Verse 13 is a key verse in the book because it records the fulfillment of Naomi and Ruth's plans to obtain rest (2:2; 3:1-5).82A son was indispensable to the continuation of the line of Boaz as well as that of Mahlon and Elimelech. With the birth of Obed, Ruth and Naomi could both rest. They had produced someone who would carry on the program of God for Israel.
Why did a godly Israelite such as Boaz marry a Moabite woman? Did the Mosaic Law not forbid the Israelites from admitting Moabites into their nation (Deut. 23:3)? Several solutions to this problem have been proposed.83
1. Perhaps Boaz simply disregarded the law at this point. This is unlikely because Boaz, as the writer presented him in Ruth, was a scrupulous observer of the law (cf. 2:4, 12; 3:9-13; 4:1-6, 9-10, 13).
2. Perhaps the prohibition in Deuteronomy applied only to male Moabites since Moses used the masculine gender when he referred to them. However the masculine gender would have been the normal gender to use when referring to both male and female Moabites. Moreover there is no other clue in Deuteronomy that only males were in view in this prohibition.
3. Probably the law in Deuteronomy had in view unbelievers who wanted to immigrate into Israel. God had always welcomed believers from outside Israel into the covenant community (Gen. 17; 38; Josh. 2; et al.). His purpose for Israel was that she bring people from other nations to God (Exod. 19:5-6). God's purpose in the Abrahamic Covenant to make Israel a blessing to the world by bringing all people into relationship with God antedated and superseded all provisions of the later Mosaic Covenant. God brought the Mosaic Covenant in alongside the Abrahamic Covenant to help the Israelites maximize the blessings He had promised to Abraham.84
The women blessed the Lord (v. 14) acknowledging His goodness in providing a redeemer for Naomi as well as Ruth in Obed (v. 15). God eventually granted their desire that Obed's name become famous in Israel.
Obed did indeed restore life to Naomi's apparently dead branch of the family of Judah (v. 15). Furthermore he sustained her in her old age by giving her hope (cf. 1:20-21).
". . . in all probability, Obed originally meant servant' of Naomi; as her go'el, he served' her by assuring her family's survival and providing her food. . . . Obed's name perhaps added the nuance servant of Yahweh,' for in the end his service of Naomi served Yahweh's larger purpose as well."85
Ruth too received praise for her unusually selfless love and care for her mother-in-law.
Naomi became a nurse of Obed (v. 16) in the sense of becoming his guardian, the meaning of the Hebrew word aman(lit. "cared for him"). She did not become his wet nurse.
Verse 17 contains one of only two instances in Scripture when a child received its name from someone other than the immediate family (cf. Exod. 2:10; Luke 1:59).
"This verse [v. 17] is, of course, a clue to the book's purpose: to show that the reign of David resulted from neither his shrewd politics nor his clever tactics but from the divine preservation of his worthy family line. Therefore, Israel was to accept David's kingship as the gift of divine guidance."86
Why did the writer feature Naomi in this closing section of the book rather than Ruth? I believe he did so to finish off the main point of chapter 1. There Naomi said it was impossible for her to have a son (1:11-13). Yet at the end of the book she has a son (4:17). This motif of a need for the line of Judah therefore is one that the writer wanted us to appreciate. God provided the seed supernaturally (4:14) to a godly couple. Ruth's faith in Yahweh qualified her as a channel of blessing in spite of her Moabite origins.
