Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ruth 1-4.

I want to comment on two things about this passage.  I want to express the first thought because, in my opinion, so many people get it wrong.  I have often heard people, even pastors, say that Orpah did wrong by doing as Naomi told her and returning to her people.  I disagree.  On the contrary, what Orpah did was the correct decision for her.  While Ruth made the better choice, things might not have worked out so well of Orpah had made the same decision. There was no wrong in Orpah’s choice.

Which brings us to Ruth’s decision and what she told Naomi.  We often encourage women to take Ruth as a role model, and that is not a bad thing, but we rarely think about what a great role model Naomi is.  After all, it was Naomi who lived a life which inspired Ruth to say, “Your people will be my people and your God my God.”  We should seek to live lives which inspire others to do the same.  I want to dig into that a little further.  First, Naomi lived a life which caused Ruth to believe that she would be welcome among Naomi’s people.  Naomi treated Ruth in such a way that Ruth believed that the people Naomi belonged to would accept her and welcome her among them.  We know the Israelites were not all welcoming of Moabites, that many of them had hostility to them (much like how most groups of people view outsiders), but Naomi demonstrated acceptance as if that was how everybody acted.  More importantly (although the first part is why) Naomi inspired Ruth to want to serve God.  Ruth wanted to be like Naomi.  Let us strive to live our lives so that others want to become part of our people.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.