The Choice of Ruth (Ruth 1:16-17)

This sermon was preached on 5/8/2012

The obvious feature of Ruth and Orpah at the beginning of the story is their similarity to one another. Not only were they Moabite women, but each of them met and fell in love with a man from another country (two brothers from Israel, the land across the border) and was welcomed into their family. As time went on, each of them grew to love their mother-in-law, Naomi, very deeply. Further, they both shared the same pain of childlessness and the same tragedy of widowhood at a young age. Their situation may have been one of poverty because of the loss of male support, which would have been a factor in their willingness to go with Naomi to Bethlehem when she decided to return there. From one point of view, therefore, Ruth and Orpah were almost identical. So as the chapter begins, we can say that they have the same past and the same present, yet by the time it closes they have very different futures. What a difference a day can make!

It may be that the fathers of Orpah and Ruth were dead because Naomi asks them to return to the homes of their mothers (v. 8). No doubt, the advice of Naomi was born out of a loving concern for their needs and she assumed that they might find husbands in Moab – the husbands in verse 9 must be a reference to future possible husbands because, after all, the family of the dead husbands was with Naomi.

After a little persuasion, Naomi’s advice was taken on board by Orpah, despite her natural affection for Naomi, and she returned to life in her family home in Moab. In her choice and subsequent action, Orpah is a picture of those who put the needs of their body before the needs of her soul. Of course, many would have said she made a very sensible choice. Eventually, Orpah’s decision meant that her descendants would not hear about God and indeed would become the enemies of God (Moab was a strong enemy of Israel). Whatever insights Orpah has into the God of Israel the effects were only temporary and Naomi summarises all this when she says that Orpah went back to her gods.

With Ruth, it was so different. Her decision was a great surprise and a marvellous encouragement to Naomi. The old woman had thought she would be completely alone, but instead she had a daughter-in-law who was completely devoted to her. In distinction from all the bad experiences she had gone through, she had this wonderful blessing of Ruth’s desire to be with her.

Ruth’s words to Naomi have become well-known. They are frequently used in weddings in some parts of the world to indicate fidelity, although in their original context they are not connected to a wedding. They are clearly an expression of gratitude and love. But they are more than that because they indicate the strong spiritual desires of Ruth. Orpah shared with Ruth to some extent a natural love for Naomi, but Orpah’s love for Naomi was not strong, otherwise she would not have gone back to her people. Ruth’s love had something else in it and that was her determination to serve the God of Naomi. This is what made the difference ultimately. And in saying these words, Ruth has become a picture of Christian conversion, illustrating what it means to turn away from the world and trust in the Saviour.

Pressures on Ruth not to go with Naomi

From some perspectives, it would not have been easy for Ruth to make this choice. Many would say that she was not showing common sense, others would suggest she was uncaring towards her family in Moab, and others would point out that the Israelites might not welcome her into their community.

These suggestions would have been public comments on her decision. But she would have personal pressures as well. Obviously, her mindset had been framed in Moab and therefore she was leaving all that was comfortable. She would have to develop a new attitude towards everything in life and it is clear from her words that she had thought it all through.

Further, Ruth was ignorant about life in Israel. No doubt Naomi would have given some details about what took place in Bethlehem, a few miles away. Yet the distance, when measured in every other way, was wide. Despite their proximity, the Israelites were a different people. It would have been easy for Ruth not to have gone with Naomi.

These pressures on Ruth, both from others and from within herself, are not confined to her. They are found whenever a person from outside the church is contacted with the gospel. Obviously this calls for sensitivity when dealing with such people, and it also requires a strategy for helping them see what the faith of God’s people is truly about.

Motives for Ruth’s choice

Why then did Ruth go with Naomi? The answer, of course, is divine grace that worked secretly within her to convince her of what to do. Yet divine grace also uses means and it is possible for us to identify some of them. Within those means are features that we would categorise under common grace (the good things that God gives to everyone), but we should not assume that such are not part of God’s saving dealings with sinners.

The most obvious aspect of common grace that influenced Ruth was her natural affection for Naomi. Clearly, Orpah had this as well, but Ruth had other desires as well. Yet we should not dismiss the importance of natural affection when expressed in the spiritual environment in Naomi’s home. No doubt Naomi had informed them of the Israelites and their history and faith, with their God’s rules summarised in the Ten Commandments. Today, living in an environment of love is also a very powerful motive for listening to the gospel. If one person has embraced it, there is often at least an element of curiosity concerning what he believes in those who love him.

Another motive that would have influenced Ruth would have been a fear of separation from Naomi. Ruth’s words in verse 16 show clearly that separation from Naomi was a factor in her considerations. Her words also reveal that she had more than physical separation in mind. She wanted to be with Naomi in life and in death. And surely that should be a consideration for those who have relatives and friends who are Christians. Jesus warns of future separation at the Day of Judgement, a separation that family ties and friendship will not prevent if there is no faith in Jesus.

A third motive for Ruth’s decision would have been the witness of Naomi. Although the decision to go and live in Moab was a wrong one it is very likely that Naomi would have told Orpah and Ruth about life in Israel and what the Israelites believed. In that culture, the women would have spent a lot of time together. Ruth wanted to become identified with the people that Naomi belonged to. Witness does not have to be perfect in order for it to be effective.

