Towards the end of the period of the Judges, in c.1060BC, Ruth and Naomi – her mother-in-law, returned across the River Jordan from Moab to Bethlehem.
After the return, Ruth worked in the field belonging to Boaz and at the end of the story she became his wife. Did you know, the site of this field, called the Field of Ruth (or Field of Boaz) – can still be seen at Beit Sahur (‘Village of the shepherds’) near Bethlehem?
Bethlehem is also the site of the tomb of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, who had died here about six hundred years earlier, in c.1690 BC. Her tomb can still be visited today and is located on the main road leading from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
Almost a thousand years after the death of Rachel (see Genesis 35:16-20), the prophet Micah declared, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;” (Micah 5:2). This prophesy was fulfilled seven hundred years later when Jesus – a descendent of Isaac, Jacob and Judah, and of Ruth and Boaz – was born at Bethlehem (see Matthew 1:2 & 5 and Genesis 49:10).