Ruth's Loyalty
Faithfulness
Ruth 1-4about 2 minutes to read aloud
Naomi had lost her husband and her two sons in a foreign land. She wanted to go home to Bethlehem. She told her sons' wives, "Go back to your own mothers. May the Lord be kind to you."
Orpah kissed her and went. But Ruth held on. "Do not urge me to leave you," she said. "Where you go I will go. Where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God."
They came to Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest. They were poor. Ruth went out to the fields to glean the grain left behind by the harvesters, as the law allowed.
The field belonged to Boaz, a good man and a relative of Naomi's husband. He saw Ruth and asked about her. When he learned of her kindness to Naomi, he welcomed her. "May the Lord bless you," he said. "You have taken refuge under His wings."
Boaz told his workers to leave extra grain for her. He gave her food at mealtime. In time, Boaz became Ruth's husband, and he cared for Naomi as his own mother.
Ruth gave birth to a son named Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king. And from the family of David, many years later, would come the Savior of the world.
Questions to talk about
What did Ruth say to Naomi?
Show the answer
Ruth promised to stay with Naomi and to follow Naomi's God.
What did Ruth do to get food?
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Ruth gleaned the grain left behind by the harvesters, as the law of Israel allowed.
Who was Ruth's great-grandson?
Show the answer
Ruth was the great-grandmother of David — and in her line, at last, came Jesus.
The lesson
God gathers the outsider into His family. He writes quiet lives into the story of His Son.
