A Vow for Someone We Love (Ruth 1.17) ‣ Praying Through the Bible
May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.
We have discussed prayer-vows a few times throughout our study.1 There are different varieties of vows. Some are just a bare vow, which neither expects nor asks anything: “I vow, God, to pray three times a day.” Others do ask God for something in return: “God, if you will help me pass this test, I will go serve at a soup kitchen next week.” Sometimes, vows are made in the heat of the moment and lead to unintended consequences (recall the terrible result of Jephthah’s vow in Judges 11.30–40).2
Background
Ruth 1.17 describes a vow made to God without expectation of anything in return. It is a solemn and serious pledge, offered to God to solemnize it and hold the offeror accountable to it.
In the previous prayer (Ruth 1.8–9), we read of three women who had lost their husbands: a mother (Naomi) and her two daughters-in-law (Ruth and Orpah). Ruth and Orpah have relatives in the area, but the Naomi has no one because she is an Israelite living in a foreign land. She is now an elderly widow with little to offer and no possibilities. She asked the young women to return to their original families, where they would find protection and new husbands. Naomi plans to travel back to her homeland, perhaps in the hope to find a distant relative or, at least, to die among her own people.
The three women cry together at this bitter turn of events and their losses. Orpah tears herself away from her beloved mother-in-law and takes her leave. But Ruth refuses to leave. She begs Naomi to let her stay with her. She vows that she will adopt Naomi’s people, Naomi’s God, and Naomi’s homeland. Ruth says that she wants to be Naomi’s family and to care for her, even though they are both widows. She is so determined that she is willing to leave her own land and go to Israel. Perhaps she can find a new husband there who will care for both of them.
Ruth recognizes that, in that world, two women would have a better chance of survival than one—especially if one of them is young enough to attract a husband. Yet she makes quite a sacrifice by giving up a sure thing to keep Naomi from dying alone.
Ruth offers a vow. To show that she has already begun fulfilling it, she offers it to the God of Israel, not to the gods of her people: “May the LORD do so to me and more as well if anything but death parts me from you.”
