Biography of Ruth in the Bible

According to the biblical Book of Ruth, Ruth was a Moabite woman who married into an Israelite family and eventually converted to Judaism. She is the great-grandmother of King David and therefore an ancestor of the Messiah.

Ruth converts to Judaism
Ruth's story begins when an Israelite woman named Naomi and her husband Elimelech leave their hometown of Bethlehem. Israel suffers from famine and they decide to move to the nearby nation of Moab. Eventually, Naomi's husband dies and Naomi's children marry Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth.

After ten years of marriage, both of Naomi's children die from unknown causes and decide that it is time to return to her homeland of Israel. The famine has subsided and no longer has an immediate family in Moab. Naomi tells her daughters about her plans and both say they want to go with her. But they are young women with every chance to remarry, so Naomi advises them to stay in their homeland, to remarry and start new lives. Orpah eventually agrees, but Ruth insists on staying with Naomi. "Don't urge me to leave you or turn you back," Ruth tells Naomi. “Where you will go I will go, and where you will stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. " (Ruth 1:16).

Ruth's assertion not only proclaims her loyalty to Naomi, but her desire to join the people of Naomi, the Jewish people. "In the thousands of years that have passed since Ruth spoke these words," wrote Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, "no one has better defined the combination of people and religion that characterizes Judaism:" Your people will be my people "(" I wish to join to the Jews nation ")," Your God will be my God "(" I wish to accept the Jewish religion ").

Ruth Marries Boaz
Shortly after Ruth converts to Judaism, she and Naomi arrive in Israel while the barley harvest is in progress. They are so poor that Ruth must collect the food that has fallen to the ground while the reapers reap the crops. In this way, Ruth makes use of a Jewish law derived from Leviticus 19: 9-10. The law forbids farmers to harvest crops "to the edge of the field" and to collect food that has fallen on the ground. Both of these practices allow the poor to feed their families by gathering what remains in a farmer's field.

Fortunately, the field Ruth is working in belongs to a man named Boaz, who is related to Naomi's late husband. When Boaz discovers that a woman is gathering food in her fields, she says to her workers: “Let her gather among the sheaves and don't blame her. Also take some stems for her out of the bundles and let them gather and do not reproach her "(Ruth 2:14). Boaz then gives Ruth a gift of toasted wheat and tells her that he should feel safe working in his fields.

When Ruth tells Naomi what happened, Naomi tells her about their connection with Boaz. Naomi then advises his daughter-in-law to get dressed and sleep at Boaz's feet while he and his workers camp in the fields for the harvest. Naomi hopes that in doing so Boaz will marry Ruth and will have a home in Israel.

Ruth follows Naomi's advice and when Boaz finds her at his feet in the middle of the night he asks her who he is. Ruth replies: “I am your servant Ruth. Make the corner of your garment upon me, for you are a redeemer guardian of our family "(Ruth 3: 9). Calling him "redeemer" Ruth refers to an ancient custom, in which a brother would marry the wife of his deceased brother if he died childless. The first child born of that union would therefore be considered the son of the deceased brother and inherit all his properties. Since Boaz is not the brother of Ruth's late husband, the custom technically does not apply to him. However, he says that while he is interested in marrying her, there is another relative more closely related to Elimelech who has a stronger claim.

The following day Boaz speaks with this relative with ten elders as witnesses. Boaz tells him that Elimelech and his children have a land in Moab that must be redeemed, but that in order to claim it, the relative must marry Ruth. The relative is interested in the land, but does not want to marry Ruth since this would mean that his estate would be divided among all the children he had with Ruth. He asks Boaz to act as a redeemer, which Boaz is more than happy to do. He marries Ruth and soon gives birth to a son named Obed, who becomes the grandfather of King David. Since the Messiah is prophesied to come from the House of David, both the greatest king in the history of Israel and the future Messiah will both be descendants of Ruth, a Moabite woman who converted to Judaism.

The book of Ruth and Shavuot
It is customary to read the Book of Ruth during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, which celebrates the donation of the Torah to the Jewish people. According to Rabbi Alfred Kolatach, there are three reasons why Ruth's story was read during Shavuot:

Ruth's story takes place during the spring harvest, when Shavuot falls.
Ruth is an ancestor of King David, who according to tradition was born and died on Shavuot.
Since Ruth has shown her loyalty to Judaism by converting, it is appropriate to remember her on a holiday commemorating the gift of the Torah to the Jewish people. Just as Ruth freely engaged in Judaism, so too did the Jewish people freely engage in following the Torah.