1:14,15
The two daughter-in-laws are distraught, having now been faced with the full reality of the situation. Up until this point they had perhaps been consoling themselves that somehow they could carry on as they were, but now it was made abundantly clear to them that this was not the case. They reacted in very different ways. Orpah decided to go back to her own people. Sometimes she is criticised for this, but we should note that the Bible makes no adverse comment about her decision. Naomi certainly does not seek to condemn her, indeed she urges Ruth to do the same.
1:16,17
Ruth, however, refuses to follow her mother-in-law’s urgings. Instead she declares “Where you go I will go, where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God”. She makes as full a commitment as possible to Naomi. Why did she do this? Surely she must have seen something good in Naomi. And bear in mind that Naomi had been going through a very difficult time, losing her husband and her two sons. Yet Ruth saw something in Naomi that made her willing to change her whole direction of life. This is how God’s people are meant to operate, leading/attracting people to Christ through the examples of their lives. This was how God’s nation Israel was meant to live, being a beacon of light to the other nations. We know that she failed miserably as a nation, but not all of them failed.
No comments:
Post a Comment