Scripture Notes: Ruth’s Love (Ruth 1)

Ruth was a Moabite woman who married an Israelite man. Her husband’s family had settled in Moab after a famine pushed them from their own land. But as the Book of Ruth opens, Ruth, her mother-in-law Naomi, and her sister-in-law Orpah find themselves widows. Naomi, now alone and vulnerable in a strange country, decides to return to her homeland. She tells her daughters-in-law to go back to their people, presumably to marry again and go on with their lives.

Orpah does that. Ruth does not. She has come to love her mother-in-law so much that she cannot bear to be parted from her, and what is more, she has come to know and love her mother-in-law’s God. So Ruth clings to Naomi, declaring, “Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”  

Ruth’s love and determination impact salvation history in a major way. When Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem, Ruth meets Boaz, and the two marry, becoming great-grandparents to King David and human ancestors of Jesus Himself.