Discover The Word

“Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17).

IDEA: Conversion leads through life into death.

PURPOSE: To help listeners recognize that commitment to Christ is for life and death.

When you got married, were there any of the marriage vows that troubled you (like “until death does us part”)?

That represents a major commitment to someone, doesn’t it?

Is it realistic to promise that?

I. Ruth made a great commitment to Naomi, her mother-in-law, and to Naomi’s God (Ruth 1:16-17):

“Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.”

Ruth willingly abandoned her family, her familiar surroundings, her gods – all that would have made her feel somewhat secure – and she chose Naomi’s family, Naomi’s country, and Naomi’s God.

It was a commitment that Naomi didn’t want her to make and her sister-in-law chose not to make.

Ruth may not have risked too much if this were all there were to her vow. Given life’s length at the time, how long might this commitment to Naomi have to last?

II. Ruth made a commitment that actually went beyond “till death do us part.”

Verse 17 made this a lifelong commitment:

She renounced burial with her family in Moab. She promised to be buried wherever Naomi died (this is emphatic in the Hebrew text): There I will be buried.

This probably referred to Naomi’s family plot, not simply in the same town.

Ruth is affirming that Naomi’s “people” were hers forever. In death she would sleep with them and not with her Moabite ancestors.

Ruth confirmed the deadly seriousness of her intentions by swearing an oath in Yahweh’s name: “Thus may Yahweh do to me and more so.”

This was usually accompanied by a symbolic gesture (like the modern gesture of drawing one’s finger across the throat).

She clearly implies that Jehovah and not the Moabite god, Chemosh, is now her God.

She sealed off all exits with this oath: “no turning back.”

She made this commitment in spite of Naomi’s less-than-inviting representation of “Yahweh” (Ruth 1:13).

Conclusion:

The reader is left to wonder whether Ruth’s experience will end up like Naomi’s.

Great commitments need to be made thoughtfully, deliberately, and in the fear of the Lord.