The Kinsman Redeemer: A Study Of The Book Of Ruth. Day 2, Ruth Goes To Bethlehem With Naomi

During a famine in Israel, a man named Elimelek took his wife and sons to Moab to sojourn for a time. He died in Moab, as did his two grown sons. These men each left behind a widow: Naomi, Elimelek's wife; Ruth, the elder son Mahlon's wife; and Orpah, the younger son Kilion's wife. Ruth and Orpah were widowed before they had any children.

News reaches Naomi that things are improving in Israel. The famine appears to have come to an end. She decides it's time for her to leave the country of Moab and go back to her hometown of Bethlehem in Judah. 

"When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of His people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah." (Ruth 1:6-7) We don't know who was judge of Israel when the famine came or who was judge of Israel when the famine ended. It's generally assumed that the famine came because a number of the people had fallen into sin and that the Lord allowed the crops to fail as a corrective measure to get them back on track. If that's the case then there must have been spiritual revival in Israel because the harvests have begun to be abundant once again. 

Naomi sets out for home and her two daughters-in-law accompany her down the road toward Judah to see her on her way, as was customary at the time. Ruth and Orpah were born and raised in Moab, so when the author of Ruth says the road would take them "back" to Judah, he doesn't mean Ruth and Orpah were ever citizens of the tribe of Judah. They are just seeing Naomi safely to the border of Judah. When they arrive at the border she says her goodbyes to them and instructs them to return to their families. "Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, 'Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.'" (Ruth 1:8-9a)

Naomi says, "Thank you for having been good wives to my departed sons and for having been like real daughters to me! But you have mothers of your own and it's time to return to them until you marry again. You are young enough to marry again and you should marry again. I'm praying for the Lord to send you good husbands who will make you happy."

Yesterday we discussed the opinion of some scholars that Naomi's husband should never have taken his family to the heathen land of Moab during the famine in Israel. Whether or not Elimelek was in the will of God when he did this, I think he did it out of grave concern for his family. Maybe the scholars are right who think he was so worried about the famine that he trusted his own instincts instead of consulting the Lord, but even if that's the case there is no doubt that this family loved each other. Elimelek loved his wife and sons and took them to a land where food was plentiful at the time. His sons, who are now deceased, probably loved the good wives whom Naomi praises for their kindheartedness. She herself loves these young ladies dearly, as if they were her own daughters. They love her too, which is why they weep and vow to go with her. "Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, 'We will go back with you to your people.'" (Ruth 1:9b)

Naomi feels these ladies' families can provide for them better than she can. Plus, they are Moabites and she is an Israelite. She thinks they might be happier in their own culture among their own people. "But Naomi said, 'Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?'" (Ruth 1:11) She is referring to the practice known as "levirate marriage" which we studied earlier in the Old Testament. This was a practice in which the unmarried adult brother of a deceased man would marry the childless widow of his brother and have a son to carry on his dead brother's name and inherit his property rights. 

Naomi continues, "'Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me---even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons---would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters.'" (Ruth 1:12-13a) She asks, "What can I offer you? My only two sons are dead. I am a widow who will be relying on the charity of my fellow Israelites. It's better for you to go back to your families who can support you until they can arrange suitable marriages for you."

Then she adds, "It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord's hand has turned against me!'" (Ruth 1:13b) I had always assumed she made this statement because the Lord allowed her husband and sons to die. It sounds like something a person might say when one thing after another has gone wrong, such as: "The Lord must be angry with me to have allowed these things to happen!" But in my background study I found the suggestion that perhaps she had urged her husband to take the family to Moab---that perhaps the move was primarily her idea and not Elimelek's. If so then she may be thinking, "The Lord is punishing me for leaving the land He gave my people. He's disappointed in me for living among the heathens. He must be angry or else why did He allow my husband and sons to die? Why should my daughters-in-law have to bear my hardships and my disgrace? They've done nothing to deserve suffering with me. No, they must go home to their own people and start fresh new lives."

But Ruth wants to go with Naomi no matter what lies ahead for the two of them. "At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 'Look,' said Naomi, 'your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.'" (Ruth 1:14-15) She says, "Be a good girl now and do what Orpah is doing. Her family will take her back in and yours will too." 

Ruth doesn't want to be taken back in by her own people. She wants to identify herself with Naomi's people: the Israelites. Ruth wants to serve the one true God, not the false gods of Moab. She now makes the most famous statement of the book that was named after her: "But Ruth replied, 'Don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.' When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her." (Ruth 1:16-18)

Ruth has thrown in her lot with her mother-in-law. I don't know whether Ruth had sisters and brothers back home to take care of her own mother, but Naomi has no one. Ruth selflessly pledges to stay with Naomi and care for her the rest of her life, just as if Naomi were her real mother. Because she has shown her mother-in-law such kindness, Naomi will do for her what Ruth's own mother would have done: she will work to secure a good future for Ruth. She will help her find a kindhearted, godly husband from among the men of Israel. Since Ruth is converting wholeheartedly to the God of Israel, there is nothing wrong with a faithful Israelite man taking her to be his wife. Together Ruth and her husband will become the parents of Obed who will be the father of Jesse who will be the father of David, a king of Israel. As we move on down the family tree, we will find these same people named in the lineage of Jesus Christ in the gospel accounts written by Matthew and Luke. If Ruth had not had the faith to put her life and her soul in the hands of the God of Israel, she would not have become the ancestress of kings and of God's own Son. But she did have this great faith! And God, who "rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6), rewarded her abundantly for her faith.