Now I know that the Lord saves
his anointed;
he answers him from his holy
heaven
with the saving power of his
right hand.
Some trust in chariots and some
in horses,
but we trust in the name of the
Lord our God.
They are brought to their knees
and fall,
but we rise up and stand firm.
O Lord, save the king!
Answer us when we call.
The king's heart is in the
hand of the Lord;
he directs it like a
watercourse wherever he
pleases.
All a man's ways seem right
to him,
but the Lord weighs the
heart.
Next morning Boaz discusses the issue with the other
male relative, before the town elders. The relative is
unwilling to place in danger the inheritence of his own
estate by marrying Ruth, and so gives up his right of redemption,
and therefore allowing Boaz to marry Ruth.
They transfer the property and redeem it by the nearer relative
taking of his sandal and handing it over to Boaz.(Ruth 4:7-18)
Boaz marries Ruth and they have a son whom they call Obed ( who by levirate customs is also considered a son or heir to Elimelech, and so Naiomi and Elimelech's legal son) in the genealogy which concludes the story, it is pointed out that Obed,
is the descendant of Perez the son of Judah, and grandfather of
David.
This story is about love and commitment, and has been written
in three sections.
This is the continuing story.
Boaz is a close relative of Naomi's husbands family. He is therefore obliged by Levirite law to marry Mahlon's widow,
Ruth in order to carry on his family line. Naomi sends Ruth to
the threshing floor at night and tells her to uncover the feet of
the sleeping Boaz. Ruth does so, Boaz awakes and asks, ''who are you?'' Ruth answers him by identifying herself, then asks Boaz
to spread his cloak over her. ''Spreading your cloak.'' was a womans way of asking for marriage.
For a man to spread his cloak over a woman showed acquisition
of that woman. Boaz states he is willing to redeem Ruth via marriage, but tells Ruth that there is another male relative who
has the first right of redemption.
To be continued.
The full title in Hebrew is named after a young woman of Moab,
the great-grandmother of David and according to the Christian tradition an ancestress of Jesus.
During the time of Judges when there was a famine, an Israelite family from Bethlehem- Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilion- emigrate to the nearby country of Moab. Elimelech dies, and the sons marry two moabite women:
Mahlon marries Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah.
The two sons then die themselves and Naomi decides to return to
Bethlehem. Naomi, tells her daughter-in- laws to return to their own mothers and remarry. Orpah relunctantly agrees and leaves;
however Ruth says ' Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following you. For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people; and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also, if anything but death parts, you and me.
The two women return to Bethlehem. It is time for the barley harvest, and in order to support her mother-in -law and herself,Ruth goes to the fields to gather the useful remnants of crops for after harvesting. The field she went to belongs to a man
called Boaz, who is kind to her because he had heard of her loyalty to her mother-in-law. Ruth tells her mother- in -law of Boaz's kindness and she gathers in his field through the remainder of the haevest season.
