RUTH 1

RUTH SHOWS LOYALTY TO NAOMI + RETURNS TO ISRAEL

Because there was a great famine, Naomi travels from Ephraim to Moab with her husband and two sons. When Naomi’s husband dies, she is left with her two sons who married foreign Moabite women, Ruth and Orpah. When both of Naomi’s sons die, she is left widowed and childless.

Naomi told Ruth and Orpah to return to their home countries and let her go back to Israel. Orpah did as she said, but Ruth clung to Naomi and decided she would go with her and make Naomi’s God her God.

Naomi and Ruth return to Israel, but Naomi wanted to change her name from “Naomi,” meaning “pleasant” to “Mara” which means “bitter,” because she felt as though God had dealt with her bitterly.

Ruth 1:16 - 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.”