Ruth 1:6 - Meaning and Application

Here we see, first, Naomi’s deep love for the land of Israel, Ruth 1:6. Though she could not stay there while the famine lasted, she did not mean to live away from it forever once the famine ended. Moab had sheltered her in her time of need, but she did not see it as her lasting home. Her true home was the holy land, where God’s sanctuary was, the place he had chosen as his rest forever.

Notice this too, God at last showed mercy to his people again. He does not keep judging forever. Just as oppression during the days of the judges came to an end when God raised up a deliverer, so the famine also ended in God’s kindness. He visited his people by giving them bread. Plenty is a gift from God, and bread, the staff of life, is what he uses to keep our souls alive. Even if we have always known abundance, we should still value it greatly.

Naomi then returned because duty drew her back to her people. She had heard again and again about their condition, and the reports were discouraging. But at last, like a servant who finally sees a cloud the size of a hand after looking many times for rain, she heard good news of food in Bethlehem. Then she could think of nothing but going back. New ties in Moab could not make her forget her connection to Israel. If we have a reason to be in a bad place, we must not stay there after that reason is gone.

Being forced away from God’s ordinances, that is, from his appointed worship and means of grace, or being forced to live among wicked people, is a heavy burden. But once the pressure is removed, choosing to stay there becomes sin. Naomi seems to have begun thinking of return right after the death of her two sons. She likely saw that loss as a judgment on her family for lingering in Moab, and when she heard the lesson of God’s discipline, she obeyed and went back. If one sorrow does not wake us to sin and duty, another may. When death enters a family, it should lead us to examine what is wrong in that home. God calls our sins to mind when he takes a son away (1 Kings 17:18). If he blocks our path with thorns, it is so we may say, “We will return,” as Naomi did to her own land (Hosea 2:7).

Moab had also become a sad place for Naomi. It was no comfort to breathe the air where her husband and sons had died, or to walk on the ground where they were buried, out of sight but not out of memory. So she went back to Canaan. In the same way, God often takes from us the comforts we lean on too much in this life, so that we may think more of our home in the life to come and move toward it by faith and hope. Earth is made less sweet to us so that heaven may seem more precious.

Second, we see the kind affection of her daughters-in-law, especially Ruth, and Naomi’s gracious response to them. They both went with her for part of the way when she turned toward Judah. They did not try to keep her in Moab. If she had made up her mind to leave, they wanted to show her all possible respect at parting. They even brought her on her way as far as they could and likely helped carry her things, since it seems she had no servant with her, Ruth 1:7. This shows that Naomi, as an Israelite woman, had been kind and pleasant to them, and had won their love. She is a good example to all mothers-in-law. It also shows that Orpah and Ruth truly valued her kindness and wanted to return it. They had lived together in peace, even though the bond between them came through husbands who were now dead. Though they were still attached to the gods of Moab, while Naomi stayed faithful to the God of Israel, that did not stop them from showing love and kindness in everyday duties. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law are often at odds (Matthew 10:35), so it is all the more praiseworthy when they live in love.

After they had gone a little way, Naomi lovingly urged them to turn back, Ruth 1:8-9. “Return each to her mother’s house.” Since they had been forced by sorrow out of their husbands’ home, it was a mercy that their mothers were still alive and that they had houses to go to. They were not being sent out into the world with nowhere to rest. Naomi suggests that their own mothers would be more welcome to them than a mother-in-law, especially since their own mothers had homes, while Naomi was not sure she even had a place of her own to lie down in. She dismissed them with praise. That is owed to people who have behaved well in any close relationship. “You have dealt kindly with the dead and with me,” meaning, “You were faithful wives to your husbands who are gone, and you have also been good daughters to me.” When we and our loved ones part, by death or in some other way, it is a comfort if both they and our own consciences can testify that we tried to do our duty while we were together. That helps soften the pain of parting. While we are still together, we should live so that we will not later regret our failures in that relationship.

She also sent them away with prayer. Friends should part with prayer. She gave them her blessing, and a mother-in-law’s blessing should not be taken lightly. In that blessing she names Jehovah, the God of Israel and the only true God, so that she may point her daughters to him as the source of every good gift. She asks him, in general, to repay them for the kindness they had shown to her and her family.

It is reasonable to hope and pray in faith that God will show kindness to those who have shown kindness to their relatives. “Whoever waters others will himself be watered” is true in the way God often deals with people. In this case, Naomi asks that they may find happiness in marrying again: “May the Lord grant that each of you may find rest in the house of her husband.”

This was fitting, according to the apostle’s instruction (1 Timothy 5:14), that younger women, and especially young widows, should marry, bear children, and manage the home. It is sad when women who have shown themselves to be good wives are not blessed again with good husbands, especially when they have no children. Marriage is a kind of rest, the rest this world can give, resting in a husband’s house more than in a mother’s or mother-in-law’s house. Even this rest is God’s gift, so if we enjoy peace and satisfaction in our outward life, we must give God the credit.

