An Excellent Woman - A Resting-Place for Ruth

"Who are you, my daughter?" Naomi said when Ruth arrived home. Perhaps it was the darkness that prompted the question, but Naomi also wanted to know whether Ruth was still the same  unattached widow or one with prospects of marriage before her. Ruth quickly told her mother-in-law of all that had passed between her and Boaz.  She also presented the generous gift of the barley that Boaz had told her to give Naomi. - RUTH 3:16, 17. 

Wisely, Naomi urged Ruth to sit at home quietly that day instead if going out to glean in the fields. She assured Ruth:  "The  man will have no rest unless he has brought the matter to an end today. ' - RUTH 3:18. 

Naomi was quite right about Boaz. He went to the city gate, where the city elders usually met, and waited until the man who was a closer relative  passed by. In front of the witnesses, Boaz offered the man the opportunity to act as repurchaser by marrying Ruth.  However, the man refused, claiming  that doing so would ruin his own inheritance. Then, before the witnesses there at the city gate, Boaz stated that he would act as the repurchaser, buying up the estate of Naomi's dead husband, Elimelech, and marrying Ruth, the widow  of Elimelech's son Mahlon. Boaz declared his hope that in doing so would "cause the name of the dead man to rise upon his inheritance." (Ruth 4:1-10)  Boaz truly was an upright and unselfish man.

Boaz married Ruth. Thereafter, we read:  "Jehovah granted her conception and she bore a son." The women of Bethlehem blessed Naomi and praised Ruth  for being better to Naomi than seven sons would have been. Later, we learn Ruth's son became an ancestor of the great King David. (Ruth 4:11-22)  David, in turn, was an ancestor of Jesus Christ. - MATTHEW 1:1.

Ruth was blessed indeed, as was Naomi, who helped to raise the child as if he were her own. The lives of these two women stand as a vivid reminder that Jehovah God notices all those who toil humbly to provide for their own and who serve him loyally with his chosen people. He never fails to reward faithful people. Such as Boaz, Naomi, and Ruth.

Next time: WHY BE HONEST-Why It Pays to Be Honest

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