What is the significance of Ruth telling Naomi, "Wherever you go, I will go" (Ruth 1:16)?

“Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee!” (vv. 16-17). To accompany Naomi, to walk with her, live with her, and die with her who was the only possible link with God and His people for Ruth: this was the longing of this woman of faith. But her thoughts go farther than simple association with Israel; she identifies herself with the people, whatever their state might be, in order to belong to the God of Israel, the true God who does not change: “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Having turned her back on Moab and its idols, she now belongs to a new cause with which she identifies, excluding every possibility of separation. Only death can break such bonds. Here we see how God and faith meet, understand one another, and unite together. How clearly this account leads us to understand that faith is the only means of bringing sinful man into relationship with God! Just as Ruth clung to Naomi, so faith clings to the Mediator, the object of God's counsels, who alone can give an assured relationship with the true God and an unshakable position before Him.

Ruth, on the other hand, represents that remnant of the nation, which will hold fast to the promises of God, in a dim and cloudy way at first, without claiming aught as a right, but distinctly in faith laying hold upon God. This is seen in her answer to Naomi. It is not mere nature, but faith in the living God that speaks in her reply: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee." This was in answer to Naomi's desire, that she should return to her people and her gods. It was thus real faith which made use of the covenant name Jehovah, which expressed itself in Ruth's reply — a faith which had stood the test of having no attraction for nature offered to it.

Moreover her faith is equal to her affection. In the energy of faith she overcomes the attraction of the land of her birth, the home of her mother, her people, and her gods. She accepts the pilgrim path, for she says, "Whither thou goest, I will go." She embraces the lot of a stranger, for she says, "Where thou lodgest, I will lodge." She identifies herself with the people of God, "Thy people shall be my people." Above all she puts her trust in the true God, for, she not only says, "Thy people shall be my people," but she adds, "Thy God my God." Death itself cannot turn her back, for she can say, "Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried." In life, and in death, she wholly identifies herself with Naomi, and henceforth claims Naomi's people as her people, and Naomi's God as her God. And all this at a moment when, for sight, she had nothing before her but an old broken-down woman; for as one has said, she casts in her lot "with Naomi in the hour of her widowhood, her strangership and her poverty."

To the prudent man of the world Ruth's choice looks very foolish. To leave the ease of Moab, the comforts of home, and the land of her birth, and take a wilderness journey of which she knows nothing, to a land that she has never seen, in company with a poverty stricken widow, looks indeed the very height of folly. This however, is only the beginning of the story, the end is not yet. It doth not yet appear what she shall be. Faith may take its first step in circumstances of poverty and weakness, but in the end faith will be justified, and have its bright reward, in circumstances of power and glory. At the beginning of the story Ruth is whole-heartedly identified with an aged and desolate widow; in the end she is displayed as the bride of the mighty and wealthy Boaz; and yet more, her name is handed down to all generations enshrined in the genealogy of the Lord.

The days of the judges, to which times the book of Ruth relates, were difficult days, marked by constant failure on the part of God's people. Elimelech and his wife Naomi, discontented with the condition of things in the land, went down to Moab. Discontent and weakness amongst the people of God results from lack of appreciation of God's purpose and of what is centred in Christ; and when these things cease to attract the heart there is always a movement towards the apparent advantage of man's world. The result of every such movement is disappointment, sorrow and death. In such circumstances Ruth shines. She was by birth a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, but in her affection for Naomi she says, "Thy people shall be my people." There was nothing outwardly attractive in those people, but evidently her heart had been won in some way by Naomi and she "clave unto her." Again the opportunity to return is presented, but "she was steadfastly minded to go with her," and her committal is perhaps more remarkable and more far-reaching than any other. Her name means "friendship," and she is minded to be friendly with the people of God. She is prepared to cast in her whole life with God's people, and to be completely committed to the sphere where God's inheritance was to be found. The words she used are worthy of careful notice, "And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me," (Ruth 1:16-17).

It was to Naomi in her sorrow that Ruth clung, and for the love of her who had passed through "Mara" she said: "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." Ruth 1:16-17.

When she made this memorable decision she knew nothing of Boaz, type of Christ in His present position of power, nor of the place of favour and exaltation that awaited her. The love of Naomi controlled her and she was satisfied, be it noted, not to dwell and to live, but to "lodge" and to "die" with Naomi. She embraced the path of strangership for the compensation that she found in the pleasantness of Naomi's company.

