A Call To Communityনমুনা

Ruth: Committing to Community 

As her sister-in-law faded from view, Ruth watched what remained of her life in Moab disappear. Widowed and poor, with a mother-in-law she’d pledged to care for, how would she fare as a stranger in Israel? 

Ruth and Orpah were Moabite women who married into an Israelite family that had moved to their land because of famine in Bethlehem. Their mother-in-law, Naomi, had already lost her husband but had stayed in Moab because she still had her sons. Then they both died. Naomi, Ruth and Orpah were widows with no one to provide for them. 

Naomi heard that God had blessed his people in Judah with good crops again, so she and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. But on the way, Naomi stopped. 

She told Ruth and Orpah to go back to their mothers’ homes, so that God might bless them with new marriages. After all, she had no more sons for them to marry. Weeping, Orpah left. 

But Ruth was determined to stay: “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1:16-17). 

So Ruth bravely went with Naomi. She left her homeland, her family and all that she’d known to faithfully love and serve not only her mother-in-law, but the God of her husband as well. 

Ruth not only stepped out in faith by going with Naomi to Bethlehem, but she also submitted herself to Jewish custom—she listened to Naomi and sought out Boaz as a husband to redeem the family land. (Read the book of Ruth for the full story.) 

God blessed Ruth for her faithfulness. Not only did she marry Boaz, but she also became the mother of Obed, who was the father of Jesse, the father of King David—one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ himself. Ruth is one of five women mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy, and her faithful obedience has been recorded in the Bible for all history. She’s one of only two women in the whole Bible who have a book named after her! And it all started because she embraced the new family, community and life that God gave her. 

Points to Ponder:

•  Are there any ways that God might be calling you to step out of the culture you live in to follow him more closely? What might it look like to answer that call with wholehearted abandon?  
•  Ask God to reveal someone who you can support and love as they go through a difficult time.

You don’t have to travel to learn about other cultures! Read “Explore the World from Your Couch” at wycliffe.org/community/explore-the-world-from-your-couch.