1. Separate Ways (v.14)
Naomi has been very persuasive in encouraging the girls to return home. And she has been very graphic in terms of the hopelessness of her own situation; her life is very bitter indeed. At this, both Orpah and Ruth weep. They weep for Naomi, in the tragedy of her situation. And perhaps they weep too for themselves; having lost their husbands, they're now losing the last connection with them.
The bond here is very strong but Orpah accepts what Naomi has said and begins to make the journey back to Moab. Ruth, however, doesn't. Although she too can no doubt see what Naomi is saying and can feel the weight of her arguments, she has made a decision: she is staying with Naomi and, we’re told, “clings” to her.
That word is the one that is used of a man leaving his father and mother and 'clinging' to his wife. It expresses "firm loyalty and deep affection" and it entails "leaving membership in one group...to join another" (Hubbard p.115). It has significant implications for Ruth and we'll see it developed in her speech.
We'll see shortly what lies behind Ruth's action but first we need to think of Orpah one last time. Over the years, she has suffered by way of comparison with Ruth (some have even suggested that she was a relative of Goliath's!). But it is right to see that Ruth's extraordinary action does not condemn Orpah's more ordinary choice. She obeys Naomi and heads for home. The arguments to her are reasonable and sensible.
But for Ruth, though they may be reasonable and sensible, there is something deeper at work here. This is the pivotal point in her life and her speech here tells us what she is doing and why. We may understand Orpah but must emulate Ruth.
2. All Change! (vv.15-17)
Naomi tries again to persuade her to go back, with Orpah as an example (peer pressure!). She urges her to go back with Orpah "to her people and her gods".
Naomi is in no doubt what it means to stay with her. To leave Moab means leaving behind the comfort and security of a known way of life. To leave her country means to leave her gods (in line with what other religions thought).
But Ruth has thought all this through and is ready to make her choice. Her speech leaves us in no doubt about that. What she says takes us to the heart of a real relationship with the living God. Ruth commits herself to Naomi and to Naomi's God. She makes a deliberate choice for a different God and a different way of life. Let's look at how she describes that commitment:
She is committed to Naomi: "where you go, I will go; where you stay I will stay". The strength of her commitment to Naomi is very clear and very powerful. She isn't saying that she will go with her for some of the way but all the way and for ever: "where you die, I will die".
And in committing herself to Naomi, she commits herself to Naomi's people: "your people will be my people". That's very risky. She doesn't know what kind of reception she will get in Judah. It is possible, maybe even probable, that she will be treated badly (although God's law required otherwise).
But this commitment to Naomi and her people is only part of the story. As she commits herself to Naomi and her people, so she commits herself to Naomi's God: "your God will be my God". Here is true faith in action: she is ready to leave everything behind to throw her lot in with the Lord and his people. In the Gospels, Jesus often speaks of leaving home and family for his sake. Here is someone doing just that.
For Ruth to make such a commitment is both difficult and momentous. That is the nature of faith. True faith in the one true God is not an 'easy come, easy go' kind of thing. The depth of her commitment is seen in her saying “May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely…” – that is a very strong figure of speech, calling down a curse upon yourself if you fail to do as you have said. This is strong stuff from Ruth; this is the stuff of faith.
For some folk, faith is vague and indistinct; it is something hard to describe and to define. In the Bible, true faith in the true God is something definite and real. Ruth knows who she is trusting in (in v.17 she speaks of “the LORD”; the God of Israel).
When the call is given for all to turn and to trust in Jesus, it isn't a fictional Jesus we speak of; it isn't a Jesus of myth or of vague tradition. It is the Jesus of the Bible who hung on a cross in our place, bearing our sin and shame. It is the Jesus who is God come in the flesh. It is the resurrected Lord Jesus, the coming King and Judge. He it is you must believe in to be saved!
Ruth hasn't 'got religion', as some might think; she's come into a new and living relationship with the one true God! And this is something that is for ever, as she makes quite plain.
To trust in the God who has loved us in Jesus is life changing in the fullest sense. It means a whole new life, committed to him and to his people. Old ways and old gods must go; new life must blossom by his grace in true commitment to him.
Is that a commitment you're ready to make?
3. God At Work!
What is it that has brought Ruth to this strong commitment to the Lord and his people? One writer suggested that "Naomi's consistent living must have so impressed her daughter-in-law to cause her to abandon her homeland and her gods" (Huey p.524). It is certainly possible that Ruth has seen Naomi's trust in the Lord during the years of grief and loss.
But it is also possible that the Lord is working despite Naomi's weakness, when her own faith is suppressed and static. And maybe it's right to see it as a combination of the two. There were times perhaps when Naomi's faith shone brightly in Moab; and times when it sank into bleak despair, as seems to be the case here.
Both scenarios give us encouragement. The first encourages us to that consistent living which commends the Lord to others as they see our trust in him even during the worst of times. And the second reminds us that even where we fail to be all that we should be, the Lord is still able to act and show his grace to others.
4. In Silence (v.18)
This scene ends with Naomi silenced by Ruth's speech. Some have suggested that you can even detect an awkward silence between them. Whether that's so or not, it is right to notice that "Ruth's presence is as much a reminder of tragedy as it is a source of potential comfort”. Ruth’s presence with Naomi raises questions and issues for Naomi: “Is Ruth to be primarily a reminder of the past or will she become a source of hope for the future? The stage is set for the next phase of the story" (Sakenfeld p.35).
But questions about the future don't preclude faith in the present. Indeed, true faith in the one true God is the only way to truly cope with those questions and uncertainties. These two women, one old in faith (in every sense), one new in it, are going into they know not what, but the God of the Covenant is with them.
And maybe they would have been happy to borrow some words from the Apostle Paul: “we know whom we have believed and we are convinced that he is able to guard what we have entrusted to him for that day.”
Have you done the same?
