“Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that she was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.” (Ruth, ch. 1, v. 17-18, the bold text is ours)
The story of Ruth the Moabite is often cited as an example of humility and submission. Young Ruth loses her husband early and remains a widow, having not borne a child from him. Her mother-in-law Naomi has two sons and two daughters-in-law, who also become widows because their husbands die without leaving descendants to continue the family line. When Naomi, having lost her husband, sons, and property, decides to return from Moab to her own land, Judea, her daughters-in-law start the journey with her. However, at a certain point, Naomi turns to them and asks them to return to their homeland. She does not want them to suffer further; instead, she wishes for them to find men to marry and who will take care of them.
One of Naomi's daughters-in-law bids her farewell with tear-filled eyes. However, the other daughter-in-law, Ruth, does not accept the proposal. Moreover, she says something very interesting to Naomi: “Do not urge me to leave you and return without you. Wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.” (Ruth, ch. 1, v. 16, the bold text is ours)
Some of us know the story to its end. Ruth and Naomi arrive in Bethlehem during the summer harvest. To provide for herself and her mother-in-law, Ruth has to glean the leftover grains from strangers' fields. This is a difficult, unprofitable, and dangerous task for a young and defenseless woman. However, she ends up in the field of Boaz. One day, he notices Ruth and instructs his servants to protect her and assist her. It turns out that Boaz is a relative of Naomi's husband. When Naomi finds out about this, she advises Ruth to go to the threshing floor to Boaz one evening and lie at his feet in the dark—a gesture of submission and readiness to commit to him. Boaz acts with extreme decency and decides to take responsibility for Ruth and the family of her deceased husband by marrying her. From the lineage of Ruth and Boaz, just a few generations later, comes King David, and afterward, Jesus Christ himself.
The emphasis in the story of this young Moabite woman is consistently on her faithfulness and submission to her mother-in-law Naomi. At times, she resembles a dutiful child who follows all the advice their mother gives.
We value and honor the quality of humility, perhaps because very few people genuinely demonstrate it, and we know how challenging it is for even ourselves to live humbly. Whether naturally or not, this quality is often confused with passivity, voicelessness, indecisiveness, and resignation.
What we see in the character of Ruth is genuine humility, expressed in strong determination when making important decisions.
Ruth stands at a crossroads—to abandon Naomi and secure her life or to stay with her and take on all the risks of life in a foreign land. Here is her firm decision: “Do not urge me to leave you and return without you. Where you 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 even death separates you and me.” (Ruth, ch. 1, v. 16-17*)
She has to decide what to do, how to provide for herself and her mother-in-law, and in this situation, we see that passivity is not characteristic of Ruth: “Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi: “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” (Ruth, ch. 2, v. 2*)
She also faces the decision of whether to commit to Boaz, much older than herself and a relative of Naomi, thereby preserving her deceased husband's family line, or to choose to become a wife to another younger man: “Boaz said: “Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! This last kindness is greater than your earlier one, not going after the younger men, whether rich or poor. So do not fear, my daughter; I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character.” (Ruth, ch. 3, v. 10-11, the bold text is ours)
Ruth lives in extreme humility towards her mother-in-law Naomi and her God, Yahweh. Ruth accepts Naomi’s God and becomes part of the chosen people. She is strong, brave, loyal, and dignified—qualities that do not contradict humility; in fact, they go hand in hand with it.
What we can take as a lesson from the character of Ruth is:
- not to confuse humility with resignation and passivity
- to make confident and bold decisions intended for the good of others, allowing our heavenly Father to look after our well-being
- not to always judge things based on our human logic or fears. Ruth is a wonderful example of this
*The biblical quotes are based on the text of Bible, New Translation from the Original Languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013.
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi/Unsplash.com
```