Lessons of loyalty — Ruth 1:8-22

OLD TESTAMENT LESSONS OF LOYALTY:
Ruth to Naomi (daughter-in-law to mother-in-law) — Ruth 1:8-22¹
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Dr. Paul Manuel—2017

There was a time when most marriages were arranged by parents or by someone other than the couple. Today the hunt for a prospective spouse commonly uses the dating method, which does not always go well,

After being with her all evening, the man could not take another minute with his blind date. Earlier, he had secretly arranged to have a friend call him to the phone so he would have an excuse to leave if something like this happened. When he returned to the table, he lowered his eyes, put on a grim expression and said, "I have some bad news. My grandfather just died, and I have to leave." "Thank goodness!" his date replied. "If yours hadn't...mine would have had to."

There was a time when most marriages were arranged. It may have been that way for the sons of Elimelech who managed to snag two good women, at least according to Naomi, the sons' mother. Unfortunately, the three men died, leaving Naomi and her daughters-in-law bereft of their father and their husbands. In this sermon series entitled Old Testament Lessons of Loyalty, we come to the loyalty of one daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law, the loyalty of Ruth to Naomi, of how one woman followed another despite the bleak prospect of their future.

Israel was not alone in the Ancient Near East; there were several other people groups.² Some, like the Amalekites, were hostile and opposed Israel's passage in the wilderness.³ Others, like the Moabites, were wary of Israel but were generally friendly, yet they attempted to corrupt Israel as the people traveled through the wilderness. The Moabites had an advantage before God over other Canaanite groups in that they were descendants of Lot who lived just outside the Promised Land (east of the Dead Sea) and off limits to the Israelite conquest.⁴ In any case, Israel and Moab were geographically and politically separate.⁵ Please turn to the book of Ruth, and we will consider the first chapter together:

Ruth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 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.

The setting for this story is the time of the judges (c. 1200-1020), a period of domestic uncertainty as there was no national political structure in Israel. This meant there was no centralized army, no national protection from invaders:

Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. (Judg 6:3-6)

The resulting food shortage⁶ led some like Elimelech and his family to migrate into Moab looking for relief,⁷ similar to the reason Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt some years earlier.⁸ Elimelech did not intend to remain in Moab indefinitely but would return to Canaan once the crisis had passed. Unfortunately, by that time Elimelech and his two sons had died but not before his sons had increased the family by marrying Moabite wives,⁹ one of whom becomes the focus of this story. When news reaches Moab that the famine in Judah is over, the three women, now all that remains of Elimelech's family, set out together for Bethlehem.

I. Naomi addresses her daughters-in-law (Ruth 1:8-14).

A. She advises them to leave her (vv. 8-10).

Ruth 1:8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home.¹⁰ May the LORD show kindness to you,¹¹ as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband."¹² Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."

"Orpah and Ruth did not question their duty to accompany their mother-in-law, though it meant leaving their own land" (Huey 1992:521). Before they travel too far, however, Naomi releases her two daughters-in-law from any obligation to her they may feel. She encourages them to return to their families and to remarry while they are still young. At first, Orpah and Ruth decline to leave Naomi. They have grown attached to their mother-in-law and do not want to part from her.

B. She assesses their future with her (vv. 11-14).

Ruth 1:11 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? 12 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— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!"¹³ 14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.

According to Israelite law the brother of a childless, deceased brother was to take his wife and sire a son to continue that family line (so called Levirate marriage):

If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. (Deut 25:5-6)

This responsibility did not apply, though, since both Elimelech's sons are deceased (Hubbard 1988:109) further restricting the future for the two young widows on their way to a foreign land.¹⁴ In any case, Naomi released her two daughters-in-law from any responsibility saying that if she had another child they should not wait for him to grow up (assuming her next born would be a boy). Besides, she was really past her childbearing years. Orpah finally agrees to leave, but Ruth insists upon staying, despite Naomi's reminder of their roots ("your mother's home" v. 8).

