Am I the only one, who, when I read Ruth 1:16, immediately in
my mind flashes to a scene from the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” when Mama
Threadegood opens an envelope, unfolds a piece of paper and says to Idgie, “This is from the Bible,
it's from the Book of Ruth. And Ruth said: "Whither thou goest, I will go.
Where thou lodgest, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people." Ladies, I think I have said this before but I
suspect my knowledge of early ‘90’s chick flicks is the reason I cannot do
algebra. There just isn’t enough room in
my brain. But I digress… I remember watching that part of the movie
and wondering, just what in the world the book of Ruth in the Bible was all
about?! It wasn’t until years later that
I actually read through it, studied it, and LOVED it!
Quite a few people tell me that they think the Bible is
boring or that it intimidates them. But
you guys, there are some really riveting stories in the Bible! From Esther to
Rahab, Abigail to Ruth (and so many more!) God used these women in impossible
situations in awesome ways! So today, I want to tell you about one of my most
favorite women of the Bible, Ruth.
The story of Ruth begins with Naomi actually. Naomi is Ruth’s mother-in-law but we will get
to that part in a second. Naomi’s husband
decides that since there is a famine going on, it would be best for them to
pack up and move from Bethlehem to Moab.
So Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, move with their two
sons to a new town. A place that does
not worship the one, true God. But,
tragedy strikes! Elimelech dies. Not
good. However, Naomi’s two sons both
married Moabite women. Naomi had two new
daughters-in-law, Orpah (which I always read as Oprah, lol!) and Ruth. Sadly
though, ten years later both of Naomi’s sons die as well, leaving their wives
childless.
Ladies, this is really, really
not good. Not only are Naomi, Ruth, and
Orpah grieving but they are in dire straits.
First of all, back then widows were usually ignored. Second, they had no income. Zip.
Nada. Zilch. They were broker
than broke. There was too much month at
the end of their money. You get the
picture ; )
Naomi heard that the famine was over in Bethlehem and
decides to make the arduous task of traveling back to her homeland with her
daughters-in-law. Now, don’t even think
this was some kind of fun road trip. This was a dangerous and difficult journey. And I have a feeling, the gravity of the
situation hits Naomi and her daughters-in-law as they start out on the
road.
Naomi decides to urge Ruth and Orpah to go back home to
their families in Moab. Both women
protest. But Naomi explains to both of
them, while this situation is bad, they can go back home to their families and
start over. Naomi, though, has no one in
Moab. She must make the trip to
Bethlehem to at least see if there is
anyone remaining from her family who could possibly help her.
Both of Naomi’s daughters-in-law put up a fight. Through her tears though, Orpah says goodbye
to Naomi and Ruth and heads back to Moab.
But Ruth clings tightly to Naomi.
So let’s think about this picture for just a second. It is a dire situation. Naomi gives both ladies a “way out” and the
opportunity to go home to their family.
Orpah tearfully exits. Ruth
tearfully remains. Ladies, I love this
about Ruth! Despite all of the unknowns,
she was willing to accompany Naomi and ultimately care for her. This is where the
verse Ruth 1:16 comes up. Ruth makes her
decision fully known and she is not backing down a bit. “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.” Ruth 1:16
(NIV)
Wow. I am guessing
that Naomi was probably floored. Ruth
must have been absolutely stoic in her resolve because Naomi realizes how
determined Ruth is to accompany her and agrees to let Ruth make the journey
with her. Thus, the road trip is back on
and wouldn’t you know?! They arrive in Bethlehem right as the barley harvest is
beginning. Isn’t God’s timing amazing?!
Now, I just want to go back and touch on something. Ruth was brave. She was declaring that she was leaving her (godless)
town, her family, all she had ever known, to go with Naomi. Essentially, she was
trusting in a God she had only learned of by Naomi! First, I believe this speaks
volumes about what Naomi must have told Ruth about God or displayed to her as
Naomi lived out her faith each day.
Second, Ruth was making a deep commitment to her mother-in-law. She was moving to a town that was probably
not going to welcome her with open arms because she was a Moabitess. I can just imagine the talk around the well
now, “Oh girl, did you see Naomi’s daughter-in-law?! She is from MOAB!”
Ruth and Naomi have arrived in Bethlehem but they need to
eat. Ruth takes the initiative (which again,
I love!) and asks Naomi for her permission to glean some barley from the
fields. Basically Ruth was going to pick
up any grain that had been left behind from the harvesters. Yet again, another quality I adore about
Ruth, she is not afraid of hard work.
And you know what, when Ruth was out in the fields, God provided for her
and Naomi in a big way.
While gleaning, Ruth just so happened to be in the right field at the right time. Don’t you just love how God works all things
out for good?! “And as it happened, she
found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her
father-in-law, Elimelech.” Ruth 2:3 (NLT)
This was a big deal!
When Ruth met Boaz, he showed her respect and kindness that went far
above the norm of that day. And when
Boaz realized that Ruth was the Moabite woman who was Naomi’s faithful
daughter-in-law, he was exceedingly generous and protective of her. An admirable quality of Ruth is that after a
while in Bethlehem, she was known not as the outsider, but as a woman who was
loyal to Naomi. No matter what
difficulties Ruth faced, her character never changed.
When Ruth goes home to Naomi, loaded down with grain and a
doggy-bag from dinner, Naomi asks her just who was so generous to her. Ruth tells Naomi of Boaz and all he did for
her. Naomi is super excited to hear Ruth’s news and is even more excited to
share with Ruth that Boaz is actually a kinsman-redeemer. Long story short, Boaz was a relative that
could take on the responsibility of marrying Ruth, since they were in the same
family and according to the custom back then, would give her the opportunity to
have a son and thus be able to carry on the name of her deceased husband. So pretty much, the knight saving the damsel
(and her MIL) in distress!
As the harvesting season comes to an end, Naomi instructs
Ruth on what she needs to do to let Boaz know she’s interested in him taking on
the role of kinsman-redeemer. When I
first read about what Ruth tells Naomi to do in the third chapter in the book
of Ruth, I was dumbfounded. Basically
Naomi tells Ruth to get all gussied up and go to the threshing floor at night,
where Boaz will be, and go lay at his feet.
Say what?! Back then though, it was the custom for servants to lay at
the feet of their master, not something unvirtuous. So really this was Ruth’s way of letting Boaz
know if he was up for it, she wanted him to be her kinsman-redeemer. Ruth took
the advice of Naomi (great trait alert – listening to the advice of an elder!)
and follows her instructions to a “t”.
So what happened next?!
Well, dear readers, I am leaving you with a CHALLENGE! I challenge you to read the rest of the story
: ) Don’t you just love
cliffhangers?! Seriously though, I want
to encourage you to read the story of Ruth and glean for yourself (Ha! Glean! See what I did there?!) all you can
from her amazing story. It is an awesome account of how God brings blessings
out of tragedy!
Happy reading ladies!
Post by: Marcy Gates
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