6Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how Yahweh had visited his people in giving them bread. 7She went out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her. They went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9May Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.”
Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices, and wept. 10They said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.”
11Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? 12Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons, 13would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me seriously for your sakes, for Yahweh’s hand has gone out against me.”
14They lifted up their voices and wept again; then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth stayed with her. 15She said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law.”
16Ruth said, “Don’t urge me to leave you, and to return from following you, for where you go, I will go; and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. 17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Yahweh do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”
18When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
19So they both went until they came to Bethlehem. When they had come to Bethlehem, all the city was excited about them, and they asked, “Is this Naomi?”
20She said to them, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21I went out full, and Yahweh has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” 22So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.
Following the most unimaginable tragedies, Naomi took a very courageous step. She decided to go home to Bethlehem; to return to the place of God’s blessing.
Ruth decided to go with Naomi, despite Naomi’s pleas for her to stay with her family in Moab. Ruth's commitment to her destitute mother-in-law is astonishing. First, it meant leaving her own family and land. Second, it meant, as far as she knew, a life of widowhood and childlessness, because Naomi had no known relative to marry her. If she married a non-relative, her commitment to Naomi's family would be lost. Third it meant going to an unknown land with a new people, new customs and new language. Fourth, it was a commitment even more radical than marriage. Where you die I will die and there be buried (V17). In other words, she would never return home, not even if Naomi died.
That’s amazing. Maybe Ruth thought that Naomi had suffered so much that she would go with her and look out for her for the rest of her life. Maybe, but the most amazing commitment of all is found in V16 - Your God will be my God. Naomi had just told Ruth in V13 that the hand of the Lord was against her. Naomi's current experience of God was bitterness. But in spite of this, Ruth forsakes her religious heritage and makes the God of Israel her God.
My parents never went to church when I was a child. I was sent to Sunday school. I could never understand why that was. I committed my life to Christ in my late teens. It was only then that my Mum told me that she had been saved late teens and had backslidden when she married my Dad. She sent us to Sunday School in the hope that we would have a real, personal encounter with God.
It was five years after I was saved that my Mum, against my Dad’s wishes, rededicated her life to Jesus. She faithfully followed God and eighteen months later my Dad gave his heart to Jesus. You just never know who will come with you if you turn to God.