A famine drove one family out of Bethlehem and into the land of Moab. Elimelech took his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chillon, across the border to survive. The sons married Moabite women—Orpah and Ruth. Then, within ten years, all three men died, leaving Naomi alone in a foreign country with two daughters-in-law and nothing else.
Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. She urged both young women to stay in Moab and find new husbands among their own people. Orpah kissed her goodbye and turned back. Ruth refused. She clung to Naomi and made one of the most famous declarations in all of scripture—she would go wherever Naomi went, live wherever she lived, and worship Naomi's God as her own (Ruth 1:16).
Back in Bethlehem, Naomi's old neighbors barely recognized her. She told them not to call her Naomi—"pleasantness"—but Mara, meaning "bitterness," because God had dealt harshly with her. But the harvest season was beginning, and Ruth went out to glean grain in the fields, as the poor were entitled to do under Torah law.
She happened into the field of Boaz, a wealthy landowner and a kinsman of Elimelech. Boaz noticed her immediately. He told her not to glean but to reap alongside his workers, gave her food and water, and ordered his men not to touch her. When Naomi learned whose field Ruth had found, she recognized the hand of providence—Boaz was a go'el (גואל), a redeemer, someone with the legal right to restore their family's inheritance.
Naomi devised a plan. She sent Ruth to the threshing floor at night, where Boaz was sleeping after the barley winnowing. Ruth lay at his feet. When he woke at midnight and found her, she asked him to spread his cloak over her—a request for marriage and protection. Boaz agreed, but there was one man closer in kinship who had first right of refusal. The next day, before the elders of Bethlehem, that kinsman declined. Boaz married Ruth. Their son was Obed. Obed's son was Jesse. Jesse's son was David—the future king of Israel (Ruth 4:17). Josephus marvels at this: God raised a Moabite gleaner's descendants to the throne, proving that ordinary origins are no obstacle to divine purpose.