The Four Fold Pledge Of Ruth

Untitled Document

Title: The 4 Fold Pledge of Ruth

Text: Ruth 1:16-19

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from 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. 17Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

                                                                                                                                Ruth 1:16-17

Introduction

                There was a man named Elimelech who lived in Judah during the time of Judges. During this time, there was a great famine in Judah to which Elimelech along with his wife was forced to migrate and live in the land of Moab. They have two sons named Mahlon and Kilion.

                Mahlon and Kilion married Moabites women named Ruth and Orpah (respectively). It so happened that Elimelech, Naomi’s husband died. Not so long has passed, both Mahlon and Kilion also died. Here we can see now that there are three are now three widows; Naomi, Ruth and Orpah.

                So Naomi talked to her daughters in law and said to them that she’s allowing them to go and move on with their life so that they can still remarry later if they find someone who’s willing to marry them since they were still young. She instructed them to return to their homes and gave her blessings to them. Orpah decided to leave Naomi but Ruth instead of leaving gave her promise to Naomi.

                Today, we will be talking about the 4 pledges of Ruth. We will be talking about that promises and how these promises applies to us.

The 4 Fold Pledge of Ruth

1. Pledge of Loyalty – “Don’t urge me to leave you or turn my back from you.”

This statement is in a negative form which means if rephrased: “I will not leave you or turn my back on you.” Now, take note here that Ruth is making her pledge of loyalty to Naomi, her mother-in-law. They are not related to each other for Ruth is a Moabite woman and Naomi is an Israelite. But because of the love of Ruth to Naomi, we can see here that she’s willing to give that loyalty to Naomi.

In our time, sometimes there are people who hate their mother-in-laws. Actually they don’t call it “mother-in-law” but “monster-in-law”. Ruth however is a different woman and probably Naomi is a good mother-in-law. We can see here that Ruth and Naomi have now a love of a parent-child.

2. Pledge of Obedience – “Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay.”

Now we can see here that Ruth did not only pledge to give her loyalty to Naomi, she is now giving her pledge of obedience. Following Ruth where ever she go. Obedience and Following have some differences. Here in the passage however, what I see here is that it can be interchangeably exchanged with each other since Ruth is giving pledge to Naomi.

It is like a servant giving pledge to his king to follow him where ever he goes. Giving such a promise also involves obedience and not just following. And this is the same to what the story is telling us. Ruth gave her pledge to follow Naomi which also involves obedience. In fact if we will continue reading the book of Ruth, we will see there that it is Naomi who instructs Ruth on what to do including her meeting Boaz.

3. Pledge of Acceptance – “Your people will be my people.”

Ruth now is giving a pledge of acceptance to Naomi. Again, Ruth is a Moabite. She has a different culture compare to Naomi. She grew up in a different land and has a different God. Here in the passage however, we can see a picture that Ruth is willing to adopt for herself whatever Naomi has to offer. Ruth is willing leave behind everything even her own gods and go and worship the one true God.

In our context, there are lots of couples giving a pledge to each other but not this kind of pledge. That is why we can see couples who have lots of conflicts because of this matter. One cannot accept the other one because of his or her parents, culture, and even backgrounds. Again, the only link between Ruth and Naomi is that they were in-laws.

4. Pledge of Commitment –“Where you die, I will die”

This part is the conclusion of this pledge where Ruth is giving her life to these pledges to Naomi. She did not only promised to be loyal, to follow Naomi, and accept everything Naomi has, but also to enforce this with a promise of commitment; to die where ever Naomi dies.

Ruth even added: “May the Lord deal with me be it ever so severely” which definitely means sealing these pledges with an oath. Giving an oath is very important because it is also like giving a promise to the Lord and that asking God to punish her if ever she fails to do what she has promised. This means that these pledges are not only a promise but an oath.

Going back in our time, there are lots of people who gives promises to each other but surely they cannot give this kind of oath because many of them are afraid to fail or if not, they are really not committed to do whatever it takes.

Conclusion and Application

                                The story is very clear to us that Naomi and Ruth have this one of a kind relationship between in-laws. The main thing here is, if it is possible to give this one of a kind commitment between humans, therefore, it is possible to give this one of a kind commitment to God.

                                The Bible is very clear in teaching us that we have to give our commitment to our Lord. But the question is; how far are we willing to go? Our story today is the commitment that our Lord wants us to give to him, for this kind of commitment really involves life. And this is what our Lord is seeking. 

How about you, are you willing to give this kind of Pledge to our Lord? If not, then think again, are we really pleasing Him with a half hearted heart?