Ruth

Ruth was a Moabite woman whose steadfast loyalty to her mother-in-law Naomi following the death of her Israelite husband led her to embrace Israel's God and people (Ruth 1:16–17). Her gleaning in the fields of Boaz, the kinsman-redeemer who married her and redeemed Naomi's inheritance, produced a son named Obed, grandfather of King David (Ruth 4:17). Ruth's story illustrates divine providence, covenant loyalty (hesed), and the incorporation of Gentiles into the people of God; she appears in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:5.