Why does the lovely story of Ruth’s love for and loyalty to Naomi, her faith in Naomi’s God, and the Lord’s blessing on her marriage to Boaz end with . . . a list of names? What do Perez, Hezron, and the rest have to do with Boaz and Ruth? And what are we to think about when we come to a genealogy in the Bible? What is our relationship to the past in general, and to our own past in particular?
Passage: Ruth 4:18-22