This is the final episode of the Ruth series. After three episodes of crisis, provision, and redemption, we finally see complete restoration. Ruth, who began as a desperate foreigner with nothing, becomes a wife, a mother, and a woman of honor. But the real miracle is Naomi's transformation. The woman who arrived in Bethlehem bitter and broken, calling herself "Mara," now holds her grandson Obed in her arms. The women of Bethlehem celebrate with her: "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer!" (Ruth 4:14, ESV). Naomi goes from empty to full, from bitter to blessed.

But here's where the story becomes eternal: Obed becomes the father of Jesse, who becomes the father of David, who becomes the ancestor of Jesus. A Moabite widow—a foreigner with no inheritance, no status, no future—is in the direct line of t ...