And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. – Ruth 1:15–18
Sinclair Ferguson writes:
We are … not able to witness with conviction and sincerity to those who ask us about Christ and all that is involved in discipleship when there is little or nothing in our own lives to authenticate what we say to them. But when the LORD restores us and we yield without reservation to Him, we can speak with a clear conscience and assure them:
Fading is he worldling’s pleasure,
All his boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure
Non but Zion’s children know.
[Naomi is now heading back to the people of God]
But what about the girls? It is a turning point for Orpah. Presumably, given the marrying age in those days, she is still only in her mid-twenties – an eligible young woman, with the whole of life before her; still with the maternal instinct to bear children, although she is as yet barren. She considers the alternatives:
Yahweh plus nothing in Bethlehem
or
Everything minus Yahweh in Moab
Orpah makes her decision. She feels more secure with the latter equation and bases her decision on it. She chooses the familiar, the temporal and the visible. Who knows if there is anything more, anyway? She ops for this world’s wisdom, and turns away from the wisdom of God.
It is also a turning point for Ruth. ‘See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law,’ challenges Naomi. But in verses 16-17 Ruth gives her memorable reply:
Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.
MEMORY WORK – Shorter Catechism Q/A 95
Q. 95. To whom is baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible church, till they profess their faith in Christ, and obedience to him; but the infants of such as are members of the visible church are to be baptized.