Ruth is a story of love in the midst of heartache, poverty, and death. It is not about love between a man and a woman but between a woman and her mother-in-law. The story begins with a family, father, mother, and two sons, leaving their homeland, Israel, because of famine and moving to a land of distant relatives, Moab. The two sons marry Moabite women, and then, the father and two sons die. Three widows are alone living in poverty.
Naomi, the mother-in -law, hears the famine in Israel is over, and she determines to go home. In the process of getting ready to leave, she tries to convince her daughters-in-law to return to their parents’ homes and find other husbands. One decides to stay in Moab, but the other goes with Naomi to Israel.
Outline
- 1A. The Background – Chapter 1
- 2A. The Employment – Chapter 2
- 3A. The Marriage Proposal – Chapter 3
- 4A. The Marriage and Rewards – Chapter 4
The Key Verse is Ruth 1:16-17 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” Ruth 1:16-17 (NLT)