I think the story of Ruth is absolutely amazing. Given the patriarchal culture of the time, Ruth showed amazing initiative and independent thinking. Had she stayed in Moab, she undoubtedly would have had an easy time finding a husband. But she loved her mother in law, and very likely she had been influenced by the Judaism of her husband. And so she undertook a risky conversion -- she traveled far from her home to a strange land with strange customs with no guarantee of a husband (meaning it was likely she would live in poverty). But she persisted with the convert's plea, "Let your people be my people, and your God my God."
When she gets to Israel, she takes Naomi's advice to go after Boaz, who would be obligated to a levirate marriage demanded in the Torah if he can just get around the claim by one kinsman who was closer. Naomi advised Ruth to "lie by his feet." "Uncovering his feet" is a euphemism for uncovering his genitals, and lying by his feet until morning is a euphemism for having sex. In this way, although it was risky, Ruth was proposing marriage to Boaz. That's a pretty gutsy broad!
The next day, Boaz did indeed work out his rights to the levirate marriage, and Ruth was his.
Born a Moabite, she died a Jew. It shows the power of making choices. One of the consequences of her powerful choices was that her grandchild was King David himself.
