In a disposable world, God shows up through loyal love—hesed—that refuses the exit and embodies His presence in our mess.

1) The Test of Love: An Invitation to Exit — Ruth 1:8–13 (NIV)

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.” … “It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!” Ruth 1:8, 13, NIV

• Naomi blesses them with hesed while feeling abandoned herself—seeking their good at her cost.
• She opens the door wide: Go home, find rest, rebuild life—logical, sensible, heartbreaking.
• Orpah’s tearful exit is relatable; we are experts at “holy-sounding exits” from others’ pain.
  
  

2) The Commitment Beyond Feeling: The Power of Hesed — Ruth 1:16–17 (NIV)

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. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” Ruth 1:16–17, NIV

• Hesed: loyal love, stubborn mercy, covenant faithfulness—love without an exit strategy.
• Contracts protect me from you; covenants bind me to you. Hesed is covenant in motion.
  
  

3) God’s Quiet Faithfulness: The Companion and the Harvest — Ruth 1:19–22 (NIV)

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.” … “So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite… arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.” Ruth 1:20, 22, NIV

• “Barley harvest” is a quiet providence cue—no parted sea, just timing, fields, and faithful presence.
• We ask for a miracle; God sends a person. We seek exit; God gives a companion.
  
  

4) From Ruth to Jesus: The Ultimate Hesed — Gospel Connection

• Like Ruth, Jesus leaves home to cling to a broken people—and refuses the ultimate exit.
• At the cross, He binds Himself to us in blood covenant so our death becomes His and His life becomes ours.
• Our hope is not a change of circumstance but a constant Companion who will not let us go.
  
  

Application: Be the Love That Stays

Study Notes

Ruth 1:8… “May the Lord show you kindness…” חֶסֶד “Hesed” Lovingkindness, (in God’s relationship with the people or an individual, faithfulness, goodness, graciousness: Psa33:5,  Psa 103:17,  2Sam 9:3, Psa 52:10, Psalm 21.8,  Jer 33:1, Psa 136:1-26, Psa 100:5, 106:1, 107,1, 118:1-4:21  Ezr 3:11, Ps 4:4, 12:1,  Ex 34:6, Nu 14:18 Joel 2:13 Jonah 4:2 Ps 86:5,15, 103:8 (Hesed is a dynamic, powerful word and concept that is easy to miss with many different words translated as such) – Sutter

Sometimes hesed is translated “steadfast love.” It combines commitment with sacrifice. Hesed is one-way love. Love without an exit strategy. When you love with hesed love, you bind yourself to the object of your love, no matter what the response is. So if the object of your love snaps at you, you still love that person. If you’ve had an argument with your spouse in which you were slighted or not heard, you refuse to retaliate through silence or withholding your affection. Your response to the other person is entirely independent of how that person has treated you. Hesed is a stubborn love. – Paul Miller

“Naomi followed her commands with a common wish formula: May Yahweh treat you kindly (lit. “May Yahweh do with you ḥeseḏ”). This formula occurs in two other OT contexts (2 Sam. 2:6; 15:20 [emended following LXX]) which, like Ruth 1:8, involve situations of farewell or parting under adverse circumstances. Apparently the phrase was used as a technical way of bringing an end to a relationship. Thus, Naomi’s prayer was more than a casual “Goodbye and God bless you.” Rather, she thereby formally freed the women from any future responsibility toward her. More important, since she will not be in a position in the future to do them ḥeseḏ, she asked God to do it for her. Thus, Naomi’s wish provides a glimpse of her utter hopelessness. Powerless to repay their kindness, her only recourse was to turn them over to God’s care.” Hubbard

If you’ve had an argument with a spouse or friend, coworker, etc. you may be tempted to pull away, to distance yourself. Sometimes that distancing is appropriate, but more often it is a silent mini-revenge, a way of punishing the person for hurting you. But with hesed love, after an argument, even when tension is in the air, you don’t allow your spirit to pull away. You move toward the other person; you don’t allow an ugly space to grow. Why is hesed love so important? Because life is moody. Feelings come and go. Pressures rise and fall. Passions ebb and flow. Hesed is a stake in the heart of the changing seasons of life. Words of commitment like what Naomi saying create a bond that stands against life’s change and moodiness. – Paul Miller

“While the text has only subtly alluded to this fact and the reader may not have fully recognized it, Naomi makes it abundantly clear that, at least in her understanding, the earlier famine in Bethlehem, her family’s sojourn in Moab, the deaths of her husband and sons, and the barrenness of her daughters-in-law are all evidences of God’s hand as the cause of her hardships. She feels she is the target of God’s overwhelming power and wrath. That God is actively behind these events will be affirmed throughout the story; that he is punishing Naomi—at least as Naomi feels is the case—is not necessarily correct. God is not ‘out to get her’” Younger

“Naomi’s two questions argue the “bird-in-hand” principle: Why pass up the present, good opportunity to marry for a future, humanly impossible one? One almost hears an ironic echo of Judah’s request that Tamar wait until Shelah grows up (Gen. 38:11)—an idea feasible in her case but virtually impossible in Naomi’s. Certainly, Naomi’s desperate words fan a flickering thematic flame: might the impossible—marriage for the widows, perhaps even an heir for Elimelech—happen? Next Naomi answered bluntly her own question: Absolutely not, my daughters!” – Hubbard

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