Obed

Obed (meaning a servant or worshipper) was the son of Boaz and Ruth the Moabitess, and the grandfather of King David (Ruth 4:21–22; Matthew 1:5). His birth was celebrated by the women of Bethlehem as a gift of God to Naomi in her old age — they declared that Naomi had a son and gave him the name Obed (Ruth 4:17). Through Obed the story of Ruth's faithfulness and Boaz's redemption found its providential outcome: the Davidic and, ultimately, messianic lineage.

Several other figures bear the name Obed in the Old Testament: a mighty man in David's army (1 Chronicles 11:47), a gatekeeper descended from Obed-edom (1 Chronicles 26:7), and an ancestor of Azariah the reforming prophet (2 Chronicles 23:1). Luke's genealogy of Jesus includes an Obed in the line from Judah to David (Luke 3:32).