Ruth 1

But Ruth said: "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)

In my opinion, this is one of the most beautiful literary statements ever made. It expresses the deepest form of commitment and love, a willingness to abandon all for the sake of another. I think most people have heard it before in one form or another, even if they have never read the Bible. It is similar to marriage vows, expressing the same concept of “till death do us part”.

The background to this statement is ESSENTIAL in understanding all that Ruth was really saying. We see here in this chapter that Elimelech took his wife Naomi and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion to Moab because of the famine in Israel. They were strangers in a strange land, and there the boys met their wives; Orpah and Ruth. As the years rolled on Elimelech dies, and then Mahlon and Chilion die. Naomi is left with no family in a foreign land. As she takes in all that is going on around her, she decides that it is time to head back to Israel… the only family she has left is back in her land.

Orpah has no problem with this, she will stay with her people in Moab, Naomi can return to Israel. Ruth on the other hand is a different story. She doesn’t want to leave her mother in-law… she LOVES her mother in law. This is when she proclaims this glorious statement of commitment.

Naomi had nothing to offer Ruth but herself… yet Ruth loved her so much she followed here. Jesus has everything to offer us, yet we rarely follow him. These words should provide us with a framework for the kind of commitment the Lord wants from us… To follow Him wherever He goes, to call His people our people, to never leave Him in this life. If He is truly our LORD, we should be more than willing to live this way. Ruth gives us a model for a proper relationship to the Lord… Unconditional commitment.