Ruth 1: An Alien Embraced, Not Chased

 If the Book of Judges was written to show how ruthless life in Israel could be without a king, then the sinful Israelites certainly needed Ruth. Compared to the stories of the men in Judges, including some of the judges themselves, these women, Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi, knew how to behave as godly people, and that is what they did. 

 You know the story. There was a famine in Israel, so Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, and two sons moved across the Jordan River to the territory of Moab. Sometimes Moab was a foe of Israel, and at other times they got along. They settled in, and then things turned south. First, Naomi’s husband died. Next, she arranged Moabite wives for each of their sons. One was Orpah (Oprah Winfrey’s name, which was constantly mispronounced until it stuck). However, after several years, one son died, and then the other one died. 

 Naomi became a woebegone widow; no husband and no sons to look after her (Not unlike the widow at Nain whom Jesus encountered (Luke 7). Naomi planned to go back to her hometown in Israel to live with relatives. So, she met with her two Moabite daughters-in-law and released them from their commitments. Both were sad, but Naomi explained that she did not have, nor would she ever have, two more sons. Besides, she believed that “the LORD has turned against me,” so it would be better if they went back to their families.

 With many tears, Orpah left, “but Ruth clung to her.” This is the point at which we hear the famous quote: “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. When you die, I will die–there I will be buried” (Ruth 1: 16-17). 

This saying is often used at weddings as if it represented bride to groom and vice versa. In that larger sense, it is a vow of faithfulness to a partner, a family, and even to neighbors in a community. Naomi took Ruth and returned to Bethlehem, to the familiar neighborhood of her deceased husband.

 There was help there, and there is no evidence in the story that the hometown guard tried to deport this undocumented immigrant. Ruth did have her green card, so Naomi sent her off to work. They had arrived just as the barley harvest began (Ruth 1:22). 

 Ruth is a young woman, a stranger in the community, who has no man and no clan to defend her from bad actors. Her only link is with her mother-in-law. Naomi is newly returned to this community, Bethlehem, where many years before she had married Elimelech. This is Naomi’s family and clan only by marriage. With Elimelech out of the picture, this is a thin thread to hang on. Especially given the stories that we have read about how even Israelite women could be treated poorly in the days of the judges. Remember the concubine who was gang-raped by the village men until she died (Judges 19:24-29).

 That was in Gilead. Naomi and Ruth are in Bethlehem. This is still the time of the judges. Has all of Israel lost their senses? We can only hope that that is not the case.