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The Story of Creation
from the Old Testament Book of Genesis
Away back at the very beginning of time, God made the world. Not as we see it today, for all was darkness everywhere. What a strange and unfriendly world this must have been, for no living creature could dwell in it. But God planned to make it beautiful, so he caused the light to shine. This light he called day, and the darkness he called night. And then the evening and morning of the first day of time passed by. On the second day, God made the beautiful blue sky. He called the sky heaven. On the third day, he caused the waters to flow together in wide, deep places, and he called them seas. Dry land then rose up, and this he called earth. But as yet there were no grasses, flowers, nor trees. The whole earth was barren and desolate. So God caused the carpet of grass to grow upon the bare ground and beautiful flowers to spring up from the earth. The trees and herbs also he made to grow at his will. When God beheld all these things, he saw that they were good. On the fourth day appeared the great lights, which we see in the sky: the sun, the moon, and the stars. These he made to divide the day from the night. After all these things were made, God began to create living creatures. He made fishes of all kinds and sizes to swim about in the seas, and birds of every description to fly about above the water and land, just as we see them doing today. Thus the world continued to become more delightful, and the fifth day of the first week of time passed by. On the sixth day, God made all the animals great and small and every creeping thing. Then there was life abounding in the woods and on the plains, as well as in the air and in the sea. What a beautiful world! Still, what a strange world, for there were no people in it. But God had not yet finished his work of creation, for he wished to have people live in the wonderful world he had made. They could enjoy its beauties and care for it, and more, they could know who had made all these great things. And knowing God, they could love and worship him. Male and female he created them in his image and likeness. He blessed them and gave them authority over all the other animals on earth. “Be fruitful and multiply,” he told them. “Fill the earth and subdue it. Every seed-bearing plant is to be your food.” When the sixth day ended, God had made the world and had placed everything in it just as he wished. Therefore, on the seventh day, he rested from his work.
THE STORY OF RUTH AND NAOMI
From the Old Testament Book of Ruth During the days of the Judges, there was a terrible famine in the land of Canaan. A man named Elimelech, who lived in the little town of Bethlehem, decided to take his wife and his two boys a long journey into the land of Moab, where there were rich grainfields and plenty of food, but where, alas! the people were heathen and worshipped false gods.
So away they went. But trouble soon followed them, for Elimelech died, and poor Naomi, his wife, was left in a strange land with her two young sons. She loved her sons dearly, and when they grew up, and married two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, Naomi loved them also as her own.
But trouble followed trouble, for, soon after their marriages, Naomi’s sons fell ill and died.
Naomi began to hate this strange land of Moab where she never heard her own God spoken of except with scorn.
When one day a message came through some travelers that there was now plenty of food in Canaan, Naomi’s longing for her own town of Bethlehem grew so intense that she rose up and cried out that she must return. Orpah and Ruth determined that they would go with her.
At first Naomi let Orpah and Ruth walk with her, but at last she turned to them and told them to return to their own land, so that they might find husbands amongst their own people.
But as her daughters clung to her affectionately, and she kissed them, they both burst into tears and cried out:
“Surely we will return with you to your people!”
But Naomi implored them to leave her, and at last Orpah made up her mind to return; so she went back to the land of Moab. But Ruth would not go with Orpah but stayed clinging to her mother-in-law.
Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried: may the Lord smite me if anything but death parts you and me.”
As Naomi and Ruth came in sight of the dear home-city, the people came hurrying out to give her a welcome.
But poor Naomi was so changed with her grief that they hardly knew her, and they whispered together, saying: “Is this Naomi?”
But she heard them and answered: “Call me not Naomi, (meaning pleasure), but call me Mara (meaning bitter), for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”
When Ruth rose up next morning, she wandered out on the sunny hill-side, and saw that the reapers were busy with the barley harvest; so she hurried back to Naomi, and asked whether she might go out and glean, that she and her mother might have bread to eat. Naomi consented, as she was very poor; for though her husband had had some land which he had sold, Naomi had no money to buy it back.
