WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS - RUTH - DEVOTED DAUGHTER-IN-LOVE DETERMINED TO DWELL WITH NAOMI

RUTH 1:14-22 (KJV) 

DEVOTED DAUGHTER-IN-LOVE DETERMINED TO DWELL WITH NAOMI

Ruth 1:14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.

The Voice translation paints this picture vividly with words:

Ruth 1:14 (VOICE) At this Orpah and Ruth wailed and wept again. Then Orpah kissed Naomi, said goodbye, and returned the way she had come. Yet Ruth refused to let go of Naomi.

Orpah made the decision to return to Moab and hope to remarry, so she kissed her mother in law goodbye. Ruth held on to her mother in law tightly like a child clinging to her mother, fearing abandonment at the door to school. Ruth did not want to be without Naomi because not only had she come to love her mother in law but probably saw much in Naomi’s life she wanted to emulate. She wanted to continue under Naomi’s guidance and strength even though at this time, Naomi was broken-hearted.

Ruth 1:15 And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

Naomi pointed out that Orpah had taken her advice and returned to her people AND HER GODS. The Moabites worshipped Chemosh who required child sacrifices (2 Kings 3:27). If Orpah had worshiped God with her husband, she must not have truly converted to Judaism since she returned to her Gods. Naomi once again encouraged Ruth to go back to Moab and do the same.

Ruth 1:16 And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: 17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Ruth’s famous speech to Naomi is often read or sung at weddings. It is a beautiful testimony of commitment to her husband’s mother. Ruth begged Naomi to stop insisting that she leave her. Ruth did not want to go back, she is saying she wants to be with Naomi who she had come to love as her own mother. A wise, older friend of mine named Beula once corrected me when I called my son’s wife my “daughter-in-law.” She said, “No, dear. She is your daughter-in-LOVE.” Ruth was Naomi’s daughter in covenant love, the covenant she had made in marriage to Naomi’s son and the covenant she made in trusting the one true God, the God of the Jews. Ruth declared that she would travel wherever Naomi did and live wherever she lived. Ruth pledged to devote herself not only to Naomi, but to her people, her family, her relatives. She set herself in covenant with the Isaelites rather than with the Moabites. She set aside her family and heritage for the heritage of Israel and the one, true God. She testified that Naomi’s God would now be her God. She left Chemosh and other false gods behind and chose to follow Jehovah. Two things most of us have are our choices and our voices. Ruth was aligning both with the God of Israel, professing Him with her mouth. Jesus had not yet been born, but Ruth (without knowing it) was following what Paul spoke about by confessing her trust in God.

Romans 10:9 (KJV)

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Ruth asserted that she was with Naomi for life, that only death could part them. In fact, she vowed that if she let anything come between them, the Lord could slay her. She bound herself to Naomi with her word and a vow before the Lord.

Ruth 1:18 When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.

When Naomi saw Ruth’s tenacious determination to stay with her, she finally conceded and stopped trying to talk Ruth into going back to Moab. She had no idea how important that decision would be to her own and her daughter-in-love’s futures!

Ruth 1:19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

The people may have been moved by the devotion of Ruth to travel from her homeland to take care of her mother-in-law even after her husband’s death. They were probably also moved by the changes they saw in Naomi. Naomi’s friends and other people who knew her in Bethlehem almost didn’t recognize her because her countenance had been so drastically altered by her hardships. Being widowed and having both her sons die as well had taken a toll on her.

Ruth 1:20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went out full and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?

Naomi told them not to call her by her name which means “pleasant” but to call her Mara which means “bitter or discontented.” She was bitterly discontented with God because she thought He had dealt bitterly with her. She blamed God for her empty feeling due to the loss of her husband and sons. She felt He had afflicted her rather than seeing the deaths as a normal course of life on a fallen earth. She was right that God is in control of everything but was failing to trust that same Sovereign Lord for the next chapter of her life.

Ruth 1:22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Naomi and Ruth settled into Bethlehem. Their journey back to the land of Judah was complete, but their story was really just beginning. The providence of God had brought them back to Bethlehem just in time for the barley harvest and gleaning. We will see how important that is in the next segment.

Ponder this: We live in a society with the attitude that if things don’t work out, you can always leave. Commitment is not valued as it once was. Ruth remained committed to Naomi even when the death of Mahlon and Naomi releasing her would have made that commitment seem unnecessary. Biblical, covenant love expects commitment in our marriages, our friendships, and most importantly to our Lord. Ruth’s devotion serves as a reminder to us to remain steadfast in our commitment to God.