“But Naomi said, ‘Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’
At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
‘Look,’ said Naomi, ‘your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.’
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. 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.’ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, ‘Can this be Naomi?’
‘Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.’
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.“
Ruth 1:11-22
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December 10, 2025
Is there a group of people you are automatically suspicious of? For Israel and Judah, it was the Moabites. They had a long history of hostility and conflict, with Moab famously refusing to provide aid and hospitality to Israel when it was needed.
So, writing a story in the Old Testament era in which the good, faithful, compassionate, god-fearing hero was a Moabite immigrant would have a similar effect as when Jesus told the story of the good, faithfulness, compassionate, god-fearing Samaritan hero. It just didn’t add up. Those were the worst kind of people.
Yet as we recalled on Monday, God is consistently reminding us that He sees things differently. He calculates goodness differently than we do.
The book of Ruth is often called a love story, but it is not romantic love that is central to the theme. Instead, this book is about hesed faithful love. As we saw yesterday, Ruth’s only real shot at survival was to remain in Moab and remarry. Naomi had no way to provide for her, and it was not likely that she could find a husband in Bethlehem. She faced real danger in staying with Naomi. There is no fault at all in Orpah’s choice to stay back.
And yet, Ruth the Moabite, was determined. She would stay at Naomi’s side in committed, faithful love no matter what it cost her.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
- Where do you see faithful love, even in the presence of danger, in the story of Ruth?
- Why is it notable that a Moabite woman is the source of the remarkable love and faithfulness in this story?
- Who is your life is in need of faithful love, even if it costs you greatly?
- Who are the people in your community that are considered “the worst” and how might God be inviting you to see them through His eyes?
Church Reading Plan: 2 Chronicles 10; Revelation 1