John Mark Hicks

Naomi Seeks Ruth’s Security (Ruth 2:17-3:5)

So she gleaned in the field until evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.  She picked it up and came into the town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gleaned. Then she took out and gave her what was left over after she herself had been satisfied.  Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? And where have you worked? Blessed be the man who took notice of you.” So she told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, “The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.” Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the LORD, whose kindness has not forsaken the living or the dead!” Naomi also said to her, “The man is a relative of ours, one of our nearest kin.”^a Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay close by my servants, until they have finished all my harvest.’” Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is better, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, otherwise you might be bothered in another field.” So she stayed close to the young women of Boaz, gleaning until the end of the barley and wheat harvests; and she lived with her mother-in-law.

Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.” She said to her, “All that you tell me I will do.”

Ruth, a childless widow and Moabite, boldly and courageously entered a field to glean from the harvest. Luckily (providentially), the field belonged to Boaz who, filled with the kindness of Yahweh, showed her kindness. He invited her to glean with the women of his employ, eat at his table, and protected her from those who might abuse her. Boaz, by the grace of Yahweh, blessed Ruth. While Ruth did not know Boaz and did not know it was his field, Boaz knew Ruth because he had heard about Ruth’s kindness to Naomi and Naomi was a relative of Boaz. As yet, however, Naomi knew nothing about this until that first evening when Ruth returned from gleaning in Boaz’s field.  

Naomi Learns It Is Boaz’s Field

Ruth returned with a cooked meal (the leftovers of her meal with Boaz and his workers) and enough barely to last several months. An ephah is about a bushel of barley, which probably weighed around thirty pounds. This was a huge haul for a single day, and it represents a bountiful and blessed harvest for these two women. It is food security for the two widows as they can make bread and barter for other needs.

Naomi must have been shocked by Ruth’s production. It was, frankly, unbelievable. So, her question is a natural one, “Where do you glean?” Who would let you gather this much? Then she blesses the man who gave her permission to carry away so much of his produce without knowing who the person is. She, of course, assumes a man owns the field, and it is evident to her that the owner showed Ruth a great kindness.

This bounty and Naomi’s blessing is a startling turn of events. Naomi stands at the center of the story at this point. The one who wanted to be called Mara (bitter) because Yahweh had forsaken her is now, blessing the man in the name of Yahweh who showed Ruth kindness. While the tragic circumstances still remain (she is a widow), the bitterness is receding and blessing is on her lips.

And then she learns it is Boaz, her relative. Then another blessing rises from her lips. Boaz represents hope, a hope provided by Yahweh who providentially directed Ruth to the field of Boaz. Naomi recognizes this through her blessing. It was not chance or lucky but the work of Yahweh who has not forsaken Naomi or her family.

The theological significance of her blessing is weighty.  (1) Naomi blesses Boaz by the presence of Yahweh. (2) Boaz reflects the hesed (kindness) of Yahweh’s own life. (3) Yahweh has not forsaken the “living or the dead”—Yahweh still honors their husbands as well as themselves through this bounty. (4) Boaz is a near kinsman who has an opportunity to provide Ruth (and her) with rest and security. That is a mouthful.

Ruth adds that Boaz has also invited her to glean in his field with his workers until the end of the harvest. Naomi accepts this graciousness. Boaz’s field is safe for Ruth while another might be dangerous. Consequently, in safety and prosperity, Ruth worked in the fields of Boaz with his female gleaners until the end of the harvest, which is typically about seven weeks long.

The theology here is rich. Once exiled (we might say), Naomi has returned with Ruth the Moabitess to find rest and security in the fields of Boaz. This is the work of Yahweh, who has shown God’s own hesed through the hesed of one of Yahweh’s servants, Boaz. Naomi experiences the move from bitterness to joy, from forsakenness to blessedness, through Boaz’s faithfulness to Yahweh. I wonder if Naomi is now on the verge of saying, “no longer call me Mara.” She has hope. This is a turning point in the book as we move from despair to hope in anticipation of rest and security.

