04.02.03 A Biblical Story of a Value-Adding Daughter

Ruth and the Value She Added to Her Mother-in-law, Naomi

In the book of Ruth, the bible narrates the story of a woman called Ruth, highlighting the value that she added to the life of her mother-in-law, Naomi.

As a background, some writers assert that Ruth and her sister Orpah were daughters of Eglon, the King of Moab, a pagan tribe that did not believe in Jehovah. Ruth got married to Mahlon, the son of Elimelech and Naomi, who had migrated with their sons (Mahlon and Chilion) to Moab after a huge drought had hit Bethlehem where the family used to live. Ruth’s sister, Orpah, got married to Chilion.

Unfortunately, Mahlon, Chilion and their father Elimelech died in Moab, leaving Naomi widowed and childless. That rendered both Ruth and Orpah widows at a very young age.

It was sometime thereafter that Naomi advised her two daughters-in-law (Ruth and Orpah) to return to their Moabite family as she had decided to go back to Bethlehem. Whilst a tearful Orpah consented to Naomi’s proposal, Ruth refused, vowing to stay with her mother-in-law for life (Ruth 1:16-17)

When the two penniless and poverty-stricken women (Ruth and Naomi) returned to Bethlehem, Ruth decided to work in the fields in order to ‘make ends meet”. It was there that she met Boaz, a wealthy relative of her late husband Mahlon and father-in-law Elimelech.

Long story short, Boaz married Ruth through a ‘redemption tradition’ common in the Jewish culture (Deuteronomy 25:5–10), thereby ending the impoverished life that the two women had become accustomed to. In no time, Ruth gave grandchildren to Naomi, making her King David’s great grandmother and one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ (Ruth 4:17-22). That was just how immense the value was, that Ruth added to the life of Naomi, her mother-in-law .