Ruth 4:17
And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.
The verse closes the family story with the birth of a son to Naomi's house through Ruth and Boaz, naming him Obed as the father of Jesse and grandfather of David. It roots that birth in Bethlehem, where Ruth in faithful love joined the house of Naomi's kinsman and where Boaz lived and she gleaned in his fields. It places Ruth, a Moabitess, in the royal line of Obed, Jesse and David that leads to Jesus Christ, the Messiah and Lord according to the flesh. It shows God continually adding to Israel from the heathen by bringing Ruth in as a proselyte who could marry among Israelites, so that Gentile blood entered Jewish veins as the first fruits of the future gathering of Gentiles in Christ. It means the Lord rewarded Ruth's fidelity and virtue with this place in the Messianic line, with divine love and care converging on David and more fully on David's Son and Lord, and points to Bethlehem as the appointed birthplace of Him who is to be Ruler in Israel.
Ancestry and Bethlehem Setting
The verse closes the story of Ruth by recording the birth of Obed, the son born to Naomi's family through the union of Ruth and Boaz. He is identified as the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David, fixing his place in David's ancestry and in the book's account of David's lineage. His mother was Ruth, a Moabite woman, so a Moabitess stands in the ancestry that leads through Jesse and King David to Jesus. Though a Moabitess, she could marry among the Israelites after becoming a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and her marriage to Naomi's kinsman stands in the family line through which Jesus was shown to be a direct descendant of Abraham.
This lineage is rooted in Bethlehem, where Ruth's faithful and filial love joined the family of Naomi's kinsman and became part of a royal lineage. It is the record of the royal line that led to kings, including David. There the generous Boaz dwelt, and there Ruth gleaned in his fields, through whom would be born David, the sweet singer of Israel.
The passage belongs to the domestic annals of Ruth, cherished in David's Bible with daily wonders found in it and desired beyond all riches. It tells of divine foreknowledge, love, and care converging on David, and more fully on David's Son and David's Lord. It hallows Bethlehem as the city of David, where as a simple shepherd lad he roamed those hills with his flocks. There the aged prophet poured the holy anointing oil upon his youthful head, setting him high above his envious brothers.
Messiah and Gentile Inclusion
The naming of Obed as father of Jesse and father of David places Ruth the Moabitess maiden, a Moabite woman, in the royal ancestry that produced kings and leads to Jesus. Through Obed she became a progenitor of the blessed Lord according to the flesh in the line of Jesse and David, of Jesus the Son of heaven, of Christ, showing Him to be a direct descendant of Abraham. The record closes the story of Ruth by recording the birth of Obed, who became the father of Jesse and grandfather of David, and thus connects her faithful love with the family line that led to David and to kings.
The naming shows God's care for the Seed, with divine foreknowledge, love and care converging on David and more fully on David's Son and David's Lord. The near kinsman in the chapter is a type of Christ, and the account is a wonderful love story that is literally true and full of type and promise for the future, since Obed, Jesse and David belong to the family line from which Jesus Christ Himself came. The domestic annals are loved with daily wonders found in them and desired beyond all riches.
God was continually adding to Israel from among the heathen by bringing Ruth the Moabitess into Israel and making her part of the line of Obed, Jesse and David as an ancestor of Christ after the flesh. David, the brightest lamp of the nation, descended on his mother's side from a Moabitess woman who became a proselyte to the Jewish religion and could then marry among the Israelites. This proves that Gentile blood was introduced into Jewish veins through the system by which heathen coming to Israel became proselytes and then citizens with all the rights of native Jews, whose children born in the land were regarded as native Jews. That proselyting of the Gentiles was the first fruits of their future grand gathering in Christ Jesus.
The Lord rewarded Ruth's fidelity, faithfulness, virtue and faithful love with this place in the royal and Messianic line from which the Messiah came. The line of Obed stood in Bethlehem, where the generous Boaz dwelt, and Bethlehem is therefore hallowed as the city of David and the appointed place where He who is to be Ruler in Israel, the Messiah, must be born.