Three Funerals and a Wedding

Courtney Vincent and Jenny Roberts have been missing Connie’s Bible study because its recent stories seem to center on men, action, and adventure. They want romance - handsome princes, devoted love, and solemn vows - and doubt that Scripture contains the kind of story they mean. Connie promises that the book of Ruth offers all of that, though its opening famine requires some imagination before either girl recognizes the romance.

In Connie’s retelling, three failed harvests have left Elimelech’s land near Bethlehem barren. His sickly sons, Mahlon and Chilion, fear the family will starve. Elimelech’s wealthy cousin Oren offers workers to dig irrigation ditches, but Elimelech believes accepting his help will allow Oren to seize the property. Rather than surrender the family inheritance, he decides to move east into Moab, where food remains plentiful.

At Bethlehem’s gate, Elimelech rejects Oren’s offer before their relatives and announces his departure. Another cousin, the honorable young Boaz, warns that Moab worships false gods and begs him to reconsider. Elimelech entrusts Boaz with protecting the land for his descendants and gives him a sandal to seal their agreement.

Naomi is distressed by her husband’s choice. Leaving Israel means abandoning everything familiar and arranging marriages between their sons and Moabite women. Elimelech argues that the marriages are permitted and that the family can teach the women about Israel’s God, even as Naomi observes that their own departure shows disobedience. She nevertheless follows her husband.

In Moab, Chilion is introduced to Orpah and Mahlon to Ruth. Ruth’s beauty immediately captivates Mahlon, while Naomi welcomes the motherless young woman as a daughter. During a family toast asking the false god Chemosh to bless the couples, Elimelech collapses. He confesses that coming to Moab was wrong, asks Naomi to teach Ruth and Orpah the ways of God, and dies soon afterward.

Naomi keeps her promise and shares the history, law, and God of Israel with her daughters-in-law. A few years later, illness takes Mahlon, leaving Ruth widowed. Chilion supports all three women for the remainder of the family’s ten years in Moab, but his weak body eventually fails as well. Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah are left together after three funerals.

News reaches Naomi that God has ended the famine in Israel. She begins the journey home with both young women but stops outside the city, unwilling to bind them to her poverty and sorrow. Since she has no more sons for them to marry, she urges them to return to their parents, seek new husbands, and begin again.

Orpah tearfully accepts Naomi’s blessing and goes back. Ruth refuses. Her love for Naomi and her growing faith mean more than the security of Moab: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” She vows that only death will separate them. Naomi finally accepts that Ruth cannot be persuaded and continues toward Bethlehem with her daughter beside her.

Courtney and Jenny now recognize one kind of profound love in Ruth’s loyalty, but they are still waiting for the promised romance. Connie leaves the rest for their next Bible-study meeting, ensuring that neither girl will miss it.