The Story of Ruth

by Ugochukwu Ezeani

The Book of Ruth is one of only two books of the Bible to be named after women — the other being Esther.

Even though it’s small, this remarkable book contains many principles with profound impact to our lives today.

A woman by the name, Naomi packed up and moved from Judah to Moab due to a terrible famine that was affecting her family.

She and her husband moved there with their two sons, who eventually took wives while living in Moab.

Tragically, Naomi lost her husband and two sons. Broken and empty, Naomi decided to move back to Bethlehem in Judah.

Her daughter-in-law, Ruth came with her, since she had also lost her husband.

Keep in mind that Ruth was a Moabite woman, and she was now moving to Judah as a foreigner. This was a big deal in their culture, but she was committed to Naomi as her daughter-in-law, and she wanted to follow after the God of Israel.

While in Judah, God worked out an amazing plan for a man named Boaz to take Ruth as his wife, give her a child, and provide for her and Naomi. What’s remarkable about this plan was that Boaz was qualified as a “kinsman redeemer” to take her as his wife.

What in the world is a “kinsman redeemer” you may ask?

Well, they had a custom in those days that directed that a relative of a man who dies should marry that man’s widow in order to carry on his lineage through this woman.

According to God’s remarkable sovereignty, it turned out that Boaz was a relative to Ruth’s husband who had passed away; so, he was qualified to marry her and carry on his lineage.

Moral of story:

This is what we call Mkpuchi Nwanyi in Igbo culture.

Thank you.

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Also by Ugochukwu:

The Sacrifice of the Altar