seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ruth 1:14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 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. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”
16 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. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Sometimes a daughter-in-law can be very determined. Naomi apparently had one of those determined girls. Can't you just see Naomi trying to pry Ruth off of her?
This is from Bible.org.
Without a doubt, this is the most amazing and distressing thing Naomi has said so far. How could any faithful Israelite encourage someone to return to their (false) god(s)? A godly Israelite would not only trust in the one true God, Yahweh, they would also know that there are no other gods. How could Naomi encourage Ruth (and, by inference, Orpah) to return to their god(s), when doing so would condemn them eternally? Serving the god(s) of Moab (or any others) was an abomination to God:
This is from the easy English site.
Ruth understood the practical wisdom of Naomi’s advice. However, her love for Naomi and her wish to obey God made her strong. She would be loyal to him and to Naomi. She was ready to give up everything else. ‘Where you go, I will go. And where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God’, she said. Ruth chose to belong to Naomi’s people and to worship Naomi’s God. The book now becomes Ruth’s story.
I don't want to miss a couple of things here.
First.... everyone says that Naomi wants to be alone in her grief. I don't think that's the only reason Naomi wanted to get rid of those girls.
Naomi had to know that if she brought two Moabite women back to Israel, she was committing a horrible crime.... these women worshiped Moabite gods and they might taint any man whose path crossed the path of these girls.
Naomi knew... she could not bring these women home with her.....
Ruth professed her faith in the one true living God. She said "your God will be my God". Ruth was willing to relinquish her shiny objects. That allowed Naomi to allow Ruth to return with her.
So now we know that the great great great whatever grandmother of Jesus the Messiah was a determined woman who chose the one true living God over the moabite pretend gods. Determination will now be in the DNA.
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