(2) This is what we have in the next sub-section. Naomi, hopeless as to herself, yet drawn by her affections, sets her face to return to Bethlehem from the country of Moab. But she is unbelieving and bitter of soul, and manifests that strange self-contradiction which, in such states, is so common an experience. Herself on her way back to the land of which she had heard that Jehovah had visited His people to give them bread, she sees nothing for her daughters-in-law but that they must return to their people and to their gods, and prays Jehovah to give them rest, each in the house of a heathen husband! This is the confusion of a darkened soul; for in darkness all is confusion. All that she is clear about is the ruin in which she is, and she can give counsel of nothing but her despair. Orpah, after a faint resistance, goes back; but with Ruth neither precept nor example can avail to turn her heart from the pursuit of what appeals to her with a power above all difficulties. It is truly with the heart that man believeth; and how manifest is the heart in that touching devotion of her's! "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God."

This is not the language of natural affection simply: that stops short of this last. And where this can be said, though it may come in in a subsidiary way, yet it cannot be a secondary thing. The faith of Ruth is, indeed, a beautiful thing to contemplate; and a striking proof of how that which God has planted can flourish in the midst of contrary circumstances and oppositions of all kinds. How little does Naomi here commend her God of whom Ruth speaks! The famine in Bethlehem, mocking it as the "house of bread"; the withdrawal of Elimelech, denying what his name expressed; his death; the Moabitish marriages, one of them her own; then the quick widowhoods; now the mother-in-law's appeal to go back, as Orpah had gone back, to her people and her gods: this is all we know of her surroundings, but which of them is favorable to faith? Ah, it is God that favors it and upholds it; and all the opposition only rouses it into a passion of longing and resolve. There might be little encouragement: was there not all the more a deep and deepening necessity, which found only in Israel's God the possibility of satisfaction, if not yet the satisfaction itself? Could such longing go without satisfaction, or could He who alone could meet it be a dream, or afar off from the need created?

Considering in the light of Ruth's subsequent history her resolute determination to accompany her mother-in-law, it seems certain that her conscience and heart must have been deeply exercised by something of the truth of God which she had seen and heard and believed to be true. Inward anxiety and unrest were now constraining her to forsake her idols and seek the favour of Jehovah, the living God of Israel. But she feared lest Naomi's repeated dissuasions might turn her from her purpose. Accordingly, Ruth's fervent outburst of devotion and determination came swiftly in reply.

"And Ruth said, 'Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from following after, thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried.'" This emphatic declaration she confirmed by a solemn oath — "Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part me and thee." The piety, resolution, and enthusiasm of this speech convinced Naomi of the integrity and determination of Ruth. "And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her. And they two went until they came to Bethlehem" (Ruth 1:16-19).

By her outspoken and uncompromising decision to accompany Naomi (Ruth 1:16-17), Ruth showed what was working deep down in her heart. She believed that Jehovah was God in Israel, and with her mouth she openly confessed that Naomi's God was her God, thus fulfilling the two conditions of the righteousness of faith, concerning which Paul speaks in Rom. 10:9-10.

Ruth's intense devotion to Naomi arose not only because she was the mother of Mahlon, her deceased husband, but because she was a representative of that people redeemed by Jehovah out of Egypt and established by Him in the land of Canaan. Accordingly, she boldly declared that henceforward neither in life nor in death would she be separated from Naomi and Naomi's God. "Whither thou goest I will go .… where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried," said the young widow.

By this surrender of her kindred and nation, Ruth displayed the faith in her heart. She showed the genuineness of her faith by her works, as each believer is expected to do (James 2:17-18). Her choice of the unknown road to Bethlehem, against the advice of Naomi, proved that her faith was like the uncompromising faith of Abraham, "the father of all them that believe," who at the call of God "went out, not knowing where he was going" (Rom. 4:11; Heb. 11:8). Happy was it for Ruth that she fixed her eyes upon "things not seen as yet" by her in the land of Israel, the dwelling-place of Jehovah. Otherwise, the "things seen" might reasonably have deterred a thoughtful woman like Ruth from renouncing her people, and her religion. Doubts and difficulties might easily have arisen to hinder her. How could Canaan be called Jehovah's land when so many of the aboriginal inhabitants continued to dwell there (Judges 1)? Had not the Israelites forsaken Jehovah to serve the gods of the Canaanites (Judges 2:11-13)? Did not Eglon, the king of her own land of Moab, rule over the children of Israel recently for eighteen years (Judges 3:14)? And had not the very woman she was about to follow to Bethlehem fled from that so-called "house of bread," not believing that Jehovah could or would feed her family in a famine?