Ruth wandered shyly about, collecting the barley that had been missed by the reapers; and she presently happened to glean on some land that belonged to a man named Boaz, who was a relation of her dead father-in-law Elimelech.
The people watched Ruth with great interest, for she was a beautiful woman, and had a sweet, trustworthy face. Besides, the story of her kindness to her broken-hearted mother-in-law had spread.
So when the master of the reapers, Boaz himself, asked who Ruth was, they told him her story.
Boaz went up and spoke kindly to her; and told her to keep by his reapers, and not to go to any other field.
Poor shy Ruth was so overcome by such kindness that she fell on her face and thanked him from her heart. But Boaz answered her:
“It has been told me all that you have done for your mother-in-law. May a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel.”
That was indeed a very happy harvesting for Ruth, as she gleaned in the fresh air amidst so many kindly friends. Boaz had told his servants that they were to let her glean right in amongst the sheaves, and to drop handfuls of grain on purpose, so that she might get plenty; and every day Ruth followed the reapers of Boaz until all the barley was gathered in.
Ruth was very happy, for everyone was kind to her, and Boaz, the master, was the kindest of them all.
Boaz determined to make Ruth his wife, and to buy up the family land which ought to have come to Naomi’s sons. So one day he went to the gate of Bethlehem, where the people always did their business, and he told the elders of the city that he wished them to be witnesses that he had bought all the land which had once belonged to Naomi’s sons, and that he intended to take Ruth the Moabite, to be his wife.
Everyone was delighted to hear what Boaz said, and the elders rose up and blessed Boaz and the wife he was going to marry.
How happy Ruth was to have gained as a husband the man who had been so kind to her in her loneliness! And how happy Naomi was to think that God had given her a kind and generous son! And how well God had planned all this, for the Moabite Ruth became the ancestor of David the king, and through him of our Lord Jesus Christ.
THE STORY OF MARTHA, MARY AND LAZARUS
From the Gospel of John
Jesus often used to stay near Jerusalem, in the little town of Bethany, with a great friend of His, named Lazarus, whose sisters, Mary and Martha, kept house for him. One day a message came to Jesus from Martha and Mary saying:
“Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick.”
We should have thought that Jesus would have hurried away at once to go to His friend. But He knew that His Father wished Him to show all the people clearly that He was really the Son of God, by performing the most wonderful miracle He had yet done. So, instead of going to Bethany, Jesus stayed two days in the place where He was.
But when at last He told His disciples that He was going to Bethany, they were horrified at the idea, for only a short time before, the Jews in that part had wanted to stone Jesus; so they tried hard to persuade their Master not to go. But Jesus answered them:
“Our friend Lazarus is asleep; but I go that I may wake him.”
Then said His disciples:
“Lord, if he is asleep, he shall become well!”
Then Jesus told them plainly:
“Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.”
The disciples knew that what Jesus commanded must be done, but Thomas said to the others:
“Let us also go, that we may die with Him,” for they all knew the terrible risk they were running by going to Bethany, which was only two miles from Jerusalem, where the Scribes and Pharisees and priests were plotting how best they could catch Jesus and put Him to death.
Now, in the house at Bethany, Martha and Mary were sitting in deep sorrow, and it was all in vain that their friends tried to comfort them for the loss of their beloved brother. But presently someone whispered to Martha that Jesus was coming. Quickly she rose and hurried forth along the dusty road to meet Him. At the sight of she cried out:
“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, whatsoever you ask of God, God will give it.”
Then Jesus said quietly:
“Your brother shall rise again.”
But still poor Martha did not understand what Jesus was meaning to do, so she answered:
“I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
But Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Then Martha answered:
“Yes, Lord; I believe that You art the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world.”
Then Jesus spoke to her kindly and asked after Mary, so Martha hurried home again, and whispered to her sister:
“The Master is come and is calling for you.”
