There was a famine in Israel, a man named Elimelech took his sons and his wife Naomi to the neighboring nation of Moab, because Moab had food. The sons married women from Moab. Elimelech and his sons died, leaving Naomi with her two daughters-in-law, one of whom was named Ruth. None of them had jobs, and so none of them had food. Naomi decided to go back to Israel, because the famine had ended. Ruth went with Naomi, saying:
"Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." Ruth 1:16b-17
Naomi lets Ruth comes with her, they settle in Bethlehem, which is where Elimelech's family lives. They're poor, and so Ruth goes out to the fields gathering grain, where she meets Boaz, who eventually is so impressed with the kind of woman she is, that he marries her.
Now, that's a very quick summary of the book of Ruth, and I strongly suggest that instead of the cliff-notes version, you go for the real thing. It's quite short, only four chapters, but too long for me to reproduce the whole thing here. That being said, God, like Boaz, seems somewhat impressed by Ruth. When Ruth and Naomi are living in Bethlehem, all the people of the town are impressed by Ruth. She doesn't complain, she works hard. She takes care of her mother-in-law, because she thinks that's the right thing to do. Moreover, she has decided that she will follow Naomi's God.
This is the kind of commitment God is looking for, and when he finds it, he acts. In the short term, God acted in Ruth's life by introducing her to Boaz. Boaz is a good man. Boaz sees Ruth working in his field, and asks the foreman about her. Having heard a good report about her, that she works hard, that she doesn't steal, Boaz says to Ruth:
"My daughter, listen to me, don't go into another field, and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you, and whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled." Ruth 2:8-9
To quickly take this apart, Boaz says to Ruth, you can stay here, nobody will hurt you, this was a serious concern, a woman alone, out in the fields, was open to all sorts of things happening, from an accident to an assault. Second, he says, my protection will extend to you when they're done with this field, you should follow my workers to their next worksite, and you'll be able to continue to gather food there. Also, when you're thirsty, you can have some of their water.
At lunch, Boaz offers Ruth some food, and tells her that she's welcome to the company lunch that he provides. It's important to note two cultural things here. First, Ruth didn't work for Boaz. She wasn't an employee, and what she gathered from his field wouldn't benefit him economically, instead, she was taking the "gleaning", the stalks of grain that the harvesters missed. She would be taking the grain home and either eating it, or selling it for household necessities. Second here is that eating together is a serious thing in the middle-east. It's not like having coffee here, it's more like staying at somebody's house for the weekend. Boaz is saying to Ruth that even though she's not there to benefit the company, she can be part of the company for all other purposes.
A quick update on the score. Ruth has given her life to God ("your God will be my God.")
God has provided Ruth with a safe place to gather food.
God has also introduced Ruth to Boaz, who has provided daily lunch and cool water.
Ruth heads home from her day's work, having gathered a large amount of grain (about 5 gallons), Naomi is impressed, because this is more than would normally have been expected. (Boaz had told his workers to leave a bit more grain than usual in the fields, so she could gather it.) Naomi asks whose field Ruth worked in, and is happy to hear it was Boaz, he's a relative of Elimelech's, and he's known in town as a good man.
A little time passes, Ruth continues to gather grain in Boaz's fields. Enough time has passed in fact that they've moved on to a new crop, and they're harvesting Barley. While I'm not a farmer, I understand that Barley is harvested after wheat. Naomi tells Ruth that she should ask Boaz if he's interested in marrying her. Boaz is single, Ruth is single, Boaz might like Ruth. So, Naomi tells Ruth to get dressed up, and sneak up to the place where they're threshing the barley, and have a chat with Boaz. Ruth does everything Naomi tells her.
"I will do everything you say," Ruth answered. Ruth 3:5
It works, Boaz is totally into her. But, there's a little problem, see, there's another relative, who is ahead of Boaz for the right to buy Elimelech's property. The property carries the family line, and it's owner will be expected to marry Ruth, and with her, produce an heir for Elimelech. This gets a bit complicated, but it was important that a person's name not dissapear from the history of the Nation of Israel, and the way that was organized, was to ensure that a person's name was always on his property, even if he was dead. So, Boaz heads into town the next day, and talks to the guy. The guy is interested in the property, but not interested in Ruth. He doesn't want any kids he has with Ruth to get his property, because he already has kids, who have their eye on the family farm. So, Boaz and Ruth are in the clear.
Boaz and Ruth get married.
Score update: Ruth gives her life to God.
God gives Ruth an income.
God gives Ruth a good reputation in her town.
God introduces Ruth to Boaz.
Ruth and Boaz get married, meaning that Ruth goes from being poor, to being rather rich.
Boaz and Ruth get pregnant (I think Ruth handled most of the being pregnant part of this), and they have a son. They name their son "Obed" (This name won't be in the running when I become a parent). Obed grows up and has a son (again, mostly his wife's doing), named Jesse. Jesse grows up and has several sons, the youngest of whom is named David. David grows up and becomes King of Israel, and is remembered today, something like 3,000 years later, as the greatest king Israel ever had. David has sons, who have children, who have children. One of those children, several generations later is named Jesus. Jesus is also God. Jesus grows up and dies for our sins.
Final Score: Ruth has given her life to God. In turn God has improved Ruth's immediate circumstances by putting her into a relationship with a loving husband. God has also put Ruth into the lineage of his own son, Jesus. This is a pretty huge honor (I can't imagine one bigger). Ruth's great grandson becomes King. Several generations later, one of her descendants is the King of Kings. In my opinion, God didn't so much as add to Ruth's life, as multiply it.
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