The book of Ruth is anonymous - we don't know who wrote it, or when it was written, but we do know when the events described took place. The opening verse of Ruth tells us : "In the days when the judges ruled…".

The judges judged in the period after the conquest of Canaan and before the creation of the monarchy under Saul. It was a period of general decline for Israel, as the people repeatedly departed from true worship of the Lord, intermingled and intermarried with the pagan nations around them, and adopted their (lack of) morals and worshipped their idols. Again and again, the people of Israel proved unfaithful to their covenantal commitment to wholeheartedly love and serve the Lord their God, who'd miraculously brought them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

The book of Judges is a sad and story tale - yet it records God persevering to preserve his people, providing deliverers and calling Israel back again and again to faith and service. In the canon of Scripture, the book of Ruth follows immediately on from the book of Judges, and it has been described as "a summer's morning after a night of wild tempest."

The story opens (1) with famine in the land. There is no food, not even in Bethlehem, the "house of bread". Famine was a sign of God's judgment upon Israel because of her sin.

Faced with famine, Elimelech (My G is king), his wife Naomi (pleasant, lovely), and their two sons move to the land of Moab (2). They went to escape hunger, but they meet with death. Elimelech dies leaving Naomi a widow. The two sons marry Moabite women, Orpah & Ruth. 10 yrs go by and then both Naomi's sons die.

Death brings desolation. Naomi is now alone in Moab, without her husband, without her sons. Her time in Moab had resulted only in death and barrenness. The men had died; the women bore no children. In v21, Naomi looks back over the last ten years and says "I went away full - I have returned empty." Everything that is dear to Naomi has been stripped away and her inheritance and legacy is now in doubt.

Naomi hears (6) that the Lord has visited his people by providing food (bread) for them. She turns and heads for home with her two daughters-in-law. Empty & desolate, these three widows head for the newly filled land of promise.

When Naomi returns, she wants to change her name to Mara (bitter). Notice that she doesn't interpret her experiences as the bitter fruit of chance or fate. She lays responsibility squarely at the feet of YHWH (20-21):
The Almighty has made my life v bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me pleasant & lovely? The Lord has afflicted me; the Lord has brought misfortune upon me.

Naomi sees the hand of the Lord behind her suffering and sorrow. She feels she has been severely disciplined by the Lord. She knows she ought to have stayed in Bethlehem and awaited God's deliverance.

Bitterness is the fruit of sin. Our sinful disobedience, our breaking of God's laws, ultimately produces only bitter fruit. Like the fruit in Eden, that so attracted Eve, many things may be pleasing to the eye, many things are desirable, they attract our interest and arouse our desires, but if forbidden, they reap only a bitter harvest, however sweet the initial taste. Then what is pleasant & lovely, what is delightful & beautiful becomes bitter, what is Naomi becomes Mara. Bitterness is characteristic of life as sinful human beings living in a sinful fallen world.

You can try and ignore that fact. You can attempt to insulate yourself from the hard realities of life. You can try and convince yourself that life is not so bad, in the energetic but often elusive pursuit of enjoyment & satisfaction - but ultimately all must realise that because of sin, life leaves a bitter taste.

That's the sober diagnosis of Scripture on life. And sadly, sometimes it takes such awful events as 9/11 to wake us up to the evil of evil. Not because it was worse than any other horrible event in history but because we couldn't ignore it - we all saw the startling images on TV and on the front pages of our newspapers. We witnessed it happening in front of us - the horror came uninvited into our living rooms and into our lives.

But Mara can become Naomi once again. The book of Ruth shows that bitterness can be transformed and delight restored. That's the message of the whole of Scripture - that's the gospel. Paradise lost by Adam becomes paradise restored by JC.

Perhaps, like Naomi, you've run away from the Lord - you've sought refuge in enemy territory, amongst people who do not worship the one true and living God, but who bow down to the idols of our time. Perhaps you thought it would be only a short stay; you intended eventually to return to the Lord, once things got a little easier, but weeks have become months & even years.

