“Whither Thou Goest, I Will Go”
Ruth 1-2
This
post is all about Ruth. Ruth is one of the great women in the Bible. She lived
in a wicked environment and yet remained faithful and devoted to God. As the
world we live in gets more wicked we can learn how to stay strong by the
example of Ruth.
Some
background before we get started, Elimelech and his family move to Moab from
Judah because of famine. Elimelech and his wife Naomi had two sons, Mahlon and
Chilion. The father, Elimelech ended up dying and the sons then married. Chilion
married Ruth and Mahlon married
Orpah.
They
lived in Moab for ten years where Naomi’s husband and two sons died. At this time
she decided that she would return to Judah. Naomi took her daughters in law, Ruth
and Orpah, and told them of her plan. Naomi told Ruth and Orpah to return to their
mother’s houses. In Ruth 1:14 it says, “And they lifted up their voice, and wept
again; and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her.” Clave
means to hold fast to or to stay with her. Ruth then said that she will go with
her and follow her wherever she goes. Ruth tells Naomi that she will always be
with her, even until death. So Naomi and Ruth left for Judah.
The
trials that Ruth faced in Ruth chapter 1 included loosing her husband and then
leaving the land where she lived. She also left her own family behind to go to
Judah with Naomi, her mother in law. It would have been hard to leave her
family but she chose to go with he mother in law. I asked myself why Ruth chose
to go with Naomi instead of staying with her family like Orpah did? I thought that
maybe she felt some kind of duty because Naomi didn’t have a husband or her
sons to take care of her. More than a sense of duty though, I think that Ruth
loved her mother in law and saw this chance to start over somewhere else and be
with her mother in law who needed her.
When
Ruth and Naomi got to Judah Ruth went to glean (gleaning was to gather leftover
grain after a harvest) the ears of corn and that is when she met Boaz. Boaz was
a mighty man of wealth and a kinsman of Naomi’s husband’s, Elimelech. Boaz
learned that of what Ruth was doing and he said to her, “Go not to glean in another
field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens. Let thine eyes
be on the field that they do reap.” Ruth was very grateful and bowed down to
Boaz and thanked him. She was confused as to why he found grace in her and why
he was impressed with her, since they had just barely met. When Ruth asked him
why he was impressed with her Boaz said in chapter 2 verse 11 of Ruth, “It hath
fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the
death of thine husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the
land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which though knewest not heretofore.”
When
Ruth would glean she gleaned with Boaz’ maidens. This was a blessing and a
privilege. Naomi told Ruth how blessed she is and how blessed Boaz was to be so
kind to her. Ruth stayed with the maidens of Boaz to glean until the end of
barley and wheat harvest and she stayed with her mother in law.
I
think that Boaz was so kind to Ruth because he was impressed with her and her
actions. He saw the love that she had for Naomi and the sacrifice that Ruth had
to make to be with her mother in law. Her actions could have influenced his
admiration for her and maybe thought that Ruth deserved more. I think that Boaz
saw that Ruth was special and sensed that something was different about her.
Moving
on with our story, Naomi then instructed Ruth to lie down with Boaz. Ruth then told
Naomi that whatever she tells her to do, she would do. Naomi wanted to help Ruth
secure a husband and a family and she had Boaz in mind for a Levirate marriage.
A levirate marriage is when the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his
brother's widow, and the widow is obliged to marry her deceased husband's brother.
Now Boaz was not a brother in law but he was considered a kinsman, which is
defined as having blood relations.
In
this day it was custom, to have the woman propose to the man this way. Ruth lay
at his feet while he slept and when Boaz awakened she directly asked him to be
her protector. Boaz regarded this as proof that Ruth had feminine virtue and
modesty and he was honored that Ruth did not go after a younger man. Boaz
agreed but for this to happen the next kinsman had to renounce his rights to Ruth
and this next of kinsman did so.
Boaz
and Ruth were married and they had a son who would be famous in Israel. This
son gave Naomi a kinsman and she loved him dearly. His name was Obed and Obed
is the father of Jesse who is the father of King David. Years later, Jesus
would be born into this family.
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We can learn a lot
from Ruth and from her story and example. One thing that I learned was facing
our challenges. We need to be headstrong and trust in the Lord with the trials
and challenges that come our way. We need to trust the Lord and follow the
promptings that we get. I bet that Ruth had the prompting to go with Naomi to
Judah and she followed that. We need to face our challenges with faith and with
the Lord on our side. We need to face our challenges with strength and determination.
We have to be actively involved, we cannot expect the Lord to just do it for us
because he loves us, we need to do what we can. We never know what the Lord is
going to have us do to get us to where we need to be and where he needs us to
be. We need to face our challenges with the Lord in mind and with his will
leading our way like Ruth did.
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