“Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is going back home to live with her own people and gods; go with her.” Ruth 1: 15 (MSG)
We can’t leave Chapter 1 of Ruth without looking at this love that Naomi gave to her family. For what we see in the above verse is an indication as to why Ruth clung so deeply to her mother-in-law.
Ruth had found not just love in this Ephahprodite family – she had found their God. Ruth was introduced to the God of all gods and that introduction was not enough – what she wanted from Naomi was not just the love of a mother for a daughter – it was the knowledge of a teacher – well versed in the ways of Yahweh.
Under the tutelage of Naomi, who even facing severe losses and repeated tests could not help but extol the teachings of her God – for what it is in our hearts, governs our life and flows from our hearts to those around us. And for a pagan to receive such love – it was to Ruth as one finding water after a long trek in the desert. She had found living water that having found – she needed for her very existence.
Central in Chapter 1 is Naomi’s admonition to her daughter-in-laws to return to their families and their gods, and with that Orpah returned – also hating to leave her mother-in-law, but able to return to what was familiar to her. Whereas, Ruth issued the words that have come down through time to still speak of a love that could only come from a heart filled with God’s love…
“But Ruth said, “Don’t force me to leave you; don’t make me go home. Where you go, I go; and where you live, I’ll live. Your people are my people, your God is my god; where you die, I’ll die, and that’s where I’ll be buried, so help me God—not even death itself is going to come between us!” Ruth 1: 16-17 (MSG)
Yes, we marvel at the love of a man for woman – Solomon said it was one of the four things that brought him, the wisest man in the world – to amazement -
18 There are three things that amaze me—
no, four things that I don’t understand:
19 how an eagle glides through the sky,
how a snake slithers on a rock,
how a ship navigates the ocean,
how a man loves a woman Proverbs 30:18-19 (NLT)
but love can be found by other names – such as the love of a simple Moabite woman for an aging Hebrew mother-in-law – who willingly risked an unknown future to leave her home, her family, her family’s gods in this Chapter 1 -to go on an adventure of faith with the God she had come to know – and as we turn the page we find – He is leading her…
Maria