Welcome back!! We have had such a great show so far with Sarah and Queen Esther, how could it possibly get any better? Please help me in introducing my next guest.....Ruth!!
(Ruth comes out, gives Oprah a hug, and has a seat on the couch next to Oprah.)
Welcome, welcome, welcome, Ruth!! I am so excited about having you here!!
Thank you, Oprah! I am so happy to be here!
Okay, Ruth, let's get to it. Can you fill me in on how you became so close with your mother-in-law, Naomi.
Well, it was actually when I married my first husband, Mahlon. I met him in the land of Moab, which is where my husband's father, Elimelech, moved his family before he passed away. They were originally from the land of Israel. At his death, he left my husband and my husband's brother, Kilion, to be raised by their single mother, Naomi.
About ten years after you married, your husband and his brother were killed in an accident, leaving you a widow. Was this hard for you to cope with?
Yes, this was a very hard time for me. I lost my husband unexpectedly, and on top of that, the land of Moab was experiencing a great famine. Things were not looking great at the time.
So, you are left widowed, and your town is experiencing a terrible famine. And with the death of her husband and two sons, Naomi felt no connection with the land Moab anymore, beyond her daughter-in-laws. So she decided she was going to go back to Bethlehem. Can you explain how this affected you?
Well, even though I was no longer legally bound to Naomi as a daughter-in-law, I still felt a very close connection with her, and I knew I did not want to desert her. So I decided to stay by her side, and stay loyal to her. This was a very hard decision for me since this meant I would have to leave my whole life in Moab behind. All of my family and friends lived there, and it was my home. But I felt something inside of me telling me that Naomi truly needed me. So, we traveled to her home land of Bethlehem.
Life was very hard when you first moved to Bethleham. You and Naomi struggled to make ends meet. You were both single women trying to establish yourselves in this new land. What did you have to do to be able to find food each day?
Well, Naomi did know of a distant relative who had a farm, and at the end of the day I would go and gather the leftover harvest from his fields. Well, one day, I met this relative in the field. His name was Boaz, and he was very generous to me, because he heard about what I did for Naomi by not abandoning her when she was at her lowest point. Because of Boaz's generosity, I was able to help provide for Naomi and myself, and we were able to get established in this land, and we knew we would be able to make it through. So, we put our faith in God, and our blessings began to show.
Yes they did! As you continued to glean in Boaz's fields every day, you and Boaz became closer and closer. Can you describe to me what obstacles you encountered in your relationship?
Well, there was one really big obstacle in the way, and that was that Boaz had a family member who actually had all the rights to Elimelech's inheritance, and this included me. So technically, if the relative wanted to marry me, he would have first choice. This meant that Boaz had to meet with this relative and make him an offer to buy the inheritance, which would give us the ability to legally marry.
Did the relative accept this offer?
Yes! And Boaz and I were able to get married, and we even eventually conceived a son! Things were able to turn around for us, and our lives were so blessed!
Were there any life lessons you learned from all of this?
Absolutely!! I learned that even if someone is not technically your family anymore, you should love them anyways. You should stand by their side as long as they need you. A good friend is not something that is easy to find. So, if you have someone you can trust and love, you should hold on to that. Through our travels and struggles with establishing ourselves in the new land, Naomi and I were able to become closer than ever. I could say that she was absolutely my best friend. I know God blessed me by having her in my life. Also, I learned that if you put all of your faith in God, he will show you the way. He will bless you infinitely. These blessings may not come right away, but once they do and you get passed your struggles, you will have a wonderful life. But you must have faith!!
Those sound like words to live by, Ruth. I am glad you and Naomi were about to find each other, and able to create such wonderful lives for yourselves in Bethlehem. Thank you so much for being on my show!
Thank you, Oprah! It was a lot of fun!
We will be right back with our final guest of the day, Jael! Please stay tuned!
Author's Note: There was not much I changed about the story of Ruth. Most of the changes I made were so I did not exceed my storybook length. I wanted the main focus of my story to be about the relationship between Naomi and Ruth.
I left out that Ruth's sister-in-law Orpah was also planning on traveling to Bethlehem with Noami and Ruth, but when they started on their way, Naomi asked the girls to turn around and go back to their mothers in their main land. And at this point Orpah decided to turn around and go home, while Ruth decided to stay loyal to her mother-in-law, and stay by her side. I kept this out mainly because I felt I may have to elaborate on Orpah, and I did not want to take any focus away from Ruth and Naomi's relationship, or add too much length to my story.
Also, I did not mention this in my story, but the son that Ruth and Boaz conceived started the direct lineage to Jesus! Her son was also the great-grandfather of David.
Image Information: Ruth. Web Source: Exploring the Word of God
"Ruth". Wikipedia.