However, that rest (pleasantness, the meaning of Naomi’s name) is not yet secured in a permanent way. With the ending of the harvest, what will Naomi and Ruth do now? How can they secure a future in Bethlehem?

Naomi Counsels Ruth

Despite Boaz’s hesed and Ruth’s hard work which produced so much bounty for the two widows, the harvest is coming to an end. The two widows lack long-term security. They do not yet have “rest,” which is a word that describes security and perhaps even prosperity in this context. Naomi recognizes she must be proactive in the securing that rest, a rest for which she prayed for Yahweh to provide for her daughters-in-law in Ruth 1:9.

Boaz is that potential security because he is a kinsman who has the right to marry Ruth and secure her first husband’s lineage and inheritance (see Deuteronomy 25:5-10). He has the capacity to redeem Naomi’s family. A kinsmen redeemer is one who acts on behalf of another in the family, whether brother or cousin, to secure the family’s inheritance or retrieve lost land and property. This arrangement is important for the carrying forward of the family lineage through male heirs. In this case, Naomi recognizes that Boaz can marry Ruth, and thus she emphasizes that he is “our kinsmen.”

Naomi’s plan is proactive and bold. Ruth should bathe herself, anoint herself (with perfume), and put on her best clothes. Some describe these actions as a prelude to Ruth’s prostitution of herself, preparing her for a sexual encounter. Ruth, then, is to seduce Boaz and secure terms with her kinsmen redeemer. However, it is better to regard this as a shift in Ruth’s status as a woman. These actions lay aside mournful clothing; she is no longer a mourner. The time of her grief has ended, and now she is available for marriage (see Ezekiel 16:9-10). We might image that Ruth still dressed as a widow, even as she gleaned in Boaz’s fields. Once, however, she appears before Boaz in changed clothing, he will see her with different eyes as one available for marriage.

And this is the next step of Naomi’s plan. Once Boaz and the men had finished eating and drinking at the threshing floor, Ruth should approach him quietly and “uncover his feet and lie down.”

This is probably the most controversial statement in the whole book of Ruth. What does it mean to “uncover his feet”? It is not as innocent as awakening him from his sleep because his feet got cold. Rather, “uncovering the feet” may be a euphemism for uncovering the nakedness of genitalia (like “uncovering the skirt” in Deuteronomy 27:20). In other words, she may have exposed his genitals. Or, it might be that uncovering his literal feet (perhaps his calf/thigh area) and lying down next to them was an invitation to marriage. Either way, this is a bold move, and it has sexual overtones (just as all the women in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 have some kind of sexual backdrop as well: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and—probably—the rumors that must have surrounded Mary).

This does not necessarily mean it was an invitation to a sexual encounter on that night or that she was seducing him for sex that evening. Given the character of both Boaz and Ruth in the story where honor is an important theme, the metaphor probably only means that this act was a way of proposing marriage (but more on this in the next post). Dressed as an available woman, she made herself available for marriage to Boaz. There was no sexual relations that night as we will see from the next movement in the book of Ruth.

She did this in secret (at night, while Boaz and others were sleeping) so as not to humiliate Boaz as a kinsman (see Deuteronomy 25:9). She is reminding him that he has a kinsman redeemer obligation to fulfill. She did not do this publicly but in private, and her approach is overt and pointed. In effect, she is saying “will you marry me, and fulfill your obligation to your kin?”

At least, that is Naomi’s plan. And Ruth committed to following the plan.  In the next section of Ruth, we will see how this played out and whether the plan was successful or not.

Ruth Meets Boaz (Ruth 2:1-16)

Now Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, a prominent rich man, of the family of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain, behind someone in whose sight I may find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So she went. She came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. As it happened, she came to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. Just then Boaz came from Bethlehem. He said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you.” They answered, “The LORD bless you.” Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “To whom does this young woman belong?” The servant who was in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the Moabite who came back with Naomi from the country of Moab.  She said, ‘Please, let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ So she came, and she has been on her feet from early this morning until now, without resting even for a moment.”

Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Now listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. Keep your eyes on the field that is being reaped, and follow behind them. I have ordered the young men not to bother you. If you get thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” Then she fell prostrate, with her face to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your sight, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?” But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before. May the LORD reward you for your deeds, and may you have a full reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!” Then she said, “May I continue to find favor in your sight, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, even though I am not one of your servants.”

At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, and eat some of this bread, and dip your morsel in the sour wine.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he heaped up for her some parched grain. She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over. When she got up to glean, Boaz instructed his young men, “Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles, and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her.”

Ruth, despite her foreign, widowed, and barren status, takes initiative, risks abuse, and works unceasingly for the sake of her mother-in-law Naomi. And Boaz notices. He protects her, sets her among his own reapers and gleaners, and feeds her. He returns to Ruth the kindness she has shown to Naomi.

Ruth’s Initiative

Naomi and Ruth are impoverished. They have no fields. They have no food. They have no security.

Ruth takes the initiative to improve their situation. It is a bold and risky move on her part. As a Moabite widow, unprotected by a man (she does not, at this moment, “belong” to anyone), she boldly proposes to enter the fields to obtain some grain, which she is permitted to do. As a woman, however, she risks abuse from the reapers and potentially other gleaners. This is a courageous act that involved hard labor for the sake of her mother-in-law, who perhaps was unable to endure such labor. Ruth made up for it as she worked from early morning into the day without resting. She was bold and industrious.

This was not a secret, illegal plan. The poor were permitted to glean at the edges of a field (Leviticus 19:9; 23:22). Moreover, Deuteronomy 24:19 also says to the owners, “When you reap your harvest in the field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.” However, it appears she was bolder. She did not stick to the edges of the field but followed the reapers themselves, probably alongside the other gleaners. This, too, was bold and risky. She opened herself up for significant abuse, but none is mentioned in the text. This is in strong contrast to how women were treated at the end of the book of Judges. The reapers permitted her to glean what they had reaped.

“As it happened,” the NRSV says, or “as it turned out,” the NIV (2011) says, she ended up in a field owned by Boaz who employed the reapers and gleaners in his field. The Hebrew word has the sense of “chance.” It appears rather lucky that she ended up in Boaz’s field—and may seem that way to secular eyes. But the narrative is quite aware that God is at work in hidden ways. What appears to be “chance” is actually the movement of God.

Boaz is a relative from the same clan as Naomi. He was a man of “standing” (NIV) or of great “wealth” (NRSV). But the claim in the text is not simply about wealth or status, though it includes that; it is also about character. This same word will describe Ruth in 3:11 where Boaz calls her a “worthy woman.” Her worth was her character which she exhibited by her loving kindness to her mother-in-law.

The narrator clues us into Boaz’s character. He greets his workers with a blessing, “The Lord be with you.” This is no mere ritual exchange but an expression of faith in God’s work and a wish-prayer for his workers. While Naomi fears Yahweh is against her (and perhaps also Ruth as she shares Naomi’s dire condition), Boaz prays for Yahweh’s blessing for his workers. And this is the blessing he also seeks for Ruth.

Boaz Converses with Ruth

Boaz immediately blesses her and offers her his protection. She should stay in his field, his workers will not bother her, and she has access to water to quench her thirst as well. This is loving kindness in action toward an impoverished foreign barren widow. Boaz has the power, wealth, and standing, and Ruth has nothing. Boaz shows Ruth the kindness of Yahweh; he shows her “grace” (or favor).

Ruth’s response is gratitude as she falls on the grown in appreciation for his kindness. She knows this is grace. But Boaz sees this blessing as an appropriate response to Ruth’s own loving kindness toward Naomi. He knows what she has done; he knows her story. He must have inquired.

Just as Boaz blessed his workers, so he blesses Ruth with a wish-prayer as well: “May the Lord reward you for your deeds” since she has sought refuge under the wings of Yahweh, “the God of Israel.” Boaz honors her decision to seek the protection of Yahweh (to hid under Yahweh’s wings for protection, Psalm 57:1) when she could have left Naomi alone and returned to Moab.

