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“Where You Go I Shall Go”Imitate Their Faith
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23. What did Ruth begin to think about, and what provision did the Mosaic Law make for the poor? (See also footnote.)
23 As the two women settled into life in Bethlehem, Ruth began thinking about how best to take care of herself and Naomi. She learned that the Law that Jehovah had given to his people in Israel included a loving provision for the poor. They were allowed to go into the fields at harvesttime and follow the reapers, gleaning what was left behind as well as what grew at the edges and corners of the fields.b—Lev. 19:9, 10; Deut. 24:19-21.
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“Where You Go I Shall Go”Imitate Their Faith
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b It was a remarkable law, surely unlike anything Ruth knew in her homeland. In the ancient Near East in those days, widows were treated badly. Notes one reference work: “After her husband’s death, normally a widow had to rely on her sons for support; if she had none, she might have to sell herself into slavery, resort to prostitution, or die.”
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