Ruth
Introduction
In this story, Naomi, an Israelite woman, moved with her husband and 2 sons to the country of Moab. The people of Moab were called Moabites but they were not good friends with the people of Israel. Then Naomi's 2 sons both married Moabite women, and this was against God's law. The people of Israel were supposed to marry people from Israel, not people from other nations.
When both Naomi's husband and her sons died, Naomi made up her mind to leave Moab and go back to Israel. One of Naomi's daughters-in-law, Ruth, wanted to go back to Israel with Naomi. And Ruth wanted to leave her Moabite gods and follow Naomi's God, the God of Israel.
In those days, widows had no way to get food for themselves. So Ruth looked after Naomi by getting food for her. Ruth did this by going to a paddock where food seeds were being grown. When the seeds on the grass plants were ready to be picked, the workers cut the grass and tied them up. God's law said that when people did this, they had to leave any seeds that had dropped on the ground. They were not allowed to pick them up. Those seeds that were on the ground were for strangers or people that didn't have much money.
The paddock where Ruth picked up seeds belonged to a man named Boaz. Boaz was a close relation of Naomi's husband who had died. And part of the Hebrew culture was that when a married man died, a close relation was meant to marry the widow. That way the woman was looked after and the children from that marriage would carry on the family line.
Ruth, the woman from Moab, was the great-grandmother of King David. And so she is in Jesus' family line.
The story of Ruth teaches us about God's kindness, and how he cares for people that are having a hard time.
1
Elim-elek (Elimelech) and Naomi left their homeland and went to a country called Mo-ab
1-2 This story comes from a long time ago when the leader for the Israelite people was called a Judge.
There was a man named Elim-elek who was from the Ef-rath (Ephrath) clan. And he lived in the town of Bethlehem in the country that belonged to the tribe of Judah.
Elim-elek was married to Naomi and they had 2 sons, Mah-lon and Kill-e-on (Kilion).
There came a time when there was not much food growing in the country of Israel, and all the people were really hungry. So Elim-elek took his wife and his 2 sons to live for a while in a country called Mo-ab.
3 Some time later, Elim-elek died and Naomi was left all alone with her 2 sons. 4 Those 2 young men married women from Mo-ab. One woman's name was Or-pah and the other woman's name was Ruth.
They all lived together in Mo-ab for about another 10 years, 5 but then both Mah-lon and Kill-e-on died. And so Naomi was all alone. She had lost her husband and now she had lost her 2 sons.
Naomi went back to Bethlehem
6 Later on, someone told Naomi that the Lord had helped his people in Israel and had given them food. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Mo-ab and go back to Bethlehem. 7 Naomi, Or-pah and Ruth left their home in Mo-ab, and they started to walk along the track that went back to the land of Judah in Israel. 8 Then Naomi stopped and said to her daughters-in-law, “I want you to go back and stay with your mothers. I will pray and ask the Lord to be kind to you, just like you have been kind to me and my 2 sons. 9 I will ask the Lord to give each of you a new husband to look after you and to keep you safe.” Then Naomi kissed them and said goodbye to them, and they all started to cry out loud.
10 Both the young women said, “No, we don't want to do that, we want to go with you and live with you and your people.”
11 But Naomi said, “Why do you want to come with me? I cannot have more sons so that you can marry them. No, go home my daughters. 12 Go back to your families. I might get married today and have 2 more sons straight away, but I am too old for that to happen. And even if I can have 2 more sons straight away, 13 you cannot wait for them to grow up. No, you cannot wait that long to have a husband. I think the Lord has turned against me. I am too sad and angry, and I don't want you to feel like that too!”
14 They all cried out loud again. Then Or-pah kissed her mother-in-law to say goodbye and she started to walk back to her family in Mo-ab. But Ruth grabbed Naomi and held onto her.
15 Naomi said to her, “Ruth, Or-pah is going back to her people and to her gods. I want you to go with her.”
Ruth made a strong promise to Naomi
16 But Ruth said, “Don't force me to leave you, and don't stop me from following you. This is my strong promise to you. Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live there too. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. 17 Where you die, I will die there too. Where you are buried, I want to be buried in the same place. If I leave you before I die, then I ask the Lord to really punish me.”
18 When Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind to go with her, she stopped talking. 19 Then they walked together until they got to Bethlehem and everyone in the town was very excited to see them. All the women said, “Is that really you Naomi?”
20 But Naomi said, “Do not call me Naomi. That name means that I am happy, but I am not happy. Call me Mara. That name means that I am not happy, I am like food that has gone sour. God All Powerful has made my life very hard. 21 I left this country a happy person, but now the Lord has made me come back here and I have nothing. The Lord All Powerful has sent me too much trouble, so do not call me Naomi!”
22 That is how Naomi and Ruth, her daughter-in-law from Mo-ab, came home to Bethlehem.
They got there when the people in that country started to go out to their paddocks to cut all the long barley grass. The people grew that barley grass to make food from the seeds.