Still in the month of love, this series would not be complete without including the love story of Ruth and Boaz. It is one of the best-loved stories in the Bible.

Ruth, a Moabite woman leaves her home country to accompany her Jewish mother-in-law to Judah after their husbands died.

Ruth has no idea where she is going, and being a foreigner, she faces persecution from the Jewish people. Naomi tries to persuade her to stay with her people, but she says: “Intreat me not to leave thee, or 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:”

So they arrive in Judah, and Ruth sets out to find work gleaning in the barley fields. As fate would have it, the wealthy owner of the field sees her and falls in love with her.

Ruth and Boaz marry, and she later gives birth to a son who is the ancestor of Jesus Christ.

Like Esther in the previous post, Ruth acts out of loyalty and devotion to her mother-in-law. We also see that God’s love does not discriminate. Ruth was a Moabitess, outside of God’s covenant, and Boaz was an Israelite, of the chosen race, but not only did God bring them together, he caused His Son Jesus Christ to be descended from David who was a direct descendant of Ruth and Boaz.

What are your thoughts about Ruth? Would you be as devoted to your mother-in-law if your husband passed away? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.

To learn more about Ruth and other women of the Bible, please go to Women For All Seasons at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TM6TWX4  

This week as promised, I’m bringing you the first blog post about my book Coming Out of Egypt. My protagonist, Cicely, is an attractive Christian young woman who has a lot of skeletons in her closet, which she has managed to keep hidden. Cicely thinks her life is well ordered, but when she meets the handsome detective, David, she instinctively knows that the carefully-woven threads of her life are about to become undone. Which they do, despite Cicely’s best efforts to keep them intact.

In the story, I make use of the extended metaphor, meaning that the metaphor appears throughout the story. In fact, the title Coming Out of Egypt is itself a metaphor for the tortuous journey of the major characters out of their separate places of bondage. However, Egypt is more than that. It is an actual place in the story where Cicely first meets one of her pupils whose life is similar to what Cicely once experienced. And even though Cicely literally leaves Egypt, her path and the girl’s converge once more in a startling and unexpected way that disrupts the harmony of Cicely’s life. She is still stuck in Egypt.

But why use metaphors? I believe metaphors are an excellent way to:

1. Enrich the language by providing imagery which may not be as vivid without them . For example, in my book I refer to Cicely’s Egypt closet, which is not a real closet, but a storehouse of memories relating to her troubled past. The title Coming Out of Egypt is based on the story of the Exodus of the children of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. It is a story I have loved ever since I was a child, and being a Christian, I’m still blown away by the way God delivered His people from the heavy hand of Pharaoh, the emperor of Egypt. This is the main theme that runs throughout the book.
2. Leave room for interpretation. Readers can explore which of the characters made a transition out of Egypt, i.e. which character(s) showed the most improvement by the end of the story, and which ones did not make it.
3. Express thoughts, feelings, experiences etc. When Cicely finally lets go of her inhibitions and allows herself to fall in love with David, she sees God parting the Red Sea so she can walk to freedom. Later, when her fears become a reality, she thinks that Pharaoh and his armies have won.
4. Prepare the reader for what is to come. In some parts of the story, I use metaphors as a foreshadowing. When Cicely suspects that David may find out about her past, she hears the pounding of Pharaoh’s armies drawing closer.

Metaphors, when correctly used, can add depth and meaning to your story, but according to the experts, writers should be careful not to use metaphors too extensively so that your work sounds like a huge cliché. Neither should you use metaphors employed by other writers, but use your own imagination to create metaphors that will flow seamlessly throughout your work. If you have used metaphors, or have an interest in them, please leave a comment and tell us about it.