Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried (Ruth 1:17)

4 min readDec 7, 2024

Commentary on Ruth chapter 1:

There is no need to come back to the historical framework of the book well described in the introduction. The situation was particularly dramatic for these three women, Naomi, Ruth and Orpah. While Naomi took the decision to return to Bethlehem Ephratha in Judah, Ruth and Orpah decided to go with her. There is no doubt that so much Ruth, and Orpah, loved Naomi. While Naomi, had decided to leave, these two young women could, from the beginning, tell her to leave alone, by remaining in their country of Moab in order to remarry.

During the return to the country, maybe at the beginning of the trip, Naomi had to be very embarrassed by the situation. Indeed, she thought of the future of these two young women and in the fact that they accompanied her in her dramatic situation. Here is what she said to them: “Naomi said to both of her daughters-in-law: “Go, return, each of you to your mother’s home. May Jehovah show loyal love to you, just as you have shown it to the men who have died and to me. May Jehovah grant that each of you finds security in the home of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept loudly” (verses 8 and 9). Naomi asked Ruth and Orpah to stop accompanying her, adding a blessing for those two young women. At first, they categorically refused: “Then she kissed them, and they wept loudly. They kept saying to her: “No, but we will go with you to your people”” (verse 10). There is no doubt that the three women were all very sincere. Naomi did not want to inflict a sad future on them by her side, as a widow without children and without the possibility of having offspring.

This is why in all sincerity and perhaps with a greater insistence and more firmness, with arguments showing that her situation was desperate, she repeated them to leave and let her to return alone to the country: “But Naomi said: “Return, my daughters. Why should you go with me? Can I still give birth to sons who could become your husbands? Return, my daughters. Go, for I have grown too old to marry. Even if I could hope to find a husband tonight and could also bear sons, would you keep waiting for them until they could grow up? Would you refrain from getting remarried for their sakes? No, my daughters, I feel very bitter for you, because the hand of Jehovah has turned against me”” (verses 11–13).

Naomi sincerely thought in the future of these two young women who still had a whole life in front of them. She did not want to spoil their future with a sad life by her side. Finally, Orpah took into account the arguments of Naomi, she went back to the country of Moab (verse 14). But Ruth insisted stubbornly to stay with Naomi by agreeing to assume all the unfavorable circumstances of her decision to accompany her: “So Naomi said: “Look! Your widowed sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Return with your sister-in-law”” (verse 15). Naomi insisted a third time maybe by suggesting her to be “reasonable” and to do like her sister-in-law, returning to the country with its culture and traditional god. However, Ruth persisted in her decision to stay with her mother-in-law: “But Ruth said: “Do not plead with me to abandon you, to turn back from accompanying you; for where you go I will go, and where you spend the night, I will spend the night. Your people will be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May Jehovah do so to me and add to it if anything but death should separate me from you”” (verses 16,17). In verse 18, it is written that Ruth persisted.

It is a very good example of loyalty in the tribulations of life… Ruth illustrated in a beautiful way that faithful attitude is visible not when things are fine, but rather when everything seems to be going wrong… Ruth remained faithfully alongside Naomi, the elderly widow who did not seem to have a happy future ahead of her… Jesus Christ said that the true love was visible in the unfavorable circumstances of life (Matthew 5:43–48). The continuation of the narrative seems to indicate that Elimelech, the deceased husband of Naomi, was a man well known in Bethlehem in Judah, to the point that when Naomi, his widow, returned, it is written that “the whole city became stirred up over them” (verse 19).

Why did God allow suffering and wickedness?

To read the whole article of “Why did God allow suffering and wickedness?”, please choose your preferred language, below:

English: http://www.yomelyah.com/435935499

French: http://www.yomelijah.com/435880452

Spanish: http://www.yomeliah.com/436031438

Portuguese: http://www.yomelias.com/436040683

Russian: http://www.yomelyah.com/436819936

Chinese : http://www.yomelyah.com/437854651

Hindi: http://www.yomelyah.com/438570076

Indonesian: http://www.yomelyah.com/449036039

AFRICAN LANGUAGES http://www.yomelijah.com/449360157

ASIATIC LANGUAGES http://www.yomelyah.com/437854651