This is Angela Odell, and you are listening to Real Cool History for Kids, a podcast show featuring history told from a distinctly biblical worldview perspective.

Welcome to an adventure.

Welcome to episode 122 of Real Cool History for Kids. This episode is for Lily Boggs, who wanted me to tell everyone the story of Ruth.

Hey, Lily, this one's for you.

I am so excited to be telling you all the story of Ruth because her life has always been such an encouragement to me

personally. But even more importantly, the story of Ruth is a pivotal moment in God's plan

of redemption for the world. Let me explain. There are two books in the Bible named after women. Esther,

the Jewish girl who married the Gentile Persian king, Ahazarus, or Xerxes, whom God used to save his

people from Haman's evil plot. I told you that story in, I think it was episode 97.

If you haven't listened to that one, I highly encourage you to do that.

And then there's Ruth, a Gentile widow who married a prominent Jew, or Hebrew,

whom God would make part of the family tree of Jesus. In the Bible, when we hear the

word Gentile, it means that that person is not a Hebrew or they're not Jewish. So both Esther and

Ruth were part of God's redemption story. One was a

Gentile and one was a Hebrew. The book of Ruth is four chapters long and it was written by the

prophet Samuel. And it kind of reads like a storybook. The first chapter

sets the stage and introduces us to the story's characters. Listen as I read the first few

verses to you. In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from

Bethlehem and Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and

two sons with him. The man's name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were

Melon and Killian. They were Ephritites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached

Moab, they settled there. Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons.

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