Jude chuckled then shook his head, "well, not that part, Maria. We'll get into that but allow me to continue the story," said Jude with a soft smile on his lips. I widened my eyes then nodded in response. "The only family that Naomi has was her 2 daughter-in-laws and when she heard that the Lord had come to provide food to His people," said Jude, making me look at him confusedly, "What food?" I asked. If I were Naomi, I would've definitely asked what food. JJude chuckled, "We'll get to that later, Maria," said Jude, then I nodded in response. "And so, Naomi and her 2 daughter-in-laws prepared to go back to Bethlehem. But she told both of them to go back to their mother's home because back then, in their times, when the husband dies in his early years, the brother of the husband shall take the widow as his wife and bear a child or more to continue the bloodline of the husband," continued and explained Jude, making me furrow my brows. "That's insane!" I said.
Jude shrugged his shoulders, "That's old times for you, I guess," said Jude. No word came out of my mouth after that. "The other daughter-in-law, Orpah, followed what Naomi told them but Ruth on the other hand, stayed with her and followed her all the way to Bethlehem. The whole town knew who Naomi was but she changed her name to 'Mara' because she said that the Lord made her life very bitter," continued Jude, I nodded slowly. "Because her husband and 2 sons died," I said. This is definitely not the part Jude's auntie loves.
Jude nodded in response, and as he was about to continue… "What are you guys talking about?" Thomas asked while Matthew sat beside me where Tabitha was sitting earlier and Thomas sat beside Matthew with a glass of wine in his hand, I quickly looked at them, "Jude was telling me the story of Ruth and Boaz from the Bible," I answered Thomas. "Oh. Both of them got together eventually despite the fact that Boaz might be double the age of Ruth that time," said Thomas then sip his wine. "I think that's not the point of the story, Thomas," said Matthew as he looked at him as well.
Thomas looked at Matthew then shook his wine, "Well, that's what I came into conclusion with. Boaz might be the same age or close in age with Elimelek, who could've been Ruth's uncle-in-law. I don't really get what's with the huge age-gap marriage thing in the Old Testament." Said Thomas as he took another sip from his wine. "Well, don't you think about it as strange too?" Asked Thomas as he looked at us and saw that we're looking at him. "That's definitely not the point of the story," said Matthew. Thomas then made a face and continued sipping his wine while watching the people dancing on the dance floor.
Then Matthew and I looked back at Jude and he looked at us. "Where was I again?" Asked Jude then chuckled. "When Naomi changed her name to 'Mara'," answered Thomas, making the three of us look at him but he didn't bother to look at us and continued to watch the people dancing. "Thanks, Thomas," thanked Jude, "Well, you asked, so," said Thomas.
"Naomi changed her name to 'Mara' because she said that the Lord has afflicted her and brought misfortune in her life," continued Jude, "and exactly when they came back in Bethlehem, it was the beginning of the barley harvest,"
"Oh, so that's the thing that the Lord had provided for His people," I said as soon as I realized that it answered my question earlier. "That's only the first chapter," said Thomas, making the three of us look at him and see him looking at us. "Yes, there's 3 chapters to go," said Jude, making me look at him. "Really?" I asked, Jude nodded in response.