Some marriages are badly matched, and those people find little rest even in a husband’s house. Their trouble should make others more thankful when their own marriage is peaceful. Yet God must be the rest of the soul, and we should expect no perfect rest before heaven.

Naomi then sent them away with deep affection. She kissed them and wished she had something better to give them, but she had no silver or gold. Still, that parting kiss would stay with her as the sign of a real friendship, so that even if she never saw them again, she would remember them warmly as long as she lived. If relatives must part, let them part in love, so that if they never meet again on earth, they may meet in the world of lasting love.

The two young widows could not bear to leave their good mother-in-law, so much had Naomi’s godly life won their hearts. They not only wept loudly because they hated to part, but they also said they were determined to stay with her (Ruth 1:10): “We will return with you to your people and share your lot.” This was a rare sign of affection toward a mother-in-law, and it showed that they had come to respect the people of Israel because of Naomi. Even Orpah, who later went back to her gods, seemed at that moment ready to go with Naomi. But tears and emotion are a poor foundation for a promise, and strong feelings without settled judgment usually lead to weak resolutions.

Naomi then tried to keep them from going with her (Ruth 1:11-13). She first pointed to her own sad condition. If she had had sons in Canaan, or any near relative who might have married the widows, given offspring to the dead men, and helped redeem the family land, that might have given them hope of settling comfortably in Bethlehem. But she had no sons, and she could not think of any close relative likely to do a kinsman’s duty. She was too old to expect another husband and another family. At her age, it was time to think about leaving the world, not starting a new home.

There was another problem too. Even if she had a husband and children, she could not expect those young widows to wait unmarried until her sons were grown. She was not only unable to offer them husbands, she also could not support them as she wished. That was the sharpest pain in her poor condition, she could not do for them what her heart desired. “It hurts me more for your sake than for my own that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” She saw herself as the main target of the trouble. She believed God was dealing with her especially: “The hand of the Lord has gone out against me. I am the sinner. God has a case against me.” That is the right spirit under affliction. Even if others are involved in the trouble, we should hear God’s rebuke as spoken to us.

Naomi also felt most deeply the trouble that her suffering brought to them. She was the sinner, but they were the ones who suffered from it: “It grieves me much for your sakes.” A gracious spirit can bear its own burden better than it can bear to see others hurt by it. Naomi could more easily go without herself than see her daughters go without. So she urged them to turn back, because she was not able to do them any kindness.

Still, Naomi did well to warn them against following her lightly. If they came with her, she did not want it to be merely because of her influence. Those who take up religion only to please relatives, to satisfy friends, or to keep company with others, usually prove to be weak and short-lived believers. If they came, she wanted them to come by deliberate choice, after counting the cost. It is good to be told the hard truth first. Our Lord dealt this way with the man who said boldly, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Christ answered in effect, “Can you live as I live? The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:19-20). Naomi dealt with her daughters-in-law in the same way. Resolutions shaped by serious thought are more likely to stay firm than those made too quickly.

Orpah was easily persuaded to follow her own wrong desire and go back to her country, her family, and her father’s house, just when she seemed likely to receive a true call to the God of Israel. They both lifted up their voices and wept again (Ruth 1:14), deeply moved by Naomi’s tender words. But the effect was different on each of them. For Orpah, Naomi’s warning became an excuse to return to Moab, and so it helped justify her turning away. For Ruth, it strengthened her resolve and deepened her affection for Naomi. She was more impressed than ever by Naomi’s wisdom and goodness. To Orpah it became a warning that led to ruin; to Ruth it became a means of life.

Orpah kissed her mother-in-law. That was an affectionate farewell, but it was also a final one. She did not mean to follow Naomi any farther. Like the man who said he would follow Christ after first burying his father, Orpah showed warmth, but not enough devotion to give up her own country for Naomi’s sake.

This is how many people treat Christ. They value him and feel kindly toward him, yet they still fall short of salvation because they cannot part with other things for him. They love him in some way, but they love other things more, so they leave him. That is what happened to the rich young man, who went away sad (Matthew 19:22).

Ruth, however, stayed with Naomi. We are not told whether she had already decided to go with her when she left home. Perhaps she had, because Naomi’s earlier instructions had given her some knowledge of the God of Israel and stirred a true desire for his ways.

Naomi then urged Ruth to return, using her sister-in-law’s example as another reason. Her sister-in-law had gone back to her own people, and that meant she had also gone back to her gods. If she lived among the worshipers of Chemosh, it would be almost impossible for her to keep honoring the God of Israel. Those who leave the fellowship of God’s people and return to Moab will soon break off their fellowship with God and take up Moab’s idols. Naomi was saying, in effect, “If you will turn back, turn back now. This is the hardest test of your faithfulness. If you stand firm through this, you are mine forever.” Such failures as Orpah’s are allowed, so that those who are sincere and wholehearted may be shown clearly, as Ruth was here.

Ruth then ended the discussion with a solemn promise that she would never leave Naomi or return to her own country and old family. Nothing could be finer or braver than her words. It is as if she had a different spirit and a different voice after Orpah left. God’s grace was drawing her to choose the better path with steady resolve.