In response, Ruth humbly asks for continued grace toward her (and Naomi) and gives thanks for the comfort he has given and kind words he has spoken. She knows she is undeserving since she is not one of his servants but is willing to serve him as a servant. There is some discussion about the meaning of speaking “kindly.” Is it the sort of kindness shown to his own workers, or does she see the beginnings of a romantic possibility here?

Ruth Eats with the Reapers

We may presume this is lunch since she will work into the evening take grain and food home to Naomi.

Boaz doubles down on grace toward Ruth. She is invited to eat with the reapers, he parcels out some grain to her, and he instructs his workers to give her full access to the field without any hostility; so much so that she can glean from the standing sheaves. That kind of gleaning is a lot less work. The workers are told twice refrain from any negative actions and talk, and they are even to leave some of their work specifically for her.

Boaz shows Ruth a grand hospitality: invitation into the field, eating with the reapers, relieving the most difficult parts of her labor, and blessing her in the name of Yahweh. The extend of this grace is in absolute contrast to the way women were treated in the last four chapters of Judges, which immediately precedes Ruth in the English Old Testament.

It is difficult to imagine how overwhelming this might be to Ruth. Boaz’s manganous gesture filled with grace and blessing must have seemed otherworldly. And, in one sense it was. It was the grace and blessing of Yahweh in a representative of Israel’s God. It is, ultimately, a testimony to the character of Yahweh and what Yahweh’s people are supposed to be.

As one of my class members suggested, when Boaz provides a field, protection, provision (a harvest), and affection (“my daughter”), he represents Yahweh who has provided the same for Israel in their land. Ruth’s response is the sort of response appropriate for Israel who was an alien in a land and then loved by God by gifting to Israel a new Eden.

Will this relationship remain where it is, or is more in store for Ruth and Boaz? As we will see, it is again Ruth who takes the initiative, not Boaz. Ruth will act, and once again Boaz will respond.

We live in a chilling moment.

Children are dying. War has no end in sight. Political discourse is laced with malice and vitriol.

Yet, it seems to me, our time is no different than many other times in world history. There is nothing unique about the previous paragraph.

This is one reason the Hebrew Bible is filled with lament. Half of the Psalms are lament (two of which Jesus quotes on the cross). Job is an extended dramatic lament. And Israel has given us a whole book, exquisitely crafted in five poems (three of them acrostics), dedicated to lament. We call it “Lamentations.”

We read Lamentations, Job, and the lament Psalms to learn to lament, practice lament, and move through lament into God’s mercy.

Lament is not simply wallowing in one’s sorrow as if it is a function of self-pity. Nevertheless, it is complaint but more. It is also petition and even praise. Lament moves us through grief toward a confident hope in God. It takes time, and it takes practice. We must take the time to talk it out with God and lament with the help of our community.

Through lament the people of God, both as individuals and a community, voice their hurts, offer their petitions, and express their hope.

Indeed, at the center of Lamentations is one of the greatest expressions of hope (Lamentations 3:22-24). When we pray the laments, let us also remember to profess:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
            his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
            great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
            “therefore I will hope in him.”

Let us lament every evil in the world. Let us cry out to God for help. And let us trust in God’s faithful love, which is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit because we stand in the grace of Jesus, God’s Messiah.

The mercies of God are new every morning, including this morning!

–originally published as an email called “Light for the Day” through Lipscomb University, November 14, 2023.

Returning to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19-22)

So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” She said to them,

            “Call me no longer Naomi,

                        call me Mara,

                        for the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

            I went away full,

                        but the LORD has brought me back empty;

            why call me Naomi

                        when the LORD has dealt harshly with me,

                        and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

So Naomi returned together with Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, who came back with her from the country of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Is this Naomi? (Ruth 1:19)

When Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem, the narrator tells us two things happened: the whole city was “stirred” and the women asked, “Is this Naomi?”

What does it mean to say that whole city was stirred. This Hebrew word can mean something positive (1 Kings 1:45; Micah 2:12) or negative (Deuteronomy 7:23; Psalm 55:2). Is the town stirred with a joyous excitement or is the town disturbed by Naomi’s appearance? Or, is it a mixture of both? She has come without husband and sons with whom she left Bethlehem some years. Instead, she arrives with a Moabite woman.

