Things did not go well for Elimelech and Naomi, and for their two sons Mahlon and Chilion: the famine in Bethlehem was so bad they moved out of the land of Israel to try to survive in Moab (Ruth 1:1-2). Then Elimelech died; the two boys were married off to Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth; then both sons died as well. So Naomi was now a widow, and both her sons were dead; and Orpah and Ruth were widows as well (1:3-5).

The word came that God had lifted the famine and provided food for the people of Bethlehem, so Naomi decided to return home; and her two daughters-in-law decided to accompany her. She thanked them for their compassion and loyalty, but urged them to go back to their families of origin: that was the best for them, in hopes that they would find a new life, with a new husband and children. Orpah wept, and returned home. Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi (1:6-15).

Ruth offered this famous commitment: “Do not press me to leave you and to turn back from following you! Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die – there will I be buried. May the Lord do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!” (1:16-17).

We should notice what an extravagant promise this really was. Perhaps it was the honesty of Naomi’s faith that moved Ruth to make it. Naomi was bold enough to say that the hand of the Lord had been raised against her (1:13), and to state that God had made her life bitter and wretched (1:20-21). Many people are afraid to suggest that sovereignty means the Lord is still the one in charge when things go wrong: but apparently Naomi was confident that God could handle her strong words of grief and anger. Ruth’s statement was certainly about family loyalty, but it also included this strong religious allegiance: she saw Naomi’s faith and indicated she wanted that same faith: “your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

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O Lord, our own faith seems so bland in contrast. We are mostly too timid to express to you our own strong feelings, or to offer extravagant oaths of religious loyalty. Grant us boldness, O God: boldness in prayer, in lament, and in allegiance to you, forever.