Who was the Moabite woman who became an ancestor of David? Ruth was the Moabite woman who became an ancestor of David.
The Book of Ruth places her story during the era of the biblical judges. After marrying Mahlon, an Israelite from Bethlehem, Ruth was widowed. She chose to remain with her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi, rather than return to Moab, and traveled with Naomi to Bethlehem during the beginning of the barley harvest.
In Bethlehem, Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz, a wealthy relative of Naomi’s late husband. Boaz acted as a family redeemer, marrying Ruth and preserving the family line. Their son was Obed, who became the father of Jesse; Jesse was the father of David, Israel’s celebrated king. Ruth is therefore David’s great-grandmother, not his grandmother or mother.
Readers sometimes confuse Ruth with Naomi, who was her mother-in-law, or Orpah, another Moabite widow who returned to her homeland. Rahab is a different biblical woman associated with Jericho, and Esther lived much later in the Persian period. Ruth’s foreign origin is central to the story’s themes of loyalty, belonging, and inclusion.