Ruth
Ruth is a small, luminous story set in the dark days of the judges. Famine and bereavement strip Naomi of husband and sons, leaving her bitter and empty; her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth refuses to leave her, binding herself to Naomi's people and Naomi's God. Back in Bethlehem, Ruth gleans in the fields of Boaz, a kind and honorable relative who ultimately redeems the family's land and marries her. Ordinary loyalty and quiet generosity become the vehicles of providence, and the closing genealogy delivers the surprise: this foreign widow becomes the great-grandmother of King David.
Anonymous; tradition names Samuel, though the book itself is silent.
Set in the judges era; written no earlier than David's time.
Israelites who knew David, tracing God's hidden hand in his ancestry.
To show God's providential kindness working through ordinary faithfulness, bringing a Moabite woman into the line of David.