Part 2: Ruth 1:1-18

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. 2The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4These 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, 5both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons or her husband.
6 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. 7So 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. 8But 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. 9The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.’ Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. 10They said to her, ‘No, we will return with you to your people.’ 11But Naomi said, ‘Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, 13would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has turned against me.’ 14Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 So she said, ‘See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ 16But Ruth said,
‘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.
17Where 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!’
18When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

Background:
It is likely the story of Ruth was written down in a later time, after the exile to Babylon, as a critique of those returning to Israel who would cast off their foreign wives. It is placed in “chronological” order, to reflect the history of the time before there were kings, and to set the stage for the anointing of King David.

The story:
Israel was troubled. There was no central authority – in Judges it says that “all the people did what was right in their own eyes.” In a time of famine, when there is no compassion from the community, Naomi and her husband Elimelech pack up their 2 sons and move to Moab. Their sons marry Moabite women, then tragedy strikes again. All three men in the household die, and the women have no means to survive. Naomi hears that prosperity has returned to Israel, and decides to return. Her daughters-in-law set out with her, but Naomi, perhaps remembering the treatment of foreigners by her people, tells them to return to their families and start over with new husbands. One woman, Orpah, agrees. Ruth will not leave, however, and makes the choice to accompany Naomi to her homeland, in spite of the personal hardship it will involve.

An important word in the passage is hesed, which has no direct translation in English, but means something like loving-kindness, or faithfulness, or loyalty. The daughters in law demonstrated hesed to their husbands’ family throughout illness and grief, now Naomi wants to show them hesed by freeing them for a better life. Ruth, whose name means “compassion” surprises Naomi with even greater hesed than she believed possible.

Naomi was not an easy travelling companion – she was returning to a nation that owed her nothing, she was bitter with God and with others. She was manipulative, and devised a way to exploit Ruth’s beauty for her own security. Yet it is Naomi’s great reversal from bitterness to redemption that makes the story sacred, and Ruth’s compassion that makes it possible. Ruth is a humbling commentary on those who believed that hope could only arise from within the 12 tribes of Israel.

Questions for Reflection:
1. Have you ever seen God work across entrenched divisions and make an outsider a sign of hope?
2. How does Ruth’s compassion inform the decisions and choices you make?