"14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 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.17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi;[a] call me Mara,[b] for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest."
Ruth 1:14-22
Naomi words to her two daughters-in-law were in the nature of a test for them - not a conscious one, so far as Naomi was concerned, but a test nevertheless; and they sifted the two girls. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back, but Ruth determined to remain with her. What was it that made Orpah go back? Well, the situation and the prospects for the future were placed plainly before the two young widows: going back to Bethlehem-Judah was a very unknown quantity, and it might well have meant ostracism for them. It most probably meant, on any reasonable human estimate, a life of drudgery for them, looking after an ageing mother-in-law. On the other hand, returning to Moab had the promise of brighter pastures and a clearer road, with marriage and security as real possibilities. Orpah made a very human and natural choice, one that was obvious on any logical estimate. Ruth, seeing the same issues, just as clearly as Orpah, chose dif- ferently, however; and the only adequate explanation is that a secret seed had been planted in her heart by the Spirit of God. It is very wonderful to ponder that, even in the context of this family of God's people being out of His will, there was clearly a testimo- ny in their home, and that Ruth had seen the marks of the God of Israel in their lives. And, in spite of their declension, and their being in God's second best all those years, she was drawn to Israel's God. Ruth's words in 16 and 17, well-known and moving as they are, merit more detailed treatment, and this we shall turn to in the next Note. n the meantime we simply underline that they constitute her testimony to a genuine conver- sion to God which was clearly firm and steadfast, as 18 indicates. Naomi recognised the signs, and pleaded with her no more. For Ruth, the die was cast and she would go for- ward - into destiny.