Ruth: "Where You Go, I Will Go"
Ruth 1:16–17
The Story
Naomi's husband and two sons died in Moab, leaving her with two foreign daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi urged them to return to their own families. Orpah kissed her goodbye and left. Ruth refused to leave. She spoke these famous words: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." Ruth arrived in Bethlehem with nothing, gleaned grain in the fields, and caught the attention of a wealthy relative named Boaz, who eventually married her. Their son Obed was the grandfather of King David.
Did You Know
Ruth is one of only five women named in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus — and three of them are Gentiles (Ruth, Rahab, Tamar). Matthew seems to go out of his way to include outsiders in the royal bloodline. The Messiah who came for all nations was descended, in part, from those nations.
Takeaway
Ruth's loyalty to Naomi was not based on what Naomi could offer — Naomi had nothing. It was based on relationship and faith. Ruth chose a bereaved, bitter, poor old woman and a foreign God over her own comfort and homeland. She is proof that covenant loyalty — hesed in Hebrew — is one of the most powerful forces in the universe.
Context
The book of Ruth is set during the time of the judges — one of the darkest periods of Israelite history, marked by repeated cycles of sin and violence. Yet Ruth, set in the same era, contains no violence, no judgments, and no failures of faith. It is a small, quiet story of faithfulness that God placed as a candle inside a very dark room of history.