The Splendor of Sacrifice

“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you will go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.’ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.” 

Ruth 1:16-18

Many of us can recall past defining moments, moments in which we were at an emotional crossroads. Emotional crossroads provide significant alternatives. And each alternative has a subsequent ripple effect that can either mend a heart, or agonize it. There are numerous emotional crossroads that people face every day. Seeking marital counseling or seeking a divorce. Entertaining a job change or sticking it out in a seemingly unfulfilling environment. Accepting a ministry calling or declining it. Confronting a family member/friend about a relational transgression or allowing the relational burden to continue to afflict without hope of resolution. Such decisions carry a great weight for internally we know that the end result of our wise, or unwise, choices will likely affect the remaining years of our earthly pilgrimage.

Obviously, emotional crossroads contain paths that led to very different directions. And in order to forge ahead a path must be chosen. And it is in this atmosphere that we encounter the biblical text captured in Ruth 1. Ruth, a Moabite, and an outsider to the Jewish community, had experienced the death of her husband. Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, a Hebrew, had experienced the death of her husband too, as well as the death of her two sons, one of whom had been married to Ruth. It would seem that Naomi’s family had made a bold, and perhaps hasty, decision many years prior to leave Israel (Bethlehem specifically) for Moab because of a severe famine. As they learned to acclimate to life in Moab Naomi’s sons determined to marry local women, a practice that was discouraged in the Old Testament because of the vast spiritual divide that existed between the Jewish people and the rest of the world. Realize that ancient eastern civilizations engaged in polytheism, the worship of many false gods. But the Hebrew people recognized there was but one God, Who was the Creator of life, and is the Sustainer of life.      

When Naomi learned that people in Judah were once again beginning to see a positive yield in their agricultural produce she set out to return to her homeland. But she realized the fate of her daughters-in-law was obligated to her because of the commitment two young women had made to her family by marrying her sons. There was an inherent vow that was established and observed in this society, and it was a pledge that was not easily broken. Since Naomi knew her daughters-in-law were not originally of the Jewish faith-set, nor native to Israel, she relinquished them of their promise and informed them they were free to continue to reside in Moab. One daughter-in-law (Orpah) took the offer, but not Ruth. She surveyed the emotional crossroads and devoted her life to her mother-in-law. Naomi’s destiny would be Ruth’s destiny.

Consider the depth of Ruth’s actions and response in Ruth 1:16-17. She was leaving everything she knew behind in order to journey to a foreign land and dwell with a foreign people. Her entire existence rested in Moab. It was where she grew up. It was the only culture and theology she had ever known in her youth. But Ruth was ready to let it all go so that she could provide comfort and encouragement to her mother-in-law. And she was ready and willing to embrace the monotheistic worship of God, a belief system that was completely alien to the Moabites. Even though the family connection to Naomi had practically been severed with the death of Naomi’s son and Ruth’s husband, Ruth still perceived Naomi to be her primary family, and to Ruth families stay together, no matter what. This passage beautifully illustrates the splendor of sacrifice.

Ruth exhibited a sense of allegiance to Naomi, and could not bear to see Naomi live out her remaining years alone. So she chose to go with Naomi. To support her. To serve her. This disposition is rare and precious indeed. Ruth could have sought self-preservation and prosperity in her native country. But she abandoned the road of familiarity and took the unknown path, revealing an exorbitant amount of faith on her part. Such loyalty and selfless acts are truly special and God-honoring, which partially explains the endearing and powerful qualities of this story. May our heart, like Ruth’s, be willing to expose the splendor of sacrifice, no matter where the sacrificial path leads us.