Who was Ruth?

   RUTH is the name of an Old Testament book and its heroine. It is a charming, beautifully told story.
In the days when the judges ruled Israel, there was a great famine in the land. A man named Elimelech left his home in Bethlehem and moved to the land of Moab. His wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chillon went with him. Elimelech died soon after, and the sons married Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. Then the sons died. Naomi resolved to return to Bethle­hem, and told her daughters-in-law to go back to their families. Orpah reluctantly did so, but Ruth refused.
   With touching devotion she said, "Whither thou goest, I will go . . . thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried" (Ruth 1:16-17). So Naomi took Ruth' to Bethlehem and Ruth found work gleaning barley in the fields of Boaz, a rich landowner. Boaz, who was a distant relative by marriage, fell in love with Ruth and eventually married her. Their son became the grandfather of King David.