Quickly Mary rose to follow Martha, and the Jews thought that she was going to the grave to weep, so they followed too. But Mary did not go to the grave, but along the high road, until she found her Lord where Martha had left Him. Then Mary flung herself down at Jesus’ feet and cried out:
“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Jesus, at the sight of her weeping, had a great sorrow grip His tender heart. He groaned deeply as He saw what death meant in this world which once His Father had made so beautiful.
“Where have you laid him?” He asked the sisters.
But all they could answer in their grief was:
“Come and see.”
And at that, Jesus joined the sisters in their sorrow, and wept aloud. Then the Jews, watching, whispered: “Behold how He loved him!” and: “Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?”
Lazarus had now been dead four days.
As they reached the grave, which was a cave in the hill-side, with a great stone rolled up against the entrance, Jesus commanded that the stone should be rolled away. How anxiously all the crowd watched what He would do! Then Jesus lifted up His eyes to Heaven and said:
“Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me, and I knew that Thou hearest Me always; but because of the people that stand by I have said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.”
Then Jesus went to the entrance to the cave, and cried with a loud voice:
“Lazarus, come forth!”
And the dead man came forth fully alive, bound round with the grave-clothes.
Then Jesus said: “Loose him and let him go.”
This was the very greatest miracle Jesus had done yet; and there were two kinds of people in that crowd who watched what happened.
Some of them believed in Jesus and loved Him for evermore; but some of the others hated Him passionately and hurried off to Jerusalem to tell the priests and Pharisees what He had done.
Then these wicked people talked together, and planned how they might put Jesus to death.
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THE STORY OF DEBORAH, PROPHETESS AND JUDGE
From the Old Testament book of Judges If only the Children of Israel had been true to God, when they reached the promised land of Canaan, He would have subdued their enemies, and given them the land to possess in peace and quietness for ever.
But they grew tired of fighting, and more than once they turned away from God and worshipped idols, and mixed with the people of the land, and copied their evil deeds.
So to punish them, and to seek to bring them back again to Himself, God allowed their enemies to conquer and oppress them.
But when they were sorry, and showed that they repented, God had pity on them, and sent some brave captain to deliver them. These captains are called “judges” in the Bible.
At one time a great king called Jabin conquered the Israelites. He took their sons and daughters as slaves, and stole the best of their grain and fruit and vineyards. The people were so terrified that they dared not walk on the open road, but had to creep along in by-ways and through the forest paths.
For twenty years he oppressed the Children of Israel, for he had a great army and nine hundred chariots of iron, and over this army there was a mighty captain named Sisera.
But at last the people cried to God in their trouble, and God always listens when people cry to Him, even though they have done wrong.
The Children of Israel had no king at that time, but there lived in the land a wise and noble woman named Deborah. She was a prophetess, and at certain times she sat out under a palm-tree and judged the people, and settled their quarrels and gave them wise advice.
God now spoke to Deborah, so she sent for a brave soldier named Barak, who lived in the north, and whose name meant “Lightning”.
Barak came at once to her call, and Deborah told him that he must gather together ten thousand men, and make them ready instantly for battle. God was going to draw Sisera and his chariots and his great army to a wide plain through which the river Kishon ran, and here Barak was to fight and conquer him. But Barak, though a great warrior, was afraid, for he knew he could get no army equal to Sisera’s trained men.
“If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, then I will not go!” he said.
And Deborah answered: “I will surely go with you; however, the day shall not bring you honor; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” And Deborah rose and went with Barak to Kadesh.
So away they journeyed northwards and collected ten thousand men. They might have gathered far, far more, but numbers of the Children of Israel were so fainthearted and selfish that they refused to come. So Deborah and Barak returned to encamp on Mount Tabor, and get ready for the battle.
But as they passed through the country, a man named Heber the Kenite saw them, and as he was a friend of King Jabin’s he sent off a message to Sisera, to betray them.
So it happened that by the time Barak’s army reached Mount Tabor, and looked eastwards across the wide plain below, towards the sea, they saw that Sisera’s hosts had already collected in the plain.
