Page 9 - STMT 2nd Edition

RUTH'S STORY

“Your people shall be my people, and your God, my

God.” These famous words were spoken by the

widow Ruth who was about to forsake her land and

her gods.

Ruth’s life story began in Moab, where, as a young Moabite woman, she

married a man from Bethlehem. Her husband, along with his family, had

moved to Moab because of a famine in the land of Judah. Tragically, both

Ruth’s husband and his brother died. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, also a

widow, was the only one of the original family still living.

Ruth’s decision

It was a terrible tragedy for Naomi to be stranded in Moab, having lost

her husband and her two sons. So Naomi decided to return to Judah, since

she heard the famine was over (Ruth 1:6).

Her two daughters-in-law were now faced with a choice. Naomi urged

them to return to their families in Moab, for Naomi had no more sons to

give them as husbands, and thus no security for the future to offer them.

TABLE OF CONTENT Page 9