Ruth’s ancestry is Moabite. The Moabites were a people closely related to the Hebrews, who lived in the west. According to the Bible Ruth, the great grandmother of King David, was of the Moabites. Other neighbours of Moab were Ammon to the north and Edom to the south, with whom we believe that Moab also was closely related to. Moab - Ancient country located to the hills to the east of the Dead Sea, corresponding to the little populated areas of modern western Jordan. We have two main sources for information on the Moabites, the Moabite Stone (left, now in Louvre, Paris, European Union, but found in Dhiban, Jordan in 1868) and numerous references in the Old Testament. 14th century BCE: First traces of the Moabite culture. 11th century: Falls under the reign of King David of Israel. Moab continues as an entity, but has to pay heavy tributes to Israel. 922: Moab gets its independence with the death of King Solomon. Around 880: King Omri recaptures parts of Moab, the Madaba district in the north. Middle 9th century: The Moabite king Mesha drives the Israelis out of Moab, giving the country back its independence. 582: Moab is conquered by the Babylonians, and their culture is assimilated with the culture of other peoples, and Moab disappears from history. 4th century: The old Moab is repopulated by the Nabateans, and it is believed the descendants of Moab were incorporated into this federation. http://i-cias.com/e.o/moab.htm