In the years after the Exodus and before the coming of kings the chosen people were seeking an identity. They were a loose confederation of tribes who had a memory of common ancestry but not much more holding them together. The books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth reflect this 200+ year period. The story of Ruth is particularly instructive since she did not share in the common ancestry. She was not one of the Hebrew children but a foreigner. As the story unfolds, however, because of her fidelity and loyalty she became the great-grandmother of King David. Her word to her mother-in-law, “wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God,” established a connection deeper that biological kinship. The lesson for us: as people of God we must resist the normal tendency to divide the world into “us and them.” Instead of asking, “is she one of our own,” we must understand that there isn’t anyone out there — particularly in these day the immigrants — who doesn’t have a claim on us since we are all children of God.
