Obed

Obed appears only briefly in Scripture, but at a hinge of the story. He is the son born to Boaz and Ruth — the child whose birth closes the Book of Ruth. The women of Bethlehem place him in the lap of the widowed, once-bitter Naomi and bless God that she is not left without a redeemer: 'He shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age' (Ruth 4:15). His very name, which means 'servant' or 'worshiper,' marks him as one who belongs to God.

Obed's significance is genealogical and therefore messianic. The closing verses of Ruth and the genealogies of Chronicles and Matthew name him as the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David — the bridge between the redemption at Bethlehem's gate and the king who would be born in the same town generations later. The shepherd-king David, and through him the shepherd of Israel born in Bethlehem 'of the house and lineage of David,' both stand downstream of this one quiet birth.