Virtuartnet

Group Three: Brotherhood

The Book of Ruth tells the story of a family from the tribe of Judah who went to live in Moab because there was famine in Judah; there the two sons married women of Moab. When the father died and after him two sons, the mother Naomi set out to return to the land of Judah, with her two daughters-in-law. Her attempts to persuade them not to accompany her convinced one of them to remain in Moab, but the other, Ruth, was adamant:
"Entreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God, my God" (Ruth 1:16)
This serigraph depicts the central event of the Book of Ruth: the meeting of Ruth and Boaz at Bethlehem, which was to lead, a few generations later, to the birth of King David.
The story takes place at harvest time and we see in the distance reapers and characteristic wheatfield flowers. Boaz is still holding his sickle when he notices a girl gathering "after reapers among the sheaves", and gently begins talking to her. Naomi, from the side, looks on with curiosity and hope.
Shlomo Katz