The difference in the two womens' response to Naomi probably reflects a difference in their relationship to God. Orpah never embraced the religion of her late husband. She may have loved her mother-in-law, but absent a personal commitment to the true God, returning to her previous way of life with its loyalties to Chemosh was not difficult.¹⁵ Ruth, in contrast, had adopted her late husband's religion, so returning to her former life was no longer possible.¹⁶ She was now a worshipper of the true God, not an idolater, and even the death of her husband could not change that.¹⁷

Application: Both Orpah and Ruth recognize the truth of Naomi's argument. There is nothing for them in remaining with her. They are bereft of their husbands and will have nothing by moving to Israel with this woman. Yet something causes Ruth to stay. Perhaps she realizes the value of keeping a commitment even when it might be inconvenient. As a psalmist—one of her descendants—will one day write, "LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? ... [The person] who keeps his oath even when it hurts" (Ps 15:1a, 4b). It certainly will be inconvenient for Ruth to stay with Naomi. What kind of future could she expect—a foreigner in a foreign land, worse, a penniless widow attached to another penniless widow? But a situation that appears obvious to you may not be so actually when God is involved. Just as Ruth chose the LORD over Chemosh, and He will now guide her, so you have chosen the LORD, and He will guide you. It is important to Him, however, that you keep your commitments, not least of which is your commitment to Him.

II. Ruth addresses her mother-in-law (Ruth 1:15-22).

A. She remains with Naomi (vv. 15-18).

Ruth 1:15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." 16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to 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. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Evidently Ruth was not enamored with Chemosh the Moabite god. She may have first heard about the LORD from her late husband. She later decided to reject Chemosh, who was repulsive, and to serve the LORD, who is attractive. She will also remain committed to Naomi even in death ("there I will be buried" v. 17), and she strengthens her pledge with a curse ("May the LORD deal with me" v. 17) to convince her mother-in-law of her seriousness.¹⁸

Ruth's leap of faith outdid even Abraham's. She acted with no promise in hand, with no divine blessing pronounced, without spouse, possessions, or supporting retinue. She gave up marriage to a man to devote herself to an old woman. (Hubbard 1988:120)

Ruth resolved to go with her mother-in-law, and no argument will dissuade her.

B. She returns with Naomi (vv. 19-22).

Ruth 1:19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" 20 "Don't call me Naomi [pleasant]" she told them. "Call me Mara [bitter], because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.¹⁹ 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me"²⁰ 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

Even after years of absence, people remember Naomi. She has returned but without her husband and without her sons. Something terrible must have happened in Moab. She has also returned with someone else, the wife of one son. Although the famine is over, life for two unattached women would be hard.

Because a wife usually joined the independent household of her husband, her contact with his mother might have been limited. Indeed, there are few biblical references to a mother-in-law (18) or to a daughter-in-law (17) and fewer still of the two women having any kind of relationship, positive or negative. The comity between Ruth and Naomi may have been unusual, but it was genuine.²¹ They have each other, and they will not starve. Not only is there work during the barley harvest, but God has made provision for them in the law:

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest..., 10b Leave them for the poor and the alien. (Lev 19:9, 10b)[22]

Naomi is one of the poor, and Ruth is an alien.

Application: Although the author does not explain how Ruth knew anything about Israel's God, she apparently knew enough to choose Him over Moab's god. This account shows how life-altering even a little information can be. Ruth recognized that the LORD offered something far superior to what Chemosh offered, sufficiently better for her to change the course of her life. Although Chemosh has largely fallen out of favor today, you can offer to others that same life-changing good news. Moreover, do not assume that you need to present a fully formed discourse on theology whenever you share the gospel. In what you have to offer, even a little information can be life-changing for someone looking for a new direction. As Jesus' disciples responded when several of their number turned away, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:68) Likewise, you have "the words of eternal life" for those who may be seeking a new direction.

The close relationship of Ruth to Naomi, a daughter-in-law to her mother-in-law is unusual even today. It proved to be a boon, however, for both women, and especially a test of loyalty for one, as Ruth demonstrated her commitment to Naomi and to God.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes see the pdf here.