Path of the Prophets by Barry L. Schwartz

Author:Barry L. Schwartz [Schwartz, Barry L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL040040 Religion / Judaism / Sacred Writings
ISBN: 9780827613843
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 2018-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

9

Ruth’s Vow

The path of kindness

I Am Ruth

as a Moabite woman I never expected to marry an Israelite man. I never expected that he would die not even ten years later. And I never expected that it would be my mother-in-law, Naomi, who would change my life.

In the country of Moab, where we lived, tragedy was never far from Naomi. It struck the first time when she lost her husband, Elimelech. It struck a second time when she lost a son—my husband, Mahlon. It struck a third time when she lost her other son, Chilion, who was married to Orpah.

Because she was left utterly bereft, is it any wonder that Naomi wanted to go home? Moab to her was cursed; it held no future.

Naomi started on the long road back to Judah. Orpah and I accompanied her. We had grown to love our bereaved mother-in-law. We were three widows: a sisterhood of grief.

One day Naomi turned to us and said, “Turn back, each of you, to your mother’s house. May God deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with me. You are young; you will marry again. Find security in the house of a husband.”

Orpah and I broke out weeping. We told Naomi we could not leave her; we all had suffered too much together. But she said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Have I any more sons in my body who might be husbands for you? Turn back, my daughters.”

We kept crying, and Naomi kept talking, her voice, and my heart, breaking. “Turn back, my daughters, for I am too old to be married again. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I were married tonight, and I also bore sons, should you wait for them to grow up? Should you on their account refrain from marrying? Oh no, my daughters. My lot is bitter, far more than yours. You have a future. I do not. Turn back, for the hand of the Lord has struck out against me.”

In tears, Orpah nodded and kissed Naomi farewell. She started down the road. But I clung to Naomi and would not let go.

Naomi said to me, “See, your sister-in-law has returned to her people. Go follow her.”

The vow I made right then came pouring out of my heart. “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried.”

Naomi stood in stunned silence. I too was breathless, my heart thumping in my chest. “Thus and more may the Lord do to me if anything but death parts me from you,” I whispered.

Without another word Naomi took my hand and we went on to Bethlehem.

There in Bethlehem the Lord took notice of us. Naomi told me to glean in the fields of Boaz, a kinsman on her husband’s side.

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