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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →The neighbors name the child Obed, who becomes the grandfather of David.
What Does Ruth 4:17 Mean?
The neighbor women give the child a name, declaring, There is a son born to Naomi, and they call him Obed. Then the narrator lifts the curtain on the larger meaning: Obed is the father of Jesse, and Jesse is the father of David. Suddenly this intimate family story is revealed as the opening of something vast, for from this child would come Israel's greatest king.
What seemed a small, tender tale of two widows and a faithful redeemer is now seen as a chapter in the grand story of redemption. The son born to restore Naomi becomes the grandfather of David, and through David's line, in the fullness of time, would come the Messiah, born in this same Bethlehem. God had been weaving royal and redemptive purposes through every step, the famine, the loyalty, the gleaning, the gate. The Moabite woman who clung to Naomi stands in the lineage of the King. Here the whole book opens onto eternity: ordinary faithfulness, taken up by God, becomes the road to the Redeemer of the world.