[Illustration: Ruth and Naomi]

Boaz remembered that it was the custom in Israel for the nearest
relative of a man who had died, to take care of the wife who was left,
and so he went to the gate of Bethlehem where the rulers met to hold
their court, and spoke to the elders and chief men about Ruth. He also
wished them to be witnesses that he was going to take Ruth to be his
wife. Then the rulers all said,

"We are witnesses," and they prayed that God would bless Ruth and make
Boaz still richer and greater.

So Ruth became the honored and beloved wife of Boaz, and they had a son
named Obed.

Obed grew up and had a son named Jesse; and Jesse was the father of
David, King of Israel, who was first a shepherd lad of Bethlehem.

More than a thousand years after Ruth lived there was born in
Bethlehem, of the family of Boaz and Ruth, a little Child, who came, to
be the Saviour of the world, and the shepherds in the fields, where,
perhaps, Ruth gleaned, and David kept his sheep, heard the angels tell
the good news and sing

"Peace on earth, good will to men."

CHAPTER XVII.

SAMUEL--THE CHILD OF THE TEMPLE.

The Tabernacle that was built in the wilderness, and was brought into
Canaan by the priests was set up at Shiloh in the very centre of the
land of Canaan, and once every year the tribes came to it to worship
and offer sacrifices. After it had come to Shiloh to stay it was
called the temple.

When Eli was high priest a man named Elkanah came up from Ramah to
worship, and Hannah his wife went with him. She was a good woman, and
very sorrowful, because she saw other wives with sons and daughters
around them, and she had none. Her husband was loving and kind and
said:

"Am I not better to thee than ten sons?" but she prayed to God for a
son. While she was at Shiloh she prayed in the temple, and Eli saw her
lips move, though he heard no voice. At first he spoke harshly to her,
thinking she had been drinking wine, but she told him that she had not
taken wine, but was praying.

"I am a woman of sorrowful spirit," she said, "and have poured out my
soul before the Lord." Then Eli blessed her and said:

"Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee the prayer that thou
hast asked of him." Then Hannah was no longer sad.

Her prayer was answered, and the Lord sent her a little son, and when
he was old enough, she took him to the temple, for she had promised the
Lord that the child should be His. So