Devotional

Ruth 1.15 So [Naomi] said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
17 Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the LORD do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”
18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

The story of Ruth is one of my favorites and I am currently doing research on the Targum of Ruth for my next book project. It is a fantastic little work with an engaging story line and some fascinating potential contexts. Read it against Ezra’s call for the men to divorce their “foreign” wives, for example, and the Book of Ruth becomes a challenge to the new establishment. In any ancient context, it is a surprising story of a woman’s allegiance to her mother-in-law even as she was consider an outsider with limited rights. As a Moabite woman, as the text constantly reminds us, Ruth was not simply a ger גר, a “stranger,” she was a despised enemy of Israel. And yet in this book she is the one who saves Naomi from herself, gives Boaz life and hope, and is the foundation of David’s dynasty. And it begins with her declaration that she will follow Naomi matter what.

Now I will be the first to say that reading the Hebrew Bible like Pilgrim’s Progress is inappropriate and that we must understand, as best we can, the stories in their own historical, social, and religious context. But as Barry Bandstra notes,

The story of Ruth is one of those rare Hebrew stories that on its most basic level was intended to be paradigmatic.

We are supposed to view the key figures as exemplars whom we are to emulate. There is much debate about whether or not Ruth 1:15-17 is a conversion or not. Is Ruth making a willful decision to follow YHWH, as her oath in v. 17 might imply, or is she simply assuring Naomi that she will remain with her and adopt Israel’s customs and practices?

I am not sure that it is possible to answer that question. In its historical context, would there be a difference? It seems unlikely to me that the notion of conversion, at least in the sense that becomes common place in the late second Temple period, involving doctrinal debates and intellectual persuasion, was operational either in the period of the Judges or the early Persian period. If Ruth was going to follow Naomi, to live with her in Judah, then she would have been expected to take on their customs and practices. If nothing else, this is a story of loyalty.

In spite of the lack of certainty, or perhaps because of it, I believe there is an important lesson within this passage, that of loyalty and steadfastness even if we are not certain of what lies ahead. I think this is as true in our so-called faith commitments as it is for the physical moves that Ruth’s migration from Moab to Judah represents. When we make our own decision to follow Christ we do not know all that lies ahead. We know that we will dies (odds are good on that) but what lies between now and then is unknown to us.

For Ruth, all she knew was that she would be with Naomi and that there would, in all likelihood, be many who despised her, but for her part she would simply stay by Naomi’s side. “Where you go, I will go.” So simple and profound a statement that James Avery has made a mint on it. Nonetheless the allegory is true for us as Christians today. Wherever we go God is with us. The question is are we willing to commit as Ruth did to go wherever God will take us?

 

4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—
“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him;
6 for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”
7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline? (Heb. 12:4-7, citing Prov. 3:11-12)

In many ways this is a very challenging passage. It would be very easy and simplistic to read this as saying that all suffering comes from God and is intended as discipline, as a chastisement to make us better and stronger. I don’t think we should confuse the “trials” described in this passage with the kind of unmerited suffering that is leads to so many to question the very existence of God. I don’t think so, but I could be wrong. It is a very difficult passage.

Instead we must consider this language in its context and intent the author seeks to encourage his audience. He has previously chided them for not yet being able to move beyond basic teaching (Heb. 6) and he is now trying to reassure them that even though they may struggle in some ways this is merely evidence of God’s existence and care for his people. Their struggles do not yet seem to be dire since, he points out, has not even led to their physical suffering (“you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood”). He then uses the analogy of a parent disciplining a child in order to place their hardships within a proper context of God caring for them, as opposed to the implied erroneous conclusion, that God has abandoned them.

But notice the how the author frames their hardship. It is a “struggle against sin.” The trials then are evidence of God’s support of them as they seek to live a holy life.

When I was in college and part of a fellowship I had a friend who was fond of saying that if we were struggling we must have been doing something right, since otherwise why would Satan be attacking us? Of passage like this (not to mention Job) places such struggles in a different context. It could be that if we are struggling it is because we are doing something wrong and God is trying to help us to learn from these errors and to grow in our faith.

This is the challenge of discernment. How do we know when a hardship we are enduring is the result of God’s disciplining us, Satan trying to impede us, or simply the result that we live in a very fallen and broken world? We cannot simply throw up our hands and say, “I don’t know!” The practice of discernment requires our engagement, our deep and prayerful reflection on our life and God’s word. It is only through this sort of engagement with God and ourselves that we can hope to understand what is happening in our lives and why. If we live such a reflective life then even when we do face the deep tragedies that are unmerited and unbidden can be redeemed.

11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:11)