out thy skirt over me." (60) Boaz gave her the assurance that if his
older brother Tob (61) failed her, he would assume the duties of a
redeemer. The next day he came before the tribunal of the
Sanhedrin (62) to have the matter adjusted. Tob soon made his
appearance, for an angel led him to the place where he was
wanted, (63) that Boaz and Ruth might not have long to wait. Tob,
who was not learned in the Torah, did not know that the
prohibition against the Moabites had reference only to males.
Therefore, he declined to marry Ruth. (64) So she was taken to
wife (65) by the octogenarian (66) Boaz. Ruth herself was forty
years old (67) at the time of her second marriage, and it was
against all expectations that her union with Boaz should be blessed
with offspring, a son Obed the pious. (68) Ruth lived to see the
glory of Solomon, but Boaz died on the day after the wedding. (69)

DEBORAH

Not long after Ruth, another ideal woman arose in Israel, the
prophetess Deborah.

When Ehud died, there was none to take his place as judge, and
the people fell off from God and His law. God, therefore, sent an
angel to them with the following message: "Out of all the nations
on earth, I chose a people for Myself, and I thought, so long as the
world stands, My glory will rest upon them. I sent Moses unto
them, My servant, to teach them goodness and righteousness. But
they strayed from My ways. And now I will arouse their enemies
against them, to rule over them, and they will cry out: 'Because we
forsook the ways of our fathers, hath this come over us.' Then I
will send a woman unto them, and she will shine for them as a