A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers

Author:Francine Rivers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / Historical, FICTION / Religious
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2013-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

FIVE

Ruth gave birth nine months after the wedding festivities. Sinking back and resting against the bedding, she watched Naomi take the infant and wash him, salt him, and carefully wrap him in swaddling clothes. “He is beautiful,” Naomi wept, holding him close. “So beautiful.” She carried him from the room and Ruth turned her face to the wall, tears spilling silently.

Boaz came to her later. She had risen from her bed, dressed, and was sitting in the doorway to the garden, watching Naomi walk around with the baby. Boaz drew up a stool and sat beside her. “Naomi will no longer be called Mara.”

Ruth looked at him. He was gazing into the garden as she had, but she couldn’t read the expression on his face. “Thank you,” she said softly.

He didn’t look at her. “Don’t thank me for doing what was right.” His voice was rough with emotion.

“You have given up your firstborn son to be heir for another man’s family.”

“It is our way, Ruth.”

“No. It wasn’t Rishon’s way. It is your way, Boaz. You have put others ahead of yourself.”

He looked at her. “Do not praise me too highly, Ruth. I struggle between my duty and my desire.” He looked away. “I am a man like any other.”

She blinked back tears, wanting to cry out that he wasn’t anything like others she had known. Not even Mahlon, whom she had loved so much, would have done what Boaz did.

“Do you want his name to be Mahlon?” Boaz said quietly, still watching Naomi sitting on a stone bench beneath an olive tree.

“Let his name be Obed.” A servant.

“So be it. Naomi will never have to fear being alone in her old age,” Boaz said.

“Nor will you.”

Boaz rose. He touched her head lightly and then turned away, leaving her alone to watch Naomi with their son.

She kept the infant at night and rose every few hours to nurse him. She savored those times when the stillness surrounded her and she held her son close and felt his mouth tug at her breast. She caressed his soft cheek and let his fingers close tightly around her finger. Tears welled, but she blinked them back. When she was finished nursing him, she kept him close beside her on her bed. Each morning, Naomi entered her chamber, leaned down to kiss Ruth, and then took Obed in her arms and tended him throughout the day, surrendering him for feedings only.

* * *

“I shall never be called Mara again,” Naomi said, laughing at the expressions crossing Obed’s face. “Never again.”

“He is beautiful!” the women exclaimed as they admired the baby. Every phase of Obed’s growth was met with proclamations by the women of the town who often gathered at Boaz’s house to watch the baby progress. “Praise the Lord who has given you a family redeemer today!”

“May he be famous in Israel.”

“May this child restore your youth and care for you in your old age.”

“And no doubt he will, for he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you so much.

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