“Wherever you go I will go,
wherever you lodge I will lodge.
Your people shall be my people
and your God, my God.
Where you die I will die, and there be buried. May the Lord do thus to me, and more, if even death separates me from you!”
Naomi then ceased to urge her, for she saw she was determined to go with her.”
Ruth 1:16-18 (NAB)
The words in this scripture are the words of Ruth to Naomi, her mother in law. The story began with a famine in the land where Naomi lived with her husband and two sons. They had no choice but to move from Bethlehem to Moab, which was a land populated with idol worshippers and pagan beliefs. It was a foreign environment for a Hebrew family to dwell in, but there was food there.
Naomi’s two sons grew up in Moab and both married Moabite women. Tragedy struck the family when Naomi’s husband died suddenly, and not long afterward, both her sons also died. Scripture doesn’t tell us the cause of their deaths, but Naomi was understandably depressed.
She told her two young widowed daughters in law that she was going back to Bethlehem to live with a relative of her tribe.
In those days, caring for an elderly parent was the responsibility of the adult children, or the next of kin. Having no one left in her family, Naomi released her two daughters in law to go find another husband and continue on with their lives. Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye and left, but Ruth stayed and clung to her.
Ruth’s response indicates amazing dedication, clinging to her and promising to go wherever she goes. The average young woman doesn’t become emotionally attached to her mother in law, at least not until years later, after children are born and relationships deepen over time.
My own mother in law meant well, but she was hard to figure out at times, and my sister in laws were frequently offended by her. Over time and after having children, I gave her the respect she deserved as a loving grandmother to my children. If she said something that bothered me, I exercised patience and overlooked it. Before she died, she surprised me by saying that I was the kindest to her, out of all her daughters in law. I will always treasure her words, since it taught me to make an effort to understand and choose patience, even when it doesn’t come naturally. It’s a lesson I need to remember to this day.
Ruth sends a deeper message than simply being a loyal daughter in law. By telling Naomi that she is staying with her, is like promising to care for her and support her for the rest of her life. That was a big commitment, since Ruth was in prime child bearing age, and had her whole life ahead of her. She set aside her own personal hopes and dreams to care for Naomi, who was not even a blood relative.
Ruth came from a culture of worshipping many gods, whose main god was a god of war, but she preferred the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who Naomi worshipped. She also came to love Naomi for the woman that she was, and followed her to Bethlehem, which shifted her destiny for the best. God had a great plan to reward Ruth’s kindness.
Ruth didn’t know at the time that she would become part of the ancestral lineage of Jesus, the Messiah. In Bethlehem, she met Boaz, Naomi’s relative, married him and gave birth to a baby boy named Obed. The four of them became a family, with a new life together, and Naomi’s joy was restored by becoming Obed’s grandmother.
Ruth and Naomi teach us that we may not see the virtue in people at first, but it is revealed later, through the life experiences that we go through with others. Ruth’s greatest virtue besides her kindness and loyalty, was her hunger for the one true God and His truth.
God loves bringing strangers into the household of faith. The greatest lesson in this story is that regardless of where we come from, our past, our sorrows or our losses, God is always leading us to new horizons and a future filled with hope. We may know a Naomi who once suffered a tragic loss, but has found her hope and comfort in Christ, or we may know a Ruth, who instead of feeling like a stranger, has a role as a cherished member of God’s family, the church.
Lord, give us hearts that seek to understand and show kindness to others when we face challenging situations. Thank you for giving us hope in the good plans you have for each of us. Amen
