Ruth: A friend, a Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, whose father, Elimelech,
had settled in the land of Moab. On the death of Elimelech and
Mahlon, Naomi came with Ruth, her daughter-in-law, who refused to
leave her, to Bethlehem, the old home from which Elimelech had
migrated. There she had a rich relative, Boaz, to whom Ruth was
eventually married. She became the mother of Obed, the grandfather of
David. Thus Ruth, a Gentile, is among the maternal progenitors of our
Lord
(Matthew 1:5) The story of "the gleaner Ruth illustrates the friendly
relations between the good Boaz and his reapers, the Jewish land
system, the method of transferring property from one person to
another, the working of the Mosaic law for the relief of distressed
and ruined families; but, above all, handing down the unselfishness,
the brave love, the unshaken trustfulness of her who, though not of
the chosen race, was, like the Canaanitess Tamar
(Genesis 38:29; Matthew 1:3) and
the Canaanitess Rahab
(Matthew 1:5) privileged to become the ancestress of
David, and so of 'great David's greater Son'"
(Ruth 4:18-22)
