, may be epitomised as follows. A severe famine in the land of Judah, caused perhaps by the occupation of the land by the Moabites under Eglon, induced Elimelech, a native of Bethlehem Ephratah, to emigrate into the land of Moab, with his wife Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. At the end of ten years Naomi, now left a widow and childless, having heard that there was plenty again in Judah, resolved to return to Bethlehem, and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, returned with her. 'Whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me ' was the expression of the unalterable attachment of the young Moabitish widow to the mother, to the land, and to the religion of her lost husband. They arrived at Bethlehem just at the beginning of barley harvest, and Ruth, going out to glean for the support of her mother-in-law and herself, chanced to go into the field of Boaz, a wealthy man, the near kinsman of her father-in-law Elimelech. The story of her virtues and her kindness and fidelity to her mother-in-law, and her preference for the land of her husband's birth, had gone before her; and immediately upon learning who the strange young woman was, Boaz treated her with the utmost kindness and respect, and sent her home laden with corn which she had gleaned. Encouraged by this incident, Naomi instructed Ruth to claim at the hand of Boaz that he should perform the part of her husband's near kinsman, by purchasing the inheritance of Elimelech, and taking her to be his wife. But there was a nearer kinsman than Boaz, and it was necessary that he should have the option of redeeming the inheritance for himself. He, however, declined, fearing to mar his own inheritance. Upon which, with all due solemnity, Boaz took Ruth to be his wife, amidst the blessings and congratulations of their neighbours. Thus Ruth became the wife of Boaz, by whom she had a son called Obed, who was father to Jesse, and grandfather to king David. The Book of Ruth, which contains this history, is placed in the Bible between the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel, as the sequel of the former, and an introduction to the latter. Jerome informs us that the Jews added it to the book of Judges, because the transactions it relates happened in the time of the Judges of Israel, Judges i. 1. Others combined the Book of Judges and the Book of Ruth. Modern Jews usually place the book in second place after The Song of Solomon, but sometimes it appears in the first, second, or fifth place.

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