Ruth 

Text:  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 (Matt. 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 (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). 



All definitions are taken from Easton's Bible Dictionary.