In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab (Ruth 1:1).

The book of Ruth is one of the rare books in the Bible in which women are the main characters. The story itself is short, and is about two women, a widowed mother (Naomi) and her Moabite daughter-in-law (Ruth), who returned to Bethlehem after they had emigrated to the land of Moab because of famine. It tells how they survived and how their life was restored through their kinsman-redeemer, Boaz, who married Ruth, and in whose genealogy later came David. When they had not yet returned to Bethlehem, Naomi told her two daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers and remarry, but Ruth insisted on going with Naomi, and said:

Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her (v. 16).

This confession of hers functioned in the same way as that of Rahab who were saved from destruction by her faith in the God of Israel. Both were gentile, yet were made heirs of God by faith just as we were adopted as God's children and heirs by our faith in Christ.

When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her (v. 18).

It was at the time of barley harvest, just before the celebration of the Passover, when they arrived Bethlehem. Ruth went out for gleaning in the fields, and it so happened that she went to the field belonging to Boaz, who was one of Naomi's kinsman-redeemers. Ruth, without knowing it, asked the foreman of the workers to let her glean among the sheaves, which was not normally allowed. The foreman told her to wait till he would ask Boaz about it. So she waited for the arrival of Boaz, and finally:

Just then (lit. Behold!) Boaz arrived from Bethlehem (meaning 'house of bread') and greeted the harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" "The LORD bless you!" they called back (2:4).

The writer makes a big deal out of the entry of Boaz into the story as if Boaz came as a savior for these two women who were struggling to get their bread. One of the characteristics of the book of Ruth is that the story contains some expressions and descriptions that seem to allude to something deeper and more spiritual, or some kind of events in the future as prophecies. The above description of the greetings between Boaz and his harvesters is one of them. It somewhat reminds us of the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem. Boaz said to Ruth:

My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled (vv. 8-9).

You can see how Boaz allowed Ruth to work gleaning together with the servant girls of his own, and even allowed her to drink water freely from the jars prepared for his workers. At the time of a meal, he let her sit among his own servants and eat the same food that they ate. He even took some roasted grain and handed it to her. She ate all she wanted, and had some leftover, which she took home and gave to Naomi. Definitely, Boaz treated Ruth in a very special way. This is how God thinks about us, and takes care of us, who were once alienated from him and his blessings, but were adopted into his family to be his children and heirs.