Ruth in Easton's Bible Dictionary
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).
Read More about Ruth in Easton's Bible Dictionary