Suddenly God sent down a fearful storm of rain, hail, and wind, and the River Kishon began to swell and roar, and overflow its banks, and turn the hard, dry plain into a marshy swamp. Then Deborah cried out to Barak: “Up, for this is the day in which the Lord has delivered Sisera into your hand!”
So Barak and his men rushed down the mountainside, making so sudden an onslaught that Sisera’s army fled in a panic. The Israelites pressed forward triumphantly, following the heavy chariots, which plunged helplessly in the bogs and quicksands and were swept away by the River Kishon.
So the Lord scattered Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword before Barak, so that Sisera fled away on foot. But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left.
But Sisera turned back westwards, and in his distress he made for the tent of Heber, the Kenite. Heber was not in his tent, but his wife, Jael, who was a friend of Barak’s and the poor oppressed Children of Israel, came out to meet Sisera, and said to him: “Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not.”
So Sisera thankfully entered the tent, and Jael covered him with a rug. Then he begged for a little water, but she gave him instead some refreshing buttermilk. Before he slept, he implored her to stand in the door of the tent, so that if any pursuer came and asked if there were a man in the tent, she could answer “No”.
As soon as Sisera was asleep, Jael took one of the tent-pegs and a heavy mallet, and then crept softly up to the sleeping man and drove the peg through his temples, and fastened him to the ground, killing him instantly.
A little while afterwards, as Jael watched from the tent door, she saw Barak and his men hot on Sisera’s track. Then she came out to meet them and cried: “Come, and I will show you the man whom you seek.”
And when Barak came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead.
Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Deborah concerning how the victory would come about. The land of Israel then had peace for forty years.
THE STORY OF ISAAC
From the Old Testament book of Genesis
God had changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and one day, as he sat at his tent door, sheltered by trees from the burning heat of the sun, he looked up and saw three men standing by him.
Abraham rose and went to meet them and bowed himself to the ground.
He asked them to rest, and fetched water to wash their feet. Then he hurried into the tent to ask his wife, whose name had been changed to Sarah, to make some cakes of fine meal on the hearth; for food in that hot country had to be made fresh for every meal.
Then Abraham ran to the herd and fetched a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man to make ready.
When all was ready, Abraham took the calf, and the bread, and butter and milk, and set them before the men. Then he stood under the trees and waited upon his guests himself.
Now Abraham and Sarah had one great trouble. Though God had promised that one day all the land should belong to their children, as yet they had no son, and it was very hard for them to keep on believing that God would do as He had said. Presently one of the men said to Abraham:
“Where is Sarah, thy wife?”
And he answered:
“Behold, in the tent.”
Then the man told Abraham that his wife should have a son by the following spring. Abraham realized that his visitor was not a man, but the Lord from Heaven, with two of His angel servants.
At first, when Sarah heard about the son, she laughed, for she could not believe such good news; but afterwards, when the Lord reproved her, she was ashamed and believed what He said.
So it came about that within a year God did indeed send a son to Abraham and Sarah, and they called his name Isaac.
But when the boy, Isaac, had grown to be a young man, God sent Abraham a trial, to make quite sure that he believed in Him with his whole heart.
God called to Abraham and said:
“Abraham! Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
What a terrible command this was! But Abraham made haste to obey God.
He rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey for a long journey, and took two servants with him, and his son Isaac, and some wood and fire and a knife. They travelled for three days; then Abraham left the servants with the donkey, and told them to remain where they were while he and Isaac went up to the mountain to worship God.
Thereupon Abraham took the wood, and gave it to Isaac to carry; and he took the fire and a knife, and together they went up the hill.
Isaac said: “My father, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham said: “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”
We do not know whether Isaac quite understood that he was to be killed, but when they came to the place, Abraham built the altar, and made ready the wood, and then bound Isaac and laid him on the wood upon the altar.
We must remember that Isaac was a trusting son; for he was a strong young man, and could easily have refused to be bound if he had chosen to do so.
Then Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
And just at that very moment, the Angel of the Lord called to him out of Heaven, and said:
“Abraham! Abraham!”
