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THE STORY OF RUTH

CHAPTER I

A soft, flickering candle glow revealed the face of a small boy peering from under the blankets on his bed. His eyes were wide open and mischievous as they fastened themselves upon a shadowy form approaching, and he heard my familiar voice saying, "David, you should have been asleep hours ago! Are you feeling well?"

"Yes, Grandma", he replied, "I'm fine, but I've been lying here awake thinking about many things. Please stay and tell me a story!" ,

I sat on the edge of his bed and said, "I'll be happy to tell you a story, David. What kind do you want to hear?"

David pondered the idea carefully for a few moments and then got up on his elbow and said, "Tell me about the things you did when you were five years old like I am."

I smiled at him and answered, "Those were certainly happy days, David, and I'll try to make my story interesting for you. I did not always live in Bethlehem as you have, but I grew up in the land of Moab. One day my parents were very excited to learn that some new people had just moved into our small town.. It was a family of four, consisting of a father and mother and two boys who were just about my age. They were Jews who had left their home because of a great food shortage in the land of Israel. The boys and I became good friends, and after five years their father died. Their mother was a wonderful woman by the name of naomi. She took care of her two sons, and when they were grown, they married women in our town. In fact, David, I was one of the two, and my friend Orpah was the other. We were happily married for ten years, and then something dreadful happened ... both of our husbands died very suddenly!"

David sat up straight and interrupted, "Oh, Grandma, that's a very sad story!"

I reached over to straighten his bedding again and then I said, "Don't feel badly,

David. The Lord always has a very good reason for allowing things like that to happen."

He snuggled back down under the covers and said quietly, "What happened after that. Grandma?"

I continued, "My mother-in-law, Naomi, had no one left to care for except Orpah and me, and when she heard that the famine had ended in Israel, she made plans to return to her home again."

"Naomi embraced us both and said very kindly, 'Orpah and Ruth, you have both been such a comfort to me through the years, but I can't ask you to leave Moab and go to Israel with me. I still own some nice property in Bethlehem that belonged to my husband, and I'm sure a few of our relatives are still

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