We’re continuing our study of the book of Ruth and choices. The previous post dealt with Elimelech’s intention to relocate his family to Moab during the famine in Judah and the dire consequences of that choice. Now we will explore the choices the women in the family made. Beginning with Naomi and her decision to return to Judah. That was the plan anyway.
Naomi’s decision
After packing up the house and making her way toward Judah, Naomi re-evaluates her plan and realizes her daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, have no future there. They are Moabite women, incestual offspring of Lot and his oldest daughter (Gen 19:35-37). With that kind of history, it’s easy to see why they wouldn’t be the first choice on anyone’s guest list. In addition to their questionable bloodline, Naomi could do nothing to help her widowed daughters-in-law elevate their social status. After all, her husband was dead, this meant she had no financial means of supporting them, and neither could she give them husbands.
At the same time, if anyone understood Noami’s grief, it was these two women. Nothing binds better than shared grief and these three widows were very familiar with it. I can only imagine how this trio of women looked making their way toward the road that led to Judah, wearing the scars of their grief, like clothing.
Although the camaraderie was comforting, Naomi realized the girls could do better without her. She explains it this way: “Things are far bitter for me than for you, because the LORD himself has raised his fist against me.” Ruth 1:13b
Those words give a glimpse of Naomi’s pain. And how powerfully she expresses it makes me wonder if she suggested the move to Moab in the first place. But the scripture doesn’t say, so I’m only speculating.
No doubt letting her daughters-in-law go was a hard decision for Naomi.
Orpah and Ruth’s choice
Now Orpah and Ruth had a choice to make:
- Go back to the familiar and known or
- Follow this empty, broken woman into the unknown
At first, both choose to stay with Naomi until she shares the hopeless future that awaits them if they accompany her.
Orpah see’s the wisdom in Naomi’s reasoning and goes back to Moab. Ruth, on the other hand, refuses to go back.
Ruth’s decision
Her choice defies logic. And the question that puzzles me is why she chose to go with Naomi. The Bible uses stronger words to describe her decision, it says she clung to her mother-in-law. She was obstinate about her decision even if the future looked bleak. No matter how you look at it, Ruth chose poorly.
Against all logic and wisdom, Ruth chooses to go with her mother-in-law to Judah. She abandons the familiar to follow the unknown. Why?
Perhaps it was love. The same kind of love that defied logic and compelled Jesus to die on the cross to save us. Because sometimes it isn’t logic or reason that dictates our choices, sometimes it’s love.
Ironically, it was logic and reason that brought Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Kilion to Moab to escape famine. However, it was love and companionship that brought Naomi and Ruth back to Judah.
Summary
All the women of the family have made their choices.
- Naomi chose to free her daughters-in-law from any obligations they may have felt towards her. She decided to allow them to live their lives free from her shadow.
- Orpah chose to listen to Naomi’s advice. She returns to Moab to pursue a future there.
- Ruth, on the other hand, chose to stay with her mother-in-law.
Traveling back to Judah probably wasn’t an easy journey for Naomi. The last time she was on that road, she was with her husband and boys escaping a famine. Although she’s lost everyone she traveled with when she first walked this road, she isn’t alone.
In Ruth’s decision to stay with her mother-in-law, we see a beautiful example of companionship. We could all use a friend who’s willing to walk through difficult times with us. A friend who doesn’t care about getting messy. A friend who sticks by our side, not because they have to but because they want to. And the best place to find that kind of friend is by looking in the mirror.