If you ignore typical subjugation of the women in this book, this is certainly the sweetest, nicest book I’ve read since I started.

Naomi’s husband dies, and her two sons die, so she tells her two daughters-in-law to go back to their old homes to find new husbands. One goes, and one stays. That’s Ruth.

One day, she’s following the harvesters picking up missing grain for herself, and the owner, Boaz, tells everyone to let her be. He, like everyone else, has heard how she stayed with her mother-in-law, and respects her for this.

Several days later, when Boaz went to sleep, Ruth uncovered his feet and lay with at them. When he woke, she offered herself to him, but he was a gentleman, and sent her out early in the morning before anyone would see her.

As a reward, he later bought some of Naomi’s property, and with it, bought Ruth as well, and married her.

In the context of a misogynistic, bronze age, feudal society, this is a very liberal story. Looking back, it’s sexist and cruel.

I’m glad I was born in this society.

Next: Samuel 1-3