Though the whole city was stirred, it is the women who ask the question among themselves. Perhaps this indicates that Naomi found a welcome among the women or that that is where she naturally first sought shelter or community. It is the women who raise the question, “Is this Naomi?” They knew Naomi before and they are surprised to see her again.

Yet, what is the point of that question? Is it shock or delight? Or perhaps something of both? We might hear shock in the question when we see this as the climax of the story of Naomi’s journey, including leaving Bethlehem with husband and sons but returning without them. Perhaps the narrator, by placing this at the end of this journey, emphasizes Naomi’s tragic circumstance. At the same time, it would not be surprising to hear in this question Naomi’s welcome and the delight of the women of Bethlehem to see her again.

I wonder if both emotions are possible: happy to see her but distressed by her appearance. When Job’s friends decided to go visit Job in order to comfort him, perhaps they were anxious to see him again; perhaps even delighted to see him again. But, at the same time, they were shocked by what they found when they saw him. As they approached him from a distance, “they did not recognize him.” Their response was lament as they “wept aloud” and then sat with him for seven days in silence (Job 2:12-13).

It seems likely that the question “Is this Naomi?” elicits both delight and shock. Bethlehem’s women are both happy to see Naomi again but shocked by her situation and appearance. Naomi returns, but she is not happy. She returns home but comes home empty.

Lament (Ruth 1:20-21)

Naomi rejects her name. While the women ask, “Is this Naomi?,” Naomi refuses the name, which means something like “pleasant.” When she left for Moab, her name was appropriate as she left with a husband and two sons, but now she returns with only a Moabite daughter-in-law. Her life is no longer pleasant but unpleasant. She does not return as one blessed but returns as one seemingly cursed.

We may hear her lament in three stages.

First, she offers a substitute for her name. “Call me Mara,” she says. The Hebrew word means “bitter” as in unpleasant or harsh, perhaps even cheated or filled with angry resentment. The word pictures a broken women who recognizes her situation. It is hopeless. She does not expect to see happiness again (much like Job in Job 7:7).

Mara is her new name because the Almighty has treated her bitterly (the verb form of the noun mara). The Almighty (el shaddai), the one who exercises power in the world without limits, has chosen bitterness for Naomi. This is not the normal name for God in the historical books of the Hebrew Bible. For example, it only occurs nine times in the Torah. However, thirty-one times in Job.

If the use of Shaddai, the parallel of the shock of the women and Job’s friends, and their common tragedies is some indication of the connection between the stories of Ruth and Job, the use of the word mara (bitterness) is another link. Here Job’s pain that parallels the pain of Naomi.

• Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul (Job 3:20)?
• I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul (Job 7:11).
• I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul (Job 10:1)
• Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning (Job 23:2).
• As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter . . . (Job 27:2).

For Naomi, like for Job, God is responsible for her bitter circumstances.

• Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you (Job 7:20)?
• Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me (Job 10:8)?
• Whom among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this (Job 12:9)?
• Surely God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company (Job 16:7).
• God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me (Job 23:16).
• Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me . . . (Job 30:11).
• You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me (Job 30:21).

Naomi sits on the ash-heap with Job. Both sit in bitterness, and they both acknowledge God’s responsibility for their tragic circumstances.

Her second complaint is the contrast between how she left Bethlehem and how she returned. She left full but has returned empty (for which Yahweh is responsible!). She left with husband and sons but returned only with a Moabite daughter-in-law. Interestingly, what God has done to Naomi (in her perspective) is what Eliphaz (one of Job’s friends) accuses Job of doing: “You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed” (Job 22:9).

At the same time, Yahweh does return Naomi. She returns empty, but she does return. The significance of the word “return” deserves comment (see below). Yahweh brings Naomi back to Bethlehem, her home and the land of promise.

Her third complaint raises the question why anyone would still call her Naomi. Perhaps the women of Bethlehem should have recognized the disconnect between the name Naomi (which means pleasant) and her circumstances. The best name for her now, according to Naomi, is Mara because “the Almighty has brought calamity upon” her.

