Topic: Persons Of The Bible -- Ruth

The name Ruth is from a Hebrew name which was derived from the Hebrew word רְעוּת (re'ut) meaning "friend".

Ruth was a Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, whose father, Elimelech, had settled in the land of Moab.

Ruth was one of the four women who are named by St. Matthew in the genealogy of Christ.

A severe famine in the land of Judah 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. This was probably about the time of Gideon, B.C. 1250. 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.

Bethlehem was the old home from which Elimelech had migrated. There Ruth had a rich relative, Boaz, to whom Ruth was eventually married. Ruth became the mother of Obed, the grandfather of David. Thus Ruth, a Gentile, is among the maternal progenitors of our Lord (Matt. 1:5).

They arrived at Bethlehem just at the beginning of barley harvest, and Ruth, going out to glean, chanced to go into the field of wheat, a wealthy man and a near kinsman of her father-in-law, Elimelech. Upon learning who the stranger 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. With all due solemnity, Boaz took Ruth to be his wife, amidst the blessings and congratulations of their neighbors. Their son, Obed, was 'the father of Jesse, who was the father of David.

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, and 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 (Gen. 38:29; Matt. 1:3) and the Canaanitess Rahab (Matt. 1:5), privileged to become the ancestress of David, and so of 'great David's greater Son'" (Ruth 4:18-22).

Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries

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