Ruth and Boaz

After Samson’s death, Eli the high priest governed the Israelites. In his time, when the country was struck by famine, Elimelech of Bethlehem, a city of the tribe of Judah, unable to support his family in so severe a distress, took his wife Naomi and the sons she had borne him, Chilion and Mahlon, and moved his home to the land of Moab. Since his affairs prospered there, he took wives for his sons from among the Moabites: Orpah for Chilion and Ruth for Mahlon. But within ten years both Elimelech and, a little after him, his sons died. Naomi was deeply troubled by these misfortunes and could not bear her lonely state, now that those dearest to her, for whose sake she had left her own country, were dead. So she went back to it, for she had heard that it was now flourishing. Her daughters-in-law, however, could not bear the thought of parting from her. When they wanted to leave the country with her, she could not talk them out of it. But when they insisted, she wished them happier marriages than they had had with her sons, and prosperity in other ways too; and since her own affairs were in so low a state, she urged them to stay where they were, and not to think of leaving their own country to share the uncertain future to which she must return. So Orpah stayed behind. But Naomi took Ruth with her, since Ruth would not be persuaded to stay behind, but would share her lot, whatever it turned out to be. [a]

When Ruth had come with her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, Boaz, a near relative of Elimelech, received her hospitably. And when her fellow townspeople called Naomi by her real name, she said, “You would be more truthful to call me Mara.” In the Hebrew tongue Naomi means “happiness,” and Mara “sorrow.” [b]

It was now harvest time, and Ruth, with her mother-in-law’s permission, went out to glean, so that they might gather a store of grain for their food. It happened that she came into Boaz’s field. After a while Boaz came there, and when he saw the young woman he asked the servant who was in charge of the reapers about the girl. The servant had shortly before inquired into all her circumstances, and told them to his master. Boaz greeted her kindly, both for her devotion to her mother-in-law and for her remembrance of Naomi’s son, to whom she had been married, and he wished her prosperity. So he told her not to glean but to reap as much as she could, and gave her permission to carry it home. He also instructed the servant in charge of the reapers not to stop her when she took it away, and told him to give her her midday meal and something to drink when he served the reapers.

The barley meal Ruth received from him she saved for her mother-in-law, and she came to her in the evening bringing the ears of grain with her; and Naomi had kept for her a share of the food that her neighbors had generously given her. Ruth also told her mother-in-law what Boaz had said to her. Naomi told her that he was a near relative of theirs, and might perhaps be so devout a man as to provide for them; so Ruth went out again on the following days to gather the gleanings with Boaz’s maidservants.

Not many days later, after the barley had been winnowed, Boaz slept on his threshing floor. When Naomi learned this, she arranged for Ruth to lie down beside him, for she thought it might be to their advantage for him to keep company with the girl. So she sent the young woman to sleep at his feet. Ruth went as she was told, for she did not think it right to go against any command of her mother-in-law. At first Boaz did not notice her, since he was fast asleep. But when he woke about midnight and found a woman lying beside him, he asked who she was. When she told him her name, and asked him, whom she acknowledged as her lord, to pardon her, he said no more then. But in the morning, before the servants began their work, he woke her and told her to take as much barley as she could carry and go to her mother-in-law before anyone there saw that she had lain beside him; for it was only prudent to avoid any reproach that might arise from it, especially when nothing wrong had been done. But as to the main thing she aimed at, the matter would rest like this: “The man who is a nearer relative than I am will be asked whether he wants to take you as his wife. If he says he does, you will go with him; but if he refuses, I will marry you, according to the law.”

When she told her mother-in-law this, they were very glad, hoping that Boaz would provide for them. About noon Boaz went down into the town and gathered the council of elders. He sent for Ruth, and he called her kinsman too; and when the man came, Boaz said, “Don’t you hold the inheritance of Elimelech and his sons?” He admitted that he did hold it, and that he did so as the laws allowed him, because he was their nearest kinsman. Then Boaz said, “You must not remember the laws by halves, but do everything they require. Mahlon’s wife has come here, and you must marry her according to the law if you want to keep their fields.” So the man gave up both the field and the wife to Boaz, who was also related to the dead, pleading that he had a wife already, and children too. Boaz then called the council to witness and told the woman to take off the man’s shoe and spit in his face, as the law directs. When this was done, Boaz married Ruth, and a year later they had a son. Naomi herself nursed the child, and on the women’s advice called him Obed, since he was to be brought up to serve her in her old age; for Obed in the Hebrew language means “a servant.” The son of Obed was Jesse, and his son was David, who became king and left his dominions to his descendants for twenty-one generations. [c]

I felt bound, then, to tell this story of Ruth, because I wanted to show the power of God, who can raise people of ordinary birth to rank and splendor without any difficulty, as he raised David, though he was born of such humble parents.