The term “calamity” also provides some parallels to Job. The verb translated “has brought calamity” is from the Hebrew verb which, literally, means “to do evil.” The Hebrew verb/noun may refer to moral evil, but it may also simply refer to trouble or tragic circumstances. I have highlighted the English word that translates the Hebrew term.

• Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad? (Job 2:10)
• Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him (Job 2:11).
• But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came (Job 30:26).
• They showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him (Job 42:11).

Ruth and Job sit in the same place. They have experienced calamity (trouble), and they both believe God is responsible for their situation.

In his circumstance, Job had no hope. “My eye will never again see good,” Job lamented (Job 7:7). The fog of suffering clouded Job’s vision, and he expected death rather than anything good.

Naomi comes to Bethlehem with a similar vision of life. She has no hope of a husband or more children, as she previously told her daughters-in-law. She does not come home in hope but in despair, lament, and bitterness.

Her life is no longer “pleasant” but “bitter” (mara).

Return (Ruth 1:22)

The Hebrew term for “return” is used twelve times in chapter 1 (1:6-8, 10-12, 15-16, 21-22). While this is a way of talking about physical movement back and forth between Judah and Moab, it is also a theological comment.

“Return” reminds readers within Israel of the return of the people of Israel from exile. In that context, the return means that God welcomes people home (cf. Zephaniah 3:20; Zechariah 10:6,10; Ezra 2:1; 2 Chronicles 6:25). In fact, God is the implied mover behind the return. God may have brought trouble upon Naomi, but now God brings her home. God has brought Naomi home from her exile in Moab.

Moreover, Naomi returns at a time of prosperity, the harvest. The famine is over! Does this portend that Naomi’s fortunes might be reversed? Might her life move from bitterness to pleasantness. If the famine is over for Judah, what does this mean for Naomi?

The answer to that question lies in Ruth the Moabite, who is identified as such five times out the thirteen uses of her name (1:22; 2:2, 21; 4:5, 10). God will bring joy back into the life of Naomi through a Moabite, a barren widow. And that is shocking!

Widowed (Ruth 1:6-18)

Naomi Begins to Return to Bethlehem (Ruth 1:6-7)

Then she started to return with her daughters-in-law from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had considered his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she had been living, she and her two daughters-in-law, and they went on their way to go back to the land of Judah.

When Naomi hears that Yahweh had “considered” or “visited” the people of Judah and ended the famine, she decided to return to Judah and resettle there. We don’t know how long it was after the deaths of her husband and sons that God “visited” Judah, but the moment must have been remarkable. Living in Moab, whose God was Chemosh, Naomi heard that Yahweh, the God of Israel, had renewed life in Judah by gifting them food. The famine was over because Yahweh acted in grace (gift) toward God’s own people. This news moved Naomi to return and, at least for the moment, her daughters-in-law accompanied her with every intent, apparently, to resettle with her in Judah.

The verb translated “considered” (or, visited) often refers to God’s encounter with Israel. This visitation can be either negative (like punishment or discipline as in Exodus 34:7; Isaiah 13:11) or positive (gracious as in Exodus 4:31; Psalm 65:9; 106:4). Whatever the case, it changes the situation. God “visits” in the sense that God acts. God does something. In Ruth 1:6, God graced Judah with the end to their famine. God gave them food or, literally, “bread” (lechem). Ultimately, Naomi returns to Bethlehem (meaning “house of bread”) from Moab because God has once again graced Judah, including Bethlehem, with bread (“food”). God had not forgotten the people. Just as in other contexts during the period of the Judges, God returns to deliver and renew life with the people.

Understandably, widowed and without sons, Noami decides to return to her homeland. We don’t know what happens to an Israelite widow in Moab who has no sons. She may have lost all ability to sustain herself, though she still had two daughters-in-law. However, she recognizes Yahweh’s grace to Judah and hopes, perhaps against hope, to participate in it herself as one whose family roots are in Bethlehem. But she has no assurances, and it is a risky journey. Her tragic circumstances do not encourage hope but perhaps the journey is based on some hope, or perhaps it is more like going home to die. What she says to the daughter-in-laws in the next section might lead us to think it is more the latter rather than the former.

