The unique Love story of Ruth & Boaz
If you were to name some classic love stories you might suggest Helen of Troy & Paris (igniting the Trojan War dramatized in the Iliad), Cleopatra and Mark Antony (whose love entwined Rome in a civil war with Octavian/Augustus Caesar ), Romeo & Juliet, Beauty & the Beast, or perhaps Cinderella & Prince Charming. In them, history, pop culture and romantic fiction come together in offering passionate love stories that captivate our hearts, emotions and imaginations.
Amazingly, the love that sparked between Ruth & Boaz has proved far more enduring and noble than any of these love affairs, and in fact, still affects the lives of all the billions of us living today – more than three thousand years after these lovers met. Their romance is also a picture of a mystical and spiritual love offered to you and me. The story of Ruth and Boaz deals with cross-cultural & forbidden love, immigration and the relationship between a powerful man and a vulnerable woman – applicable in today’s #MeToo era. It becomes a blueprint for us on how to establish a healthy marriage. By any of these measures the love story of Ruth & Boaz is worth knowing.
Their love is recorded in the Book of Ruth in the Bible. It is a short book – only 2400 words long – and is well worth reading (here). It is set about 1150 BCE, making this the oldest of all recorded love stories. It has been made into several films.
