In our last episode, we heard how Naomi and Ruth journeyed from Moab to Bethlehem, Naomi’s homeland. Ruth had pledged her loyalty to her mother-in-law and embraced the God of Israel as her own. The two women faced a difficult life in their new home. Both were widowed, with no children to care for them, depending on gleanings from the harvest fields, which Ruth went to collect. There she met Boaz, a man who showed her great kindness, knowing what she’d done for Naomi. Boaz was a God-fearing man who was wealthy, generous, and protective of Ruth in her vulnerability as a poor foreigner. And today, we’ll learn of a deepening of this relationship and how Boaz and Ruth will come together to begin a family line that will trace to the fulfillment of God’s promised rescue, not just for Israel but the whole world.