On the Road to Bethlehem
From Jordan to Bethlehem to Nazareth and back, under an intricately Watchful Eye
The road to Bethlehem begins in Moab (now part of Jordan)
A wealthy Israelite man, Boaz, would find himself in need of an exotically beautiful wife, and found her in a young widow who’d recently arrived in the Bethlehem area, from Moab. Her name was Ruth.
Ruth was born and raised in Moab but had volunteered for this new land — Israel — with her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi.
Imagine Ruth’s life: Raised in Moab (where the religion was not all about Jehovah), married to an immigrant son of Elimelech and Naomi (who were also living in Moab), bonding with her new family, she watched as first her father-in-law died, followed by her husband and his brother, leaving three women basically helpless and hopeless.
None of them was actually related to the others; they’d only been married to three dead men, who had been their only connection.
In those days, marrying and bearing sons was considered life insurance for women
Naomi, especially, was hopeless and bitter. Fed up with her late husband’s “venture” land, she decided to return to…
