The name of Ruth’s child means “servant,” that is, of God. This is an abbreviated form of Obadiah, which means “the servant [or worshiper] of Jehovah.”

 In these words the author comes to the climax of his story, and justifies his narration of it. They point out the fulfillment of the blessing pronounced on Ruth by the townsfolk of Bethlehem (see vs. 11, 12, 15). The name of the kinsman who thought that marriage with the converted Moabitess would endanger his inheritance is forgotten; but from Boaz comes David, the ancestor and type of Christ. Obed was the son of Naomi through the love of Ruth.

Had the Jewish nation appreciated the lesson of the book of Ruth—that God is no respecter of persons—their attitude toward the Gentiles would have been vastly different from what it was. They would have been looking for a Messiah whose mission was to save all men from sin, whether Jew or Gentile, and not merely for a Jewish Messiah to save the Jewish nation from bondage to Rome. There is a lesson for us also in the book of Ruth. If we will but practice love and sympathy toward our fellow men, many of them will say to us as Ruth said to her mother-in-law, “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” And we in turn can reply to them as Boaz did to Ruth, “The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”