RUTH 1:6-18
6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.
8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
CONSTANCY: A LIFE CHOICE
In the first five verses of chapter one of Ruth we see human drama and pain playing out in real life. Famine has come to the land of Bethlehem, Judah. Elimelech, a man of God, chooses to move his wife Naomi and two sons to Moab for sustenance. While living in Moab the two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Once again, tragedy strikes, with the death of Elimelech, leaving Naomi a widow. In time, Naomi’s two sons died as well. With these losses, Naomi’s grief turns into bitterness, and she gives herself a new name, Mara. (Ruth 1:20-21) What pathos are seen in Naomi and the lives of her daughters-in-law, now alone with no husbands, needing provisions for existence and no one to provide for them?
In desperation, Naomi desires to return to her homeland of Bethlehem, Judah, as she has received the news that the drought has ended, bringing prosperity to the land once again. This will begin a new era for Ruth and her daughters-in-law, eventuating with Ruth becoming part of the family tree of Jesus.
With the journey begun, Naomi entreats her daughters-in-law to return to their mother’s house. They are strong and compassionate words from a grieving woman, “Go, return each to her mother’s house. The Lord deal kindly with you. As you have dealt with the dead and with me.” Profuse tears were shed, but in the end, Orpah kissed Naomi, returning to Moab, never to be heard of again. But Ruth clung to Naomi, entreating her mother-in-law, with words so full of sobering longing, that today they speak into each of our hearts,
“Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you: for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17) Herein, we see a likeness to Jesus and a constancy on the part of Ruth, as she does not waver in her devotion to Naomi and her God. Ruth stands for loyalty, kindness, and steadfastness, representing a foreigner who is a model of loving kindness and ultimately found in the lineage of Jesus. (Matthew 1:5)
Author: Norma Hyde
Other Scriptures for today:
- Psalm 146:5-10
- 2 Peter 3:1-10
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