Ruth, Naomi and Boaz: a story of loyalty and love

What the story is about:
Ruth was poor, a foreigner, and a woman, and all this counted against her, but she was helped by an older woman to overcome the difficulties she faced. She had the good sense to listen to the advice given to her by Naomi, and the older woman was rewarded by Ruth's  unfaltering loyalty. Her story illustrates the triumph of courage and ingenuity over adverse circumstances. She has special significance for Christians. In the gospel of Matthew, four women were included in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:2-17), and Ruth was one of the four.

The story is set in the period of the Judges before the birth of King David, but it was almost certainly written much later, when the two tribes of Judah were set free from their captivity in Babylon and allowed to return to Jerusalem. It has the qualities of an historical novel - based on real people but with a message and theme directed at a later audience.

The story contains four different episodes that together form a beautifully constructed novella:

1 Naomi and Ruth go to Bethlehem (Ruth 1) - the anguish of loss
Naomi and her family suffered great misfortune in a foreign land. Ruth, a girl from that foreign land, decided to migrate with Naomi to Bethlehem. They arrived in time for the barley harvest.
2 Ruth meets Boaz (Ruth 2) - the love story
Ruth, a young widow, met Naomi's relative, a rich man called Boaz. It seems to have been love at first sight for him, and he ordered that Ruth be well treated when she worked in his fields. The older woman Naomi saw immediately what had happened, and encouraged Ruth to continue working in Boaz's fields.
3 Ruth proposes marriage to Boaz (Ruth 3) - this chapter contains some ribald peasant humor. Ruth approached Boaz during the night, at the threshing floor, and the text obliquely suggests that there may have been some sexual hanky-panky. Subsequently, Ruth suggested that they marry, reminding Boaz of his obligation to her as her nearest male kin. Boaz promised to do all he could.
4 Ruth and Boaz marry (Ruth 4) - the happy ending
Boaz proved as good as his word, and he and Ruth were married. She had a son called Obed, and Naomi cared for the child, who would grow up to be the grandfather of King David.

NAOMI AND RUTH GO TO BETHLEHEM  
(Book of Ruth, Chapter 1)

Naomi was an Israelite woman who, during a famine, had gone with her family to live in the country of Moab. When her husband and two sons died, she decided to return to her home town, Bethlehem. She had two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpha. All three women were widows.
In modern society a widow is free to remarry after her husband dies, but in ancient Israel this was not necessarily so. After her husband’s death the widow was still considered to be a part of her dead husband’s family, because marriage joined families as well as individuals.

Her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, were Moabite women not Israelites. The Moabite people were traditional enemies of the Israelites. There was frequent warfare between the two groups. According to the Israelite belief, Moabites originated from the act of incest between Lot and his older daughter (Genesis 19:30-38), and so the whole nation was intrinsically tainted and inferior. Naomi assumed that Ruth and  Orpah  would not want to return to Bethlehem with her, even though the women respected and loved each other.

Orpah decided to return to her people and the Moabite way of life, but Ruth could not be persuaded. She had shared loneliness, anxiety and grief with Naomi, and now that the older woman was completely alone, Ruth would stand by her and return to Bethlehem. 
This part of the story contains Ruth’s famous speech of loyalty to her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:16-17)

But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die
There I will be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me
And more as well
If even death parts me from you!”’
(Read Ruth 1:1-22)
So the two women returned to Bethlehem in time for the autumn harvest of barley.