She first asks Naomi not to press her any farther. “Do not ask me to leave you, or to turn back from following you. Your earlier teaching has already fixed my heart, so your urging now cannot change me.” It is a real burden to those who are fixed on God and true religion when others keep trying to shake their decision. People who would not even think of turning back should not be made to hear such offers. When the margin says, “Be not against me,” it reminds us that those who try to keep us from the road to heaven are really against us. They may still be family, but they are not true friends if they discourage us from serving God.

Ruth then speaks with great care about how fully she means to stay with Naomi. She loves not Naomi’s outward beauty, wealth, or cheer, for those were gone. She loves her wisdom, virtue, and grace, which remained even in poverty and sorrow. So she says, “Where you go, I will go, even if it is a country I have never seen and one I was taught to look down on. Where you lodge, I will lodge, even if it is only a poor home.” She is ready to share Naomi’s whole life, wherever that leads.

She also says, “Your people will be my people.” From Naomi’s character, she has concluded that Naomi’s nation must be a wise and understanding people. She judges the whole people by Naomi, who has honored her country wherever she went. In the same way, those who belong to the better country, the heavenly one, should seek to honor it too. Ruth is saying that she wants their company, their way of life, and their cause to become hers.

Then she turns to religion itself: “Your God will be my God.” This is a clear break with the gods of Moab, which are empty and false. She chooses to worship the God of Israel, the only true and living God, to trust him alone, to serve him, and to be guided by him in everything. That is what it means to take the Lord as our God.

She goes on: “Where you die, I will die. There will I be buried.” She assumes that both of them must die, and likely Naomi first because she is older. She means to remain with Naomi while life lasts, and she also wants to share her happiness in death. Her desire is to die as Naomi dies and to have the same end. Even in burial, she wants to stay joined to Naomi and rest in the same grave, without sending anything back to Moab as a sign of lingering attachment to her old life. Since their souls are joined, she wants their dust to mingle too, hoping they will rise together and be together forever in the world to come.

Ruth seals this promise with a solemn oath: “The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death separates you and me.” An oath put an end to the argument and placed a lasting obligation on her choice. She knew death would separate them for a time, since one might die before the other. Death parts people whom nothing else can part. It is a dividing hour, and we should think of it and prepare for it.

At the same time, Ruth vows that nothing else will separate them. Not the pull of her own family, not the hope of greater honor among her own people, not any unkindness she might meet in Israel, and not poverty or shame. “No,” she says in effect, “I will never leave you.”

This is a pattern of a firm convert to God and true religion. We must settle this matter and stand by it. We must take the Lord as our God. We must be able to say, “This God is my God forever, and I have chosen him for mine.”

When we take God as our God, we must also take his people as our people, in every condition. Even if they are poor and looked down on, if they belong to him, they must belong to us. Once we cast in our lot with them, we must be willing to share their lot and live as they live.

We must submit to the same yoke and carry it faithfully. We must take up the same cross and bear it gladly. We must go where God sends us, even if that means exile, and stay where he places us, even if that is a prison. We must die where he appoints us to die, and be buried among the upright, who enter peace and rest in their beds, even if that means only the graves of ordinary people.

We must also resolve to continue and keep going. In this, our devotion to Christ must be even closer than Ruth’s devotion to Naomi. Ruth decided that only death should part them, but we must decide that even death itself will not separate us from our duty to Christ. Then we can be sure that death will not separate us from our happiness in Christ.

We must bind our souls with a promise never to break these godly resolutions, and swear to the Lord that we will hold fast to him. A firm bond makes a firm hold. Anyone who means honestly does not shrink from giving clear promises.

Naomi was silenced by this in (Ruth 1:18). When she saw that Ruth was firmly set on going with her, which was exactly what Naomi had been working toward, she was satisfied and stopped speaking to her. Naomi could ask no more than the solemn pledge Ruth had just made. This shows the power of resolve, because it shuts temptation’s mouth.

Those who are unsure and move through religious duties without a firm mind are inviting temptation. They stand like a door left half open, which invites a thief. But resolution shuts and locks the door, resists the devil, and forces him to flee.

The Chaldee paraphrase tells the debate between Naomi and Ruth like this: Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you, because I will become a convert.” Naomi said, “We are commanded to keep sabbaths and holy days, when we may not travel more than about 2,000 cubits, a Sabbath day’s journey.” Ruth answered, “Where you go, I will go.” Naomi said, “We are commanded not to stay all night with Gentiles.” Ruth answered, “Where you lodge, I will lodge.”

Naomi said, “We are commanded to keep 613 commandments.” Ruth answered, “Whatever your people keep, I will keep, because they will be my people.” Naomi said, “We are forbidden to worship any false god.” Ruth answered, “Your God will be my God.” Naomi said, “We have four kinds of death for criminals, stoning, burning, strangling, and execution by the sword.” Ruth answered, “Where you die, I will die.” Naomi said, “We have burial places.” Ruth answered, “There I will be buried.”