Perhaps you're like Naomi - after a long period of absence in a far country, you've decided to turn for home - you're coming home, conscious of the bitterness of life, wanting to find safety & security in the near presence & the sure promises of G. You're longing for the fruitfulness and the fulness of life.

If so, then take comfort in the promises of G, expressed for example, in Psa 71:20:
Though you have made me see troubles, many & bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honour and comfort me once again.

As events unfold in this book of Ruth, we will discover Naomi experiencing restoration and comfort through the loving & gracious actions of a redeemer. That's what gospel offers to all who come to G out of bitter shame and sorrow of sin - restoration & comfort through the loving and gracious actions of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The first step is to turn for home. The theological word for such a turning is repentance. Repentance is double turn - a turning away from sin and a turning towards the Lord.

Turn for home, that your sins may be forgiven (wiped out) and the Lord might come and restore you to wholeness and to fulness of life.

Three widows are on the road from Moab to Bethlehem (6-7) - an older women, Naomi, and two younger women, Naomi's daughters-in-law, Ruth & Orpah. Each woman has lost a husband; Naomi has also lost two sons.

Naomi stops and turns to speak to her daughters-in-law. Verses 8-17 record their conversation.

Naomi urges Orpah and Ruth not to accompany her; they should go back to the home of their own mothers in Moab, and not travel with her to her home in Bethlehem. It's not that Naomi doesn't like them or that they have caused her any offence. Rather, Naomi seeks only what is best for them. She blesses them, saying:
May the LORD show kindness to you as you have shown to yr dead & to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.

Naomi uses the name YHWH (personal, covenantal name for God) - Naomi doesn't commit Orpah and Ruth into the safe care and keeping of their own gods; the gods of the Moabites were not true gods, but idols. She commits them into the hands of the one true and living G, the only God, YHWH, the God of Israel.

Naomi asks the LORD to show kindness to them, just as they've shown kindness to their husbands & to Naomi. The word translated 'kindness' is the Hebrew word hesed - used elsewhere in OT of the faithful love of God for his people; it's a steadfast and loyal love that results from a stated commitment of one person to another; it's a love that endures whatever the cost & whatever the circumstances; it's the redeeming & persevering love God showed towards Israel, it's the redeeming & persevering love God shows towards all Christians.

Naomi asks that the LORD might grant each of them rest. Her hope is that they might find a resting-place, a home. A resting-place is a place where there is respite from trouble & pain; a place of security & comfort.

When both Orpah and Ruth refuse to leave her, Naomi asks them to count the cost of following her to Bethlehem. She doesn't want them making a hasty and a foolish choice; she wants them to choose wisely and carefully; not to be swayed by their emotions. She wants them to use their heads and not just their hearts.

"Return home" she says. Why come with me? Think about it for a moment. What have I to offer you - your only hope for the future is re-marriage. Turn back! Go home! I'm not going to have any more sons - I'm too old to have another husband - even if I did & I conceived tonight, you're not going to wait until they grow up. No - its foolish to come with me - your prospects are better at home in Moab - Go home! Don't stay with me - the LORD has afflicted me. I'm the one who has brought this trouble upon you - don't stay with me - you don't have to share in my bitterness. Turn back! Go home! I can't offer you happiness - I seem to bring only bitterness. Don't follow me! Leave me! Turn back! Go home!

Orpah kisses Naomi goodbye and returns to her people & her gods (15). Ruth clings to Naomi. For the first time, their choices now distinguish them.

The word 'clings' is the same word translated 'cleave' in Gen 2:24:
For this reason a man shall leave his father & his mother and shall cleave (be joined to) his wife & they shall become one flesh.

