Ruth: The Time of Harvest

The short book of Ruth is a remarkable account of an Israel family - Elimelech and Naomi and their two boys - who went into the heathen country of Moab during a famine in Israel. The two boys married unsaved Gentile women against God's clear direction - what we would call unequal yoke marriages (2 Corinthians 6:14). Under the hand of God, He removed all three men - Naomi's husband and the husbands of the Gentile women who married the two boys. Naomi moved back to Bethlehem and one of the widowed Gentile girls (Ruth) insisted on going with her, taking Naomi's God as her God. By lucky chance - we might say if we didn't know God's grace and providence - Ruth married rich Boaz, a relative of Elimelech and Naomi, and the resulting boy, Obed, is found in the lineage of the Lord.