And Abraham said:
“Here am I!”
Then the Angel said:
“Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
When Abraham looked round, he saw, to his joy, a ram caught in a bush by its horn, and he offered it up instead of his son. Then God promised more blessings to Abraham, and afterwards he and Isaac returned down the hill to the servants they had left and went home to Sarah.
THE STORY OF THE VOICE FROM HEAVEN
From the New Testament Book of the Acts of the Apostles
After the death of Stephen, the first of the followers of Jesus to suffer martyrdom for his Master’s sake, the High Priest and the Rulers of Jerusalem determined to kill, or to terrify into silence, everyone who dared to say that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead.
Among the Pharisees, Saul of Tarsus was the keenest and bitterest enemy the poor Christians had, for he rushed about from house to house, dragging forth men and women to prison and to death.
So it came to pass that many of the Christians fled from Jerusalem, travelling to distant places, so that they might escape from the hands of their persecutors. In the end this was a good thing, for of course, wherever they went they told their story, and the glad news about Jesus Christ spread widely.
But Saul soon heard that some of these Christians had gone north, so he asked the High Priest to give him letters so that he might take soldiers to Damascus and capture both men and women and bring them in chains back to Jerusalem.
As Saul and his party ascended some rising ground, a mile or two from Damascus, they were glad indeed to see the beautiful city lying below them. It was about midday, and Saul was hurrying forward, all eager to catch his prisoners, when suddenly a great light shone round the party, brighter even than the burning sun overhead, and as Saul looked up, he fell back blinded to the earth, and his companions also fell down with him. Then Saul heard a strange voice saying to him:
“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” answered Saul.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting!”
As Saul lay on the ground, he saw, as in a vision, Jesus Christ Himself, risen from the dead, and glorified at the right hand of God; and he now knew that Peter, John, Stephen, and all the other brave Christians had been right, and he had been wrong, and that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was indeed the Son of God.
As their leader rose at last from the earth, Saul’s companions saw that he was quite blind. So they took him by the hand and led him to Damascus, and for three days he neither ate nor drank. He lay in his blindness, thinking of the voice he had heard, the vision of Jesus Christ which he had seen, and of his own terrible wickedness.
When the Christians in Damascus heard that Saul had come, they were dreadfully alarmed. But one of the chief of them was a good man named Ananias, and one night God spoke to him and said:
“Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus: for behold, he is praying!”
But Ananias feared, and answered God saying:
“Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how he has authority from the chief priests to take prisoner all that call on your name.”
But God told Ananias that Saul had now become His servant, and that, as the years went by, he would have to suffer many things for His sake.
So Ananias went to the street called Straight, and found the right house, and asked for Saul. And he was taken to the man who had once been his enemy.
But Ananias had learnt that a follower of Jesus Christ must love his enemies, and be kind to those who hate him, so he went up to Saul, and, putting his hand fearlessly on him, said:
“Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus that appeared to you in the way has sent me, that you might receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
And something like scales fell from his eyes and immediately Saul received his sight.
Ananias baptized him, and after Saul had had something to eat, he was so strengthened that he and Ananias visited other Christians in Damascus.
Just as Saul had once been eager to destroy the Christians and to mock at Jesus Christ, so now he was eager to tell everyone that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and had risen from the dead.
The people were all amazed and the Jews surrounded Saul in their synagogue and argued with him, just as the Rulers and Elders had argued with Stephen.
Saul was, as we know, a clever and highly educated man, and he was now able to use all his wisdom and his talents on the side of Jesus Christ and the Christians. He stayed on in Damascus and its neighborhood for a time, preaching and teaching the people about Jesus Christ.
At last the Jews grew so furious with him that they began to plot together with the King of Damascus as to how they might kill him, and they kept a close watch on the gate. But the Christians were warned of this plot, and they determined to save him.
Houses were often built on the walls of those Eastern cities, so Saul was taken to one of these houses which belonged to a Christian and was let down in a basket outside the city, and so managed to escape to Jerusalem.
