difficulties of the Jewish law. Naomi warned her that the Israelites
had been enjoined to keep Sabbaths and feast days, (45) and that
the daughters of Israel were not in the habit of frequenting the
threatres and circuses of the heathen. Ruth only affirmed her
readiness to follow Jewish customs. (46) And when Naomi said:
"We have one Torah, one law, one command; the Eternal our God
is one, there is none beside Him," Ruth answered: "Thy people
shall be my people, thy God my God." (47) So the two women
journeyed together to Bethlehem. They arrived there on the very
day on which the wife of Boaz was buried, and the concourse
assembled for the funeral saw Naomi as she returned to her home.
(48)

Ruth supported herself and her mother-in-law sparsely with the
ears of grain which she gathered in the fields. Association with so
pious a woman as Naomi (49) had already exercised great
influence upon her life and ways. Boaz was astonished to notice
that if the reapers let more than two ears fall, in spite of her need
she did not pick them up, for the gleaning assigned to the poor by
law does not refer to quantities of more than two ears inadvertently
dropped at one time. (50) Boaz also admired her grace, her
decorous conduct, her modest demeanor. (51) When he learned
who she was, he commended her for her attachment to Judaism.
To his praise she returned: "Thy ancestors found no delight even in
Timna, (52) the daughter of a royal house. As for me, I am a
member of a low people, abominated by thy God, and excluded
from the assembly of Israel." For the moment Boaz failed to
recollect the Halakah bearing on the Moabites and Ammonites. A
voice from heaven reminded him that only their males were
affected by the command of exclusion. (53) This he told to Ruth,