Then she says, ".....and where thou lodgest, I will lodge"; she says in effect, 'I am going to share what you have; whatever you have, I am willing to share it, I will be there.' And we find as the story unfolds, not only does she lodge with Naomi, but she contributed to the well-being of the household. She gathered in the food, she prepared it, she provided it for her mother-in-law, and Boaz came to understand something of this and he commended her for it, he commended her kindness, and her care, and her love for her mother-in-law. It is a good thing when young Christians talk like this in relation to those who are older in the faith, 'Yes, we want to follow those people, we can see that they are following the Bible, they are obeying it, they are not simply following the dictates of their own mind, they are trying to live out what the Bible says, yes, we want to be with them, we want to share what they have, they have something good, and we want to share in it, also, if we can, we will contribute to it.' Well, these are excellent exercises for young and old alike.

Then she said, ".....thy people shall be my people"; what a decision this is. She refuses the people of Moab and their gods, and their opposition to God, and she says, 'I want to be with the nation of Israel, I want to be with them.' I believe that Naomi would quietly talk over the wonderful things that God had done for the nation of Israel right from the time of their sojourn in Egypt, their journey through the Red Sea and through the river Jordan, the mighty victories that He secured by the judges He raised up, and also some of the prospects of Israel so glowingly portrayed by God in various pronouncements to His servants. All this, I believe, Naomi would have made known to Ruth.

Now said Ruth, 'I want to be connected with this kind of people; people following after God, who have experienced the help of God, who obviously joy in the things of God, I want to be connected with this people. It means refusing my people, I cannot have a share with the people of Moab and a share with the people of Israel at the same time, I must make a clean cut and be finished with Moab and her idols.' That is a very solemn thing, a very solemn step to take. That was her decision. If you like, she was 'burning her boats', there were no half measures. I can assure you dear friends, there is no joy in the Christian life with one foot in the world and the other in the Christian company; it just will not work, there is a pathway of separation that has to be followed. Do not think separation is an ugly word, it is a privileged word, it is a privilege to be clear of the vile and wicked, evil things that are in this world. It is a privilege to be away from that kind of thing, and at the other end of the spectrum, all that man boasts of in his culture and in his attainments, to be free from it all and to have a desire to be found with the people of God walking in humility and obedience. So she gave up her people, but she found a better people in the nation of Israel.

Then she said, (and I believe this is the real kernel of her decision, this is the real heart and centre of it), ".....and thy God [shall be] my God". The gods of Moab, I believe, were many, the God of Israel was one; but that one God was the true God. How like the Thessalonians Ruth was, "they turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven" (1 Thess.1:9-10). They made a complete cut. We were reminded this afternoon about the solemn statement in 1 John 5:21, "Children, keep yourselves from idols". The principle of idolatry is an affront to God, it is an affront to His majesty, it is an opposition to His affections, and He wants His people all for Himself; and Ruth says, ".....and thy God [shall be] my God". She made this definite decision, she was cutting herself of from all the gods of Moab, and finding her joy and centre in the one true God.

Finally she said, "Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death part thee and me." I believe, in simple words, she said, 'I am going to go right on to the end. There is no giving up, no turning back; I have made my decision, I have cast in my lot with you, your people and your God, and I am determined to go on.' There are tremendous pressures against the people of God today. Oh, what a great decision this is for each one of us, to say in spite of all that is against us and all that we feel, 'We are going to keep going on, and we are going to work and pray and have our desires centred in the one great God'. Now I know that some of the pressures are very great, and thank God we have a High Priest above who knows every one of them (Hebrews 4:14-5:10). He has been through it all; as a Man down here He has tasted the bitterness of opposition, He has tasted the sorrows of the Christian pathway, He knows it all, and because He knows it all, He is competent to know and encourage those who are passing through the same circumstances. He does not guarantee to remove them but He gives strength and courage and help that they might be borne, and that a testimony might be rendered to His God. How thankful we are for the priestly grace and help of our High Priest.

Let us, before passing on, glance again at verse 14, where we read that in contrast with the departure of Orpah, Ruth "clave to her (Naomi)." The word, "clave," denotes Ruth's complete self-surrender in love and loyalty to her new calling. She was yielding herself wholeheartedly and unreservedly to share not merely the temporal fortunes of her mother-in-law, but the worship of Jehovah in the land of His chosen people.