Wherever You Go - Ruth Song
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"Wherever You Go" by the Monks of Weston Priory is a song based on The Book of RUTH..The Old Testament.
It relates to the words Ruth spoke to her mother-in-law Naomi.
It speaks of faithfulness, love, friendship and sacrifice.
"There is no greater gift than the gift of love and friendship"
Below is a simplified version of their story.....
During the time of the Judges when there was a famine in the land, an Israelite family from Bethlehem—Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Chilion emigrate to the nearby country of Moab. Elimelech dies, and the sons marry two Moabite women: Mahlon marries Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah. They dwelt there for about 10 years.
The two sons of Naomi then die themselves. Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem. She tells her daughters-in-law to return to their own mothers, and remarry. She said to them both, "I am too old to remarry and have no more sons for you to marry. May the Lord be kind to you as you were to the departed and to me." Orpah reluctantly leaves; however, Ruth says, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!.For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me." Naomi then ceased to urge her to leave as she saw Ruth was determined to go with her.
The two women return to Bethlehem. It is the time of the barley harvest, and in order to support her mother-in-law and herself, Ruth goes to the fields to glean ears of grain. The field she goes to belongs to a man named Boaz, who is kind to her because he has heard of her loyalty to her mother-in-law. Boaz asks Ruth to only glean in his fields as he wishes her to be well cared for and safe from any harm. Casting herself prostate upon the ground, she said to him,"Why should I, a foreigner, be favored with your notice?" Boaz answered her, " I have had a complete account of how you left your own father and mother and the land of your birth to care for your mother-in-law." Ruth tells her mother-in-law of Boaz's kindness, and she gleans only in his field through the remainder of the harvest season.
Boaz is a close relative of Naomi's husband's family.Naomi says to Ruth.."My daughter I must seek a home for you that will please you, go and bathe and anoint yourself and then put on your best attire". She then sends Ruth to the threshing floor at night and tells her to "uncover the feet" of the sleeping Boaz. Ruth does so and In the dark of the night, Boaz awakes and asks,"Who are you?" Ruth identifies herself, then asks Boaz to spread his cloak over her. The phrase "spread your cloak" was a woman's way of asking for marriage.
Boaz claimed Ruth as his wife. When they came together as husband and wife, the Lord enabled her to conceive and she bore a son. Then the neighbor women said to Naomi, "Blessed is the Lord who has not failed to provide you today with an heir! May he become famous in Israel! He will be your comfort and support in your old age, for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you. She is worth more to you than seven sons!" Naomi took the child and placed him on her lap, and became his nurse. The women named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. The same line of people from which Jesus was later born.
