Through the sources that follow we will look to see how perhaps Ruth WAS RETURNING to the path of Hashem, many years after her ancestor, Lot decided to abandon it.
(כב) וַתָּ֣שׇׁב נׇעֳמִ֗י וְר֨וּת הַמּוֹאֲבִיָּ֤ה כַלָּתָהּ֙ עִמָּ֔הּ הַשָּׁ֖בָה מִשְּׂדֵ֣י מוֹאָ֑ב וְהֵ֗מָּה בָּ֚אוּ בֵּ֣ית לֶ֔חֶם בִּתְחִלַּ֖ת קְצִ֥יר שְׂעֹרִֽים׃
What are Ruth's family roots? We know that Ruth came from Moav. Where did Moav originate from?
So Ruth has a direct connection to Lot who is the father of the nation of Moav.
What happened to Lot? How does this parrallel with Ruth's story?
Where does Lot choose to go? Why does he go there? Why is this such a surprise choice? Who has he spent the last few years with and learnt from?
Where does Ruth choose to go? What is she leaving behind? What will she achieve by going?
How is this word used differently for Lot's choice compared to Ruth's choice?
Perhaps Ruth's response to Naomi, is in fact the response Lot SHOULD have made to Avraham's suggestion to leave him?
In the end, Lot chased Gan Eden - he chased riches and materislism over chessed and Hashem. He ended up with no home, no wife...just him and his two daughters:
Lot's demise can be compared with Elimelech's. He too decided to leave Hashem's land to avoid giving tzedaka and doing chessed (see Rashi below) and to follow his materialistic desires and move to Moav. His family too ends up with nothing but his two daughter's in law and his wife surviving.
In contrast to Lot's downfall and that of Elimelech, Ruth not only gains food and a home, and a husband in Boaz. She also becomes the grandmother of David Hamelech. A story of success and honor
Despite Ruth's family descent from Lot, her choice to follow Naomi is more in line with Avrahams path to follow Hashem - both in how Avraham chose to leave his home and follow God and in choice to live a way of life of chessed and Emet. In Ruth's choices, she seems to be correcting Lot's mistakes. The parallels between the passukim below seems to highlight the similarities between Avraham and Ruth.
What words are repeated? What can we learn from this?
As the Midrash Rabba below explains, Megillat Ruth shows us how kindness brings rewards:
(יד) יַעַשׂ ה׳ עִמָּכֶם חֶסֶד, רַבִּי חֲנִינָא בַּר אָדָא אָמַר, יַעֲשֶׂה כְּתִיב, כַּאֲשֶׁר עֲשִׂיתֶם עִם הַמֵּתִים, שֶׁנִּטְפַּלְתֶּם בְּתַכְרִיכֵיהוֹן, וְעִמָּדִי, שֶׁוִתְּרוּ לָהּ כְּתֻבּוֹתֵיהֶן. אָמַר רַבִּי זְעֵירָא, מְגִלָּה זוֹ אֵין בָּהּ לֹא טֻמְאָה, וְלֹא טָהֳרָה, וְלֹא אִסּוּר, וְלֹא הֶתֵּר, וְלָמָּה נִכְתְּבָה לְלַמֶּדְךָ כַּמָּה שָׂכָר טוֹב לְגוֹמְלֵי חֲסָדִים.
(14) “May the Lord perform [ya’as] kindness with you” – Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ada said: It is written “ya’aseh.”108Lest you think that Naomi’s blessing was halfhearted, as it is read without the heh, it is not so, as it is written with a heh. “As you performed with the dead” – that you tended to their shrouds; “and with me” – that you relinquished your marriage contracts. Rabbi Ze’eira said: This scroll109The book of Ruth. does not contain [the laws of] purity or impurity, and not prohibitions or allowances. Why was it written? It is to teach you the extent of the good reward for those who perform kindness.
Sources: Sefaria, Ruth by Yael Ziegler, article by Rav Samet on Lot, article: Avraham, Lot and the Roots of Jewish Monarchy: Parshas Lech Lecha. By Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom
"But Ruth is not the only one who is faced with the choice of remaining in Moab or returning to the path of Abraham. This is the very choice facing the people during the period of the judges. Will they continue on the path of Moab, a path that will surely lead to their destruction, or will they return to the ways of Abraham? By returning from Moab to Israel, Ruth acquires the tools and the authority to serve as a role model capable of guiding the people back to the path of Abraham.” Ruth by Yael Ziegler"