Its a word that expresses a covenantal commitment - the response that fulfils a promise of faithfulness. It's the word that describes what G wanted people of Israel to do to Him. He wanted them to cling to Him. In Deuteronomy, the people of Israel are encouraged & urged to cling to the LORD - to hold fast to his laws; to love Him & Him alone.

Sometimes see children physically clinging to a favourite toy, a comfort blanket, or a parent. Even as adults, we cling to the things that we love. Ruth clings to Naomi. What she shows by her actions is subsequently expressed by her words in v16-17.

Don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you she says.
Where you go - I will go; Where you stay - I will stay
Yr people will be my people, and yr God my G
Where you die I will die and there I will be buried
May the LORD (YHWH) deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.

Ruth's words are a wonderful & a memorable declaration of love & loyalty towards another - that's why they are often read at weddings. This is a classic & a beautiful affirmation of faithfulness, an eloquent & an impassioned expression of devotion.

Ruth verbalises a commitment to Naomi that encompasses every living action & extends to the end of life. This is a whole-hearted, whole-life commitment - which is of course what marriage ought to be - to love one another until death us do part.
Ruth's commitment is for the totality of life - whether Naomi is going or staying, Ruth will go or stay with her: Where you go - I will go; Where you stay - I will stay.

Ruth renounces the ties of birth - her commitment to Naomi transcends the ties of race or religion; Your people will be my people & your G my G.

Her commitment will be even unto death - Where you die I will die & there I will be buried. Ruth will never leave nor forsake Naomi. Even death will not separate them.

What Ruth is promising is hesed - 'kindness' seems much too weak a translation - Ruth pledges an unfailing love, a steadfast love that will never fail.

This declaration of Ruth marks her conversion. She says that YHWH, Naomi's God, is now her God (16). Ruth makes a personal commitment to follow YHWH, the one true & living G:
¢ She leaves behind her lifeless idols & commits herself to the living God.
¢ She expresses her commitment to the people of God; she leaves behind her father & mother & her friends in Moab.
¢ She commits herself to YHWH & his people whatever the cost & whatever the circumstances, even unto death.
¢ She makes her solemn vow before God.

Becoming a Christian is to commit oneself wholeheartedly to the living God & to become part of the community of his people, the church. It requires the same kind of whole-hearted, whole-life commitment that Ruth gives to Naomi. A commitment to love & be loyal to the Lord whatever the cost, whatever the circumstances; a commitment that even death will not sever. God wants us to cling to him - to hold fast to Him & to no others.

But before you do that, you must first count the cost of such commitment. Becoming a Christian involves a leaving as well as a cleaving - just as in human marriage, when mother & father left & bride joins herself to her husband, so also a Christian must leave behind his/her previous life & its closest ties to follow Jesus Christ.

Perhaps you stand at a crossroads in your life - a time has now come when you need to decide are you going to commit yourself to follow Jesus through thick & thin - whatever the cost, whatever the circumstances. Will you be like Ruth or Orpah? Will you go on with the Lord, or will you turn & go back?

To whom or to what are you clinging? Cling to Christ - love him with all your heart, seek to serve him with all your strength, seek to follow him with all your will.

This pledge that Ruth gives to Naomi is the pledge that God gives to those he loves & he keeps it. We may not fully & faithfully keep the promises of commitment we make, but God keeps every promise he makes. God pledges his hesed to those that he loves - His loving-kindness, His faithful commitment, His steadfast love.

Time & again thro pages of Bible from Genesis to Revelation we read of God's covenantal commitment - His declaration of faithful love: I will be your God & you will be my people. Do you hear the echo of the words Ruth uses?

God promises to cling to those He loves. His is an embrace that cannot be broken.

John 10 J said "I am the good shepherd. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand."

Heb 13:5 G has said "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you"

God promises never to leave us - never to forsake us - to cling to us - nothing shall break his hold. Draw comfort & strength from the faithfulness of God - he pledges his steadfast love to all those who turn to him in repentance & faith & who follow him.

Is he your God? Are you one of his people?