Ruth and Naomi

“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.” Ruth 1:16
The book of Ruth has only four chapters, but it is a beautiful story about how a Gentile woman was accepted into the people of God. Through the book of Ruth, we learn about the role of the kinsman-redeemer (demonstrated by Boaz), which relates to us in how Jesus Christ is the kinsman-redeemer of all mankind.
Naomi and Elimelech came from Bethlehem, but a famine led to them moving to the region of Moab. While they were there, their two sons married Moabite women, one of whom was Ruth. Over time, all three men died, leaving Naomi with her two daughters-in-law. This would have immediately spelled a life of poverty for all of them, since widows usually had to rely on the generosity of society to provide for them – there was no welfare system. This was why, when Naomi decided to return to the land of Israel, she urged both of them to stay in Moab and find new husbands among their people.
But Ruth refused to leave. She was committed to Naomi, and to Naomi’s God. She must have seen something in Naomi’s life that she wanted – that covenant relationship with God. And so she was determined to stick by Naomi and go back to Israel with her. In the rest of the book, we see how Naomi coaches Ruth through the practice of gleaning, and how she encourages her to approach Boaz to ask for his covering.
All of us are setting examples for other people. Are you like Naomi, and setting a good example for the younger generations?