THE STORY OF RUTH AND NAOMI
From the Old Testament Book of Ruth During the days of the Judges, there was a terrible famine in the land of Canaan. A man named Elimelech, who lived in the little town of Bethlehem, decided to take his wife and his two boys a long journey into the land of Moab, where there were rich grainfields and plenty of food, but where, alas! the people were heathen and worshipped false gods.
So away they went. But trouble soon followed them, for Elimelech died, and poor Naomi, his wife, was left in a strange land with her two young sons. She loved her sons dearly, and when they grew up, and married two Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, Naomi loved them also as her own.
But trouble followed trouble, for, soon after their marriages, Naomi’s sons fell ill and died.
Naomi began to hate this strange land of Moab where she never heard her own God spoken of except with scorn.
When one day a message came through some travelers that there was now plenty of food in Canaan, Naomi’s longing for her own town of Bethlehem grew so intense that she rose up and cried out that she must return. Orpah and Ruth determined that they would go with her.
At first Naomi let Orpah and Ruth walk with her, but at last she turned to them and told them to return to their own land, so that they might find husbands amongst their own people.
But as her daughters clung to her affectionately, and she kissed them, they both burst into tears and cried out:
“Surely we will return with you to your people!”
But Naomi implored them to leave her, and at last Orpah made up her mind to return; so she went back to the land of Moab. But Ruth would not go with Orpah but stayed clinging to her mother-in-law.
Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried: may the Lord smite me if anything but death parts you and me.”
As Naomi and Ruth came in sight of the dear home-city, the people came hurrying out to give her a welcome.
But poor Naomi was so changed with her grief that they hardly knew her, and they whispered together, saying: “Is this Naomi?”
But she heard them and answered: “Call me not Naomi, (meaning pleasure), but call me Mara (meaning bitter), for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.”
When Ruth rose up next morning, she wandered out on the sunny hill-side, and saw that the reapers were busy with the barley harvest; so she hurried back to Naomi, and asked whether she might go out and glean, that she and her mother might have bread to eat. Naomi consented, as she was very poor; for though her husband had had some land which he had sold, Naomi had no money to buy it back.
Ruth wandered shyly about, collecting the barley that had been missed by the reapers; and she presently happened to glean on some land that belonged to a man named Boaz, who was a relation of her dead father-in-law Elimelech.
The people watched Ruth with great interest, for she was a beautiful woman, and had a sweet, trustworthy face. Besides, the story of her kindness to her broken-hearted mother-in-law had spread.
So when the master of the reapers, Boaz himself, asked who Ruth was, they told him her story.
Boaz went up and spoke kindly to her; and told her to keep by his reapers, and not to go to any other field.
Poor shy Ruth was so overcome by such kindness that she fell on her face and thanked him from her heart. But Boaz answered her:
“It has been told me all that you have done for your mother-in-law. May a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel.”
That was indeed a very happy harvesting for Ruth, as she gleaned in the fresh air amidst so many kindly friends. Boaz had told his servants that they were to let her glean right in amongst the sheaves, and to drop handfuls of grain on purpose, so that she might get plenty; and every day Ruth followed the reapers of Boaz until all the barley was gathered in.
Ruth was very happy, for everyone was kind to her, and Boaz, the master, was the kindest of them all.
Boaz determined to make Ruth his wife, and to buy up the family land which ought to have come to Naomi’s sons. So one day he went to the gate of Bethlehem, where the people always did their business, and he told the elders of the city that he wished them to be witnesses that he had bought all the land which had once belonged to Naomi’s sons, and that he intended to take Ruth the Moabite, to be his wife.
Everyone was delighted to hear what Boaz said, and the elders rose up and blessed Boaz and the wife he was going to marry.
How happy Ruth was to have gained as a husband the man who had been so kind to her in her loneliness! And how happy Naomi was to think that God had given her a kind and generous son! And how well God had planned all this, for the Moabite Ruth became the ancestor of David the king, and through him of our Lord Jesus Christ.
