It is unknown who was the human author for the book of Ruth, and other than being 'in the time of the judges' we don't have any other direct references to the timeframe. However, using the fact of Obed being David's grandfather, some have dated the setting to about the time of Jair in Judges 10.
It is a beautiful story in Ruth, exemplifying a Godly mother/daughter relationship, and a Godly husband/wife marriage arrangement. In contrast to the many examples in the book of Judges, we see that some, like Boaz do not do 'what is right in their own eyes' but rather obey the law of Moses, caring for the poor, going beyond the letter of the law to be generous rather than stingy, and fulfilling the responsibility of a kinsmen also prescribed in the law.
To understand the redemption fully, though, we must understand the fall. Instead of trusting God to provide, Elimelech takes his family to Moab and eventually his sons marry Moabite wives - at this stage there is no indication that they seek to serve God, so this would be contrary to the law about not intermarrying.
After the men die, Naomi decides to return to her homeland, and initially both her daughters-in-law come with her. The commitment of Ruth at this point to follow Naomi is a beautiful picture of salvation - knowing that the life ahead will be hard, warned about following, but for the person coming to salvation there is no choice in their mind - they must continue and serve God, they cannot turn back now. It is also a testimony to what must have been the personal testimony of Naomi - as daughters-in-law the two girls would have had a lot to do with their mother-in law.
In the interactions with Boaz, we see a true picture of a Godly man. Evidently a landowner, probably of some wealth, he cares for both poor and relative, and doesn't care about the fact that Ruth is a foreigner - he has heard how she gave up her native country and what she has done for Naomi. Later we also see him praising her for not chasing after a young man to marry - we see that she is a women of character, and we see that Boaz looks at her character and not her ancestry. As for physical appearance, it is never mentioned - it is not an important consideration when making decisions on how to treat each other.
We see Ruth listening to her mother-in-law, and obeying respectfully - they evidently had a close relationship, caring for each other. And we see their trust in Boaz to do the right thing once he had been informed.
We see Boaz as a caring provider - a generous one, giving according to his wealth and not out of his wealth, evidenced by his sending Ruth home with six measures of barley, and the previous part where he told the men gathering the harvest to deliberately leave wheat for her to pick up. Finally we see him as a redeemer, and this gives us a picture of Christ also - Who redeemed our lives by His death.
Ruth has been redeemed from a life serving foreign gods to a full life serving under the true God and caring for both Naomi and Boaz, and is blessed by God for this. Her life gave witness that she did serve God, and thus the prohibition about marrying foreign women no longer applied, as she had become part of Israel.
Naomi with her family had left the promised land - running away from God and the problems faced in the homeland, but retained her belief and service to God in a foreign land and became a blessing to her daughters-in-law. She lost much in the foreign country, but did return to her country and God and came back into the enjoyment of the blessing of God once again.
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