And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
All Commentaries on Ruth 1:4 Go To Ruth 1
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
If, therefore, we know that Tamar was included in the Lord’s genealogy on account of mystery, we ought also to conclude, without doubt, that Ruth was not omitted for a similar reason, which the holy apostle seems to sense when he foresees in the Spirit that the calling of foreign nations will be accomplished through the gospel, saying that the law was given not for the just but for the unjust. For how did Ruth, when she was a foreigner, marry a Jew? And for what reason did the Evangelist believe that this marriage, which was forbidden by the weight of the law, should be included in the genealogy of Christ? Did the Savior therefore descend from an illegitimate heritage? Unless you return to the apostolic principle that the law was not given for the just but for the unjust, then, his genealogy would seem to be deformed, given that Ruth was a foreigner and a Moabite, whereas the law of Moses prohibits marriage to Moabites and excludes them from the church, as it is written: “No Moabite shall enter the church of the Lord even to the third and fourth generation forever.” Hence, how did she enter the church unless because she was made holy and immaculate by deeds [moribus] that go beyond the law? For if the law was given for the irreverent and sinners, then surely Ruth, who exceeded the limits of the law and entered the church and was made an Israelite and deserved to be counted among the honored figures in the Lord’s genealogy, chosen for kinship of mind, not of body, is a great example for us, because she prefigures all of us who were gathered from the nations for the purpose of joining the church of the Lord. We should emulate her, therefore, who merited by her deeds this privilege of being admitted to his society, as history teaches, so that we also, by our deeds and accompanying merits, might be chosen for election to the church of the Lord.… When Naomi said to her, “Behold, your sister-in-law has already returned to her people and to her god, and so should you,” Ruth responded, “May it not befall me to leave you and to go back to my god, for wherever you go, I shall go, and I will dwell where you dwell. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God; I will die where you die and I will be buried where you are buried.” Thus, the two of them went on to Bethlehem. When Boaz, David’s great-grandfather, came to know her deeds, therefore, and her holiness in relation to her mother-in-law and her respect for the dead and her reverence for God, he chose her to be his wife.
