Ruth

Life and work

Ruth was a Moabite who married Mahlon, one of the two sons of the Israelite couple Elimelech and Naomi, who had relocated to Moab during a famine in Bethlehem. Within about ten years, Elimelech and both sons died, leaving Naomi and her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, all widowed (Ruth 1:1-5).

When Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem and urged her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab and remarry among their own people, Orpah eventually agreed, but Ruth refused to leave her, delivering the famous pledge: "whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God" (Ruth 1:16-17).

Back in Bethlehem, destitute, Ruth gleaned leftover grain in the fields to support herself and Naomi, as the law permitted for the poor. She happened to glean in a field belonging to Boaz, a relative of Naomi's late husband, who noticed her loyalty to Naomi and treated her with unusual generosity and protection (Ruth 2).

At Naomi's instruction, Ruth approached Boaz at the threshing floor at night and asked him, as a near kinsman, to exercise his right of redemption — the levirate-adjacent custom of marrying a widow to preserve her deceased husband's family line and property. Boaz agreed in principle but noted a closer relative had first right of refusal (Ruth 3).

Boaz publicly resolved the matter at the city gate, formally acquiring Elimelech's property and Ruth as his wife after the nearer kinsman declined. Ruth and Boaz's son Obed became the grandfather of David (Ruth 4:13-17), and the same genealogical line is carried into the New Testament, where Matthew's genealogy of Jesus names Boaz's mother as Rahab and, through Boaz and Ruth's line, ultimately traces to Jesus (Matthew 1:5-6).

Extra-biblical evidence

No archaeological find or extrabiblical text names Ruth individually; she is known solely from the book of Ruth and the genealogical lists in Matthew and 1 Chronicles that build on it.

Scripture references

• Ruth 1:16-17 — Pledges loyalty to Naomi over returning to Moab
• Ruth 2 — Gleans in the field of Boaz
• Ruth 4:13-17 — Marries Boaz; their son Obed becomes David's grandfather
• Matthew 1:5-6 — Named in Jesus's genealogy through the line of Boaz and David

Further reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Ruth

Reflect

Ruth bound herself to Naomi with 'where you go I will go' — who have you committed to that deeply, for better or worse?