
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.
|