Naomi and Ruth

Naomi and Ruth, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, were best friends who lived without men in an ancient culture where women needed husbands in order to survive. Naomi had no choice but to follow her husband to Moab, a foreign country, where she met Ruth who sought her help to keep her little sister, Anna, safe from the priests who were going to martyr her in a religious rite. After Naomi's husband died, now a single mother, she earned her living as a clothmaker and raised her two sons on her own. Ruth, in and out of Naomi's life, eventually married Naomi's oldest son, but Ruth was a victim of earlier abuse and had no physical interest in her husband, and they remained childless. After Naomi's sons died in an accident, grief-stricken Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, and Ruth insisted on going with her. In Bethlehem, Naomi set Ruth up in a secret liaison with Boaz who she knew was an honorable guy. He already had three wives, and they were not happy about him taking another wife, especially this young attractive woman, Ruth, who soon bore him a son.