Ruth 1 - Verse 10

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V erses 10-22

 

Verse 10

And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy people.


Here is manifest true repentance. They changed their minds. They made up their minds. They started on the road to praise.

Verse 11

Turn again. Once you have repented, once you have turned, seek not to turn again, to revert back to the old ways, to head back to the land of Moab.


Luke 9:62 No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.


Verse 13

It grieveth me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.

Do not allow the experiences of life to make you bitter, to cloud your mind of the goodness of God directed towards you.

Orpah kissed her mother in law goodbye; but Ruth cleaved unto her. Even though Naomi sought to cast Ruth from her, Ruth would not be denied. She was of another spirit!

"Your sister in law has turned back. She has gone to her people. She has gone to her gods. Return, follow the path to Moab."

Hebrews 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.


Ruth's response?

Verses 16-19

Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her. So they two went until they came to Bethlehem.

The objective? Bethlehem, the House of Bread.

Ruth turned. She faced the reality of death. She made up her mind. She clung to the one that could take her to the house of bread. She determined that nothing would stop her, not even Naomi's pessimistic attitude.

What an example for every Christian believer.

Repentance and water baptism. The beginning of the life of faith.

Romans 6:3-14 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For it we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yeild yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Is this Naomi?

"Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me."


Verse 22

They came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.