The story of Ruth is a wonderful and fascinating one that teaches several important lessons. It features loss, love, risk, blessing, and redemption. Ruth also demonstrates loyalty. This lesson focuses on the faithful friendship that Ruth shared with her mother-in-law Naomi. Friendships can grow in a variety of ways throughout our lives, and are valuable to us. The most important relationship that we have, and the one we see most significantly in the book of Ruth, is the one we have with God. Just as Ruth stayed close to Naomi through hardship, God is always with us and leads us through every season of our lives.
Sometimes we treat the book of Ruth as a tale of love and overcoming adversity. It is that, but more so it is a story of redemption. Ruth and Naomi were rescued by Boaz, their kinsman-redeemer. This allowed Ruth to have a baby who would be part of the lineage of Christ, the great redeemer of all. Ruth experienced joy after hardship, and we can experience life after death because of Jesus.
Sunday School Lesson on Ruth 1 for Children: Faithful Friendship about Ruth and Naomi
Passage: Ruth 1:1-18
Target Audience: Kindergarten-6th grade (adaptable, but some concepts might be best for slightly older students)
Materials Needed: Pictures of famous friend pairings, Construction paper, scissors, decorations, glue or tape, paper plates, cereal or noodles, string or pipe cleaners, markers, crayons, peanuts (with shells), hay, maps, Bible.
Lesson Opening: This lesson focuses on the friendship that Ruth and Naomi had, and on how God is a faithful friend to us. The account also features redemption and wheat gleaning. Here are some activities to get kids thinking… (select the best ones for your audience and age group):
- “Gleaning wheat race”: Explain that Ruth was allowed to glean for food, which means picking up bits of wheat after the area had been harvested. In honor of this, have students try their hands at “gleaning.” Place peanuts (in shells) or other small items in the middle of hay (or use beads in a bin of rice, if allergies are a concern). See who can gather the most peanuts in a given time frame.
- Bond Building: Provide students with small items (like a deck of cards, straws, or blocks) and have them try to put together a tower. Note that it’s easy to knock the “building” over. Then invite them to use duct tape or glue to stick the items together, and note that it’s harder to knock over that way. Loyal friends stick together no matter what, and God should be the “glue” at the center of all our relationships!
- Getting to know you: have students celebrate friendship and get to know one another a little better. Gather unique facts and statements about each child, and read them to have the others guess which fact matches which student (best for slightly older audiences).
- Travel relay: Naomi and her family traveled to a new country to escape the famine, and Naomi later traveled back with Ruth. Have a relay race encouraging students to take turns running across the play area to fill baskets with fake food. Following this (or during the Bible portion), look at where Bethlehem and Moab are on a map, and consider the journey it might take to go back and forth.
- Through thick and thin: Ruth and Naomi went through great hardship. They came out changed, but blessed in the end. Look at something that changes under pressure or literal hot water (tea, noodles, popcorn, etc.) and consider changes. Difficulty shapes us, too, but God is always with us!
Bible Lesson: (Ruth 1:1-18) Sunday School Lesson for Kids Explained for Children – Loyalty and Faith has a Reward
Explain that the story in this lesson comes from the book of Ruth and reminds us of God’s faithfulness and friendship.
Bible Lesson: The passage here from Ruth is one that could be acted out by children (though the main parts would be Naomi and Ruth, unless an actor wants to die in the first five verses). You could also get interactive with the action, having students walk back and forth to travel or mimic actions. Note that this lesson only looks at the first chapter of Ruth. You might choose to cover more material or to break up the story into multiple lessons to cover the whole book.
In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
-Ruth 1:1-5
There’s actually a lot going on in these opening verses. The time frame is set up, in the last days of the judges (which the book of Judges details). There was a famine, meaning the food had run out, so Elimelech and Naomi decided to journey elsewhere to find food. Now, this might not seem like much, but it was not entirely in obedience to God, because it meant they had to leave the land of God’s people and live among those who did not worship. Naomi’s sons married women of that area (which was also not supposed to happen). After about ten years, Elimelech and his sons all died, leaving Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah childless widows. In those days, this was a pretty desperate situation, because no one could take care of them and they couldn’t work. Being without a man left a woman pretty helpless. And in fact, the whole situation probably seemed hopeless.
Ask: Have you ever had to move to a new place, or gone through a big scary change? How did it feel?
Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. -Ruth 1:6-9
Naomi decided to return to her home, where she heard God was doing positive things again. She released her daughters-in-law from any sort of obligation to her, encouraging them to return to their families and start over to try making families. She gave them a blessing to leave and go back to what was familiar.
Ask: Who is a family member that you are very close to? What is that relationship like?
And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. -Ruth 1:10-14
The women did not want to abandon their mother-in-law. Naomi pointed out some arguments for why they needed to let her go. In those days, if a man died, his brother had a duty to take over and provide the widow with children. But Naomi had no other sons, and couldn’t provide her daughters-in-law with anyone to help them. Naomi might also have felt responsible for what happened with her husband and sons. Perhaps God was punishing them for leaving Bethlehem and marrying foreign women. She wanted them to have another chance at marriage and children. Orpah finally gave in and left. The story was different with Ruth.
Ask: Have you ever had to say goodbye to someone you loved?
And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more. -Ruth 1:15-18
This is a passionate and powerful statement from Ruth. She pledged loyalty and friendship to Naomi in a very deep way. Not only did Ruth want to stay with her mother-in-law, but she was willing to abandon her way of life and her gods, in order to worship Naomi’s God. Ruth recognized that God was just, as she called on Him to punish her if she left Naomi’s side. Ruth vowed faithfulness to Naomi. This was a wonderful promise. Ruth kept it, and stayed close to Naomi, taking care of her and living with her.
Ask: Who are some of your best friends? What makes them great friends for you?
If this lesson is by itself, summarize the remainder of the Ruth story. Eventually, great blessings came to Ruth and Naomi, but that’s not the most important component of the story of Ruth. While Ruth was a loyal friend, God was a much greater one. He was with Naomi and Ruth, and was faithful to them. And He is with us and promises to help us always. The story of Ruth reminds us that He works things out for us. He redeems us and saves us through His son, Jesus.
Close with a prayer thanking God for His faithful friendship. Ask for help in trusting Him to provide and care for us.