The Synopsis of the Book of Ruth
The story is set in the time of Judges, a time characterized in the book of Judges as a period of religious and moral degeneration. In Bethlehem, a severe famine struck the land, forcing Elimelech to move from his hometown to live in the country of Moab with his family. Elimelech’s family consisted of Naomi and two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. It is noted that Elimelech’s family sojourned in the land of Moab for food. Moab is an ancestral nation populated by the eldest son of Lot (Gen. 19:37).
Elimelech and his family settled in Moab for some time until he died. After his death, his sons, Mahlon and Kilion, married Moabite women. Kilion married Ruth, while Mahlon married Orpah (Ruth 1:4, 4:10). After ten years of their marriages, both Mahlon and Kilion died, leaving their wives widowed. This tragedy became unbearable to Naomi and she asked her two daughters to go back to their homes and remarry.
As she had heard that the Lord had blessed her people in Judah by giving them crop again, Naomi set out to go back home. Her two daughters-in-law also set out to go with her. To Naomi, it was of no use for Ruth and Orpah to go along with her, since her two sons had died, leaving them with no children. Naomi considered children as what could make a woman want to stay, even when her husband is no more. That is why, after she has urged Ruth and Orpah to go and they replied no, she said, can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? (Ruth 1:11).
The nagging of Naomi to her daughters-in-law made Orpah withdraw from going to Bethlehem to stay with her. Orpah might have reasoned with her mother-in-law that no one would marry her if she followed Naomi to her hometown, since she had no other sons that may take her as a wife. She became afraid of remaining widowed and so nullified her marriage vow, as death has parted her from her husband.
Ruth remained faithful and loyal to her mother-in-law. Her loyalty to Naomi reveals her inner being as someone who is ever determined to live in a foreign land, a land with a different religion from her own country. She vowed the God of Naomi would be her God, which meant she was willing to take her life the way it was.
Ruth did not waver; she took a strong stand to champion the course of affliction, and God showed her his unfailing love. In the course of time, as Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem in late spring, at the beginning of the barley harvest, God comforted them by making Boaz marry Ruth. The couple was blessed with a son named Obed. This Obed became the father of Jesse, and the grandfather of David (Ruth 4:17).
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