Thoughts for the Day

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons.... But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there for about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons or her husband.

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had had consideration for his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah. But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me..... Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

‘Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die — there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!’

So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We can learn a lot from the little book of Ruth about friendship, loyalty, and commitment. Naomi and husband Elimelech had moved from Israel to Moab at a time of famine, with their two sons. The latter in due course marry two local women, Orpah and Ruth. When Naomi's husband and her two sons die she decides to return to her own country of Judah. However, rather than heed her mother-in-law's advice her daughter-in-law Ruth, now also a widow, commits herself to Naomi in some of the most touching of words found in the Bible. Ruth cares enough for Naomi to forsake her homeland of Moab and help provide for Naomi, with no guarantee of security for herself.

But this is more than mere kindness, for her words are a solemn vow. She calls judgment upon herself if she ever leaves Naomi, and she vows to abandon the gods of Moab, and to follow Naomi’s God as well. When Ruth says 'May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!’, she uses the covenant name Yahweh, to seal her oath to the God of Israel. Finally Naomi is convinced that Ruth is serious. Ruth has chosen the path of loyalty to her mother-in-law, and to her God. In due course Yahweh was to bless her with a new husband and she would give birth to a son named Obed, who would become the grandfather of King David. Despite Ruth’s background God would work through her life to change the history of the world.

One final lesson for us might be to question if anyone might look at our life and say: "I want your God to be my God."?

Almighty God,
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we ask You to strengthen our faith
so that it shines out from our life
in everything that we do.
Through it may others
be attracted to You,
and commit themselves to Your ways.
Amen.