Ruth 1:15

unto her people, and unto her god i.e. Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, Numbers 21:29; 1 Kings 11:33. The ancient belief here receives its simplest expression: each land and people had its own Deity inseparably connected with it; outside lay the territory of another god. The Israelites, at any rate the popular religion in Israel, did not deny the divinity of the gods of the neighbouring lands, though for themselves Jehovah was the only God; cf. Judges 11:24; 1 Samuel 26:19. So when Orpah goes back to Moab she goes back to her native god; similarly, when Ruth determines to make her home in Judah, she declares her intention of adopting the religion of her new country, Ruth 1:16. See Ruth 1:8 n.