The Come Follow Manual devotes no more than a couple sentences to the Book of Ruth, neither of which attempts to offer a meaningful interpretation of the written text. Which is a shame, since Ruth’s story greatly augments our understanding of the evolution of Israelite culture and theology while simultaneously providing a bridge between her day and Christ’s ministry, Paul’s mission, and our own time.
Let us start with the very first verse of Ruth: “In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons.”[1]