Details of Ruth’s decision

The first detail we can note is the emotional element in her choice. We can see the strength of her feelings in the appeal she makes to Naomi not to urge her to return to Moab. Her decision was not passionless. How could it be when her whole future depended on it? Her desire to go to Israel with Naomi was paramount and nothing could be allowed to hinder it, even an appeal by Naomi. Ruth’s determination involved her whole being.

A second detail is Ruth’s determination to follow Naomi’s example. Ruth was prepared to do this literally as she followed in the steps of Naomi as she made her way back to Bethlehem. Yet there is more than that in her wish to follow Naomi. In addition she wanted to go to Bethlehem in the same spirit as Naomi was displaying. The older woman was returning in a spirit of repentance and Ruth, although not guilty of the same sins as Naomi, knew that she had to repent of her own sins. She saw in Naomi’s penitent demeanour the way to return to Bethlehem.

The third detail in her decision is a strong level of commitment to Naomi. Wherever Naomi went, Ruth would go with her without question. Clearly Ruth trusted Naomi wholeheartedly.

Those three details of emotional involvement, penitent return and total commitment are also found in any conversion to Jesus Christ from a life of sin. Ruth’s response to Naomi’s intended travels depicts very well what is involved in coming to faith in Christ. We must embrace him with a warm, penitent, committed faith. So we can look at Ruth and use her as a spiritual thermometer in order to assess the reality of our faith. Yet there is more in her decision.

Three specific areas

Ruth becomes very specific in three areas. First, she says that she wants to belong to Naomi’s people, the Israelites. The obvious feature of Israel was the fact that they were a people whom God had redeemed from slavery in Egypt and then brought them into a land in which they would know his blessing as long as they obeyed his commandments.

We can easily see how her desire here illustrates an important aspect of conversion. A person is not saved merely to walk in isolation with God. Instead he is brought into the number of a people who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ from the penalty of sin. They find in their hearts a desire to join them and discover with them the good things that God has promised.

Inevitably this feature of Ruth’s choice was a public one. She could not join Israel if she remained in Moab. In order to join Israel she had to leave Moab and all that it stood for. It was not sufficient that she moved closer to Israel even to within an inch of the border. She had to cross over and live with the people of God where he wanted them to live. In a similar way we have to leave the contemporary equivalent of Moab and identify ourselves publicly with Christians.

Ruth wanted to join the Israelites even although she knew they were not perfect. Her own experience in Naomi’s family had already made that plain to her. Yet she did not use the imperfect behaviour of some Israelites as a reason for not joining with the Israelites as a whole. We are not to let imperfect Christians prevent us from identifying with Christ’s people. Instead we take the words of Ruth and say to them, ‘Your people shall be my people.’ We join them because we know that Jesus is with them.

We can now consider the second specific element in Ruth’s response, which was, ‘Your God shall be my God.’ It is important to note that Ruth did not exchange her previous belief in Moab about false gods for a vague acceptance of the existence of the true God. The gods of Moab did not exist in reality, but they were symbols of spiritual darkness and barbarism. It would have been reasonable for an intelligent person to exchange beliefs from her previous ideas to a better example of another Deity. But such a change is not real conversion.

Instead Ruth’s choice of God was in the form of covenant commitment expressed in her use of the personal pronoun ‘my’. In using this word, she was indicating her desire for a personal relationship with the Lord. But what would have been included in her commitment? One aspect would be her choice of him as her Saviour – she knew that since he had saved others he could save her. Perhaps Naomi had told Ruth about Rahab, whose son Boaz lived in Jericho. Or maybe she had mentioned Jethro who had served the same God in previous generations but who did not belong to the nation of Israel, but whose descendants now lived in Israel. Ruth must have had the desire of salvation because there is no other way by which he can be called ‘my God’.

Ruth would also have wanted the Lord to be her sovereign. The word ‘my’ indicates that she did not want a general kind of link with the Lord. Instead she wanted a special one and in order to have that she would have to submit to his laws. Her submission would be an expression of gratitude for saving her. It would be by obedience to him that she would display that she loved him.

A third aspect connected to ‘my’ God is that she would have regarded the Lord as the source of satisfaction and comfort. Ruth had no idea what lay ahead of her, but whatever would happen to her in the future she would require the presence of the Lord. Perhaps, for all that Ruth knew, she would have to live in poverty with Naomi. If so, she would be satisfied as long as the Lord was her God.

Those three aspects – saviour, sovereign and satisfier – are how those who trust in Jesus regard him. They depend on him for salvation from their sins through what he suffered on the cross; they show their gratitude for his mercy by living submissively to his commandments; and they find their ultimate satisfaction in knowing Jesus. With Paul in Philippians 1, they gladly confess, ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.’

There is one more detail in Ruth’s outlook to observe and that is her attitude to death. She is not merely acknowledging the fact of death when she says in verse 17, ‘Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried.’ It is also a statement of where she would die and with whom she would rest. Her words are not an expression of fatalistic pessimism; rather they indicate faith’s persuasion that she and Naomi will be together after they have died. Ruth’s faith extended beyond this world into the next. The degree of light they had on life after death cannot be guessed by us who have the fuller revelation given through the coming of Jesus. But we can share her optimism if we depend on Jesus.

In order to confirm the reality of the decision she had made, Ruth swears a solemn oath: ‘May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you’ (verse 17). Naomi was now convinced, realised how determined Ruth was, and they continued together as believers in the same God on the road to Bethlehem.