Naomi Urges her Daughter-in-Laws to Stay in Moab (Ruth 1:8-13)

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back each of you to your mother’s house. May the LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. The LORD grant that you may find security, each of you in the house of your husband.” Then she kissed them, and they wept aloud. They said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters, why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the LORD has turned against me.”

Three times Noami encourages here daughters-in-law to “turn back” (the verb is used six times in Ruth 1:8-13; thirteen times in chapter 1 [“return”]).

• Turn back, and Naomi blesses them (1:8-9)
• Turn back, and Naomi questions them (1:11)
• Turn back, and Naomi theologizes with them (1:12-13)

We don’t know how far they had traveled; perhaps they were on the verge of crossing the Jordan or entering Judah. Whatever the case, Naomi announces it is time for them to separate. She will go to Bethlehem, and the daughters-in-law must return to their “mother’s house.” If they return to their “mother’s house,” they might perhaps find future husbands. But if they continue with Naomi, she has no sons to offer them.

This is a remarkable sacrifice on her part. Her two daughters-in-law are her only support system, the only family she has in Moab. This reflects Naomi’s compassion for her daughters and perhaps even her own hopelessness.

In her first word, Naomi blesses them: “May Yahweh deal kindly (hesed) with you.” This is an important moment in the story. First, Naomi has not lost faith in her God to whom she still prays and offers blessings in Yahweh’s name. Second, she blesses them with the sort of experience from Yahweh that they have showed her and her sons. These Moabite daughters-in-law have been people of hesed (loving kindness; loyalty); Moabites can exhibit a key aspect of Yahweh’s life. Yahweh has an effective presence in Moab through these women; the borders of Judah and Moab do not delimit God’s presence. Hesed is a pervasive and central description of the God of Israel (see Psalm 136; Exodus 34:6-7). These Moabite women have practiced hesed, a quality that fundamentally describes Yahweh. Third, Naomi wants them to find “security” (literally, “rest”) in the home of another husband. Her wish prayer—that Yahweh would give them—is for peace and prosperity in the land of Moab with new husbands. Her heart only has grace and blessing for her daughters-in-law.

Both daughters, however, refuse to return to their mother’s house but press to return with Naomi to her people.

Naomi’s second word to her daughters-in-law questions their decision. “Why will you go with me?” Their refusal to return to Moab appears irrational to Naomi. There is no reason for them to continue with her. Their prospects are better in Moab than in Judah. It is better to return to their mother’s house in Moab than to continue with a widow into Judah. She has no more sons to offer them.

Naomi’s third word offers a piece of theology as a rationale for returning to Moab instead of continuing with her to Judah. While she expands the argument that there are no prospects for a husband arising from her womb, her final point concerns Naomi’s relationship with Yahweh.

Her reasoning is progressive: she has no husband, and even if she gets a husband and bear sons, would you wait until they were of marriageable age? Can you wait that long to marry? That is a lot of “ifs.” In other words, it is unimaginable to Naomi that her daughters-in-law would return with her in hopes of finding rest with her house. Even if rest is possible, it is years away. It is better if they return to their mother’s house and seek husbands in their own land and culture.

Her theological statement, however, is the clincher. It is the climactic point. The daughters-in-law must “turn back” because “it has been more bitter for me than for you,” and this is “because the hand of Yahweh has turned against me.”

Her bitterness—a theme to which we will return in the next lesson due to her statement in Ruth 1:20—is greater than her daughters-in-law. This certainly includes her multiple losses—a husband and two sons, though the daughters-in-law also lost husbands and a father-in-law. All three women lost their support system. Nevertheless, Naomi’s loses are “more bitter,” more tragic, though all losses are devastating. But her sense of “more bitter” is grounded in her next statement.

Naomi attributes here tragic circumstance, her bitterness, to the hand of Yahweh. She attributes, in some sense, her losses to Yahweh’s action or power.

Yahweh is still her God. She blessed her daughters-in-law in the name of Yahweh. At the same time, she believes God is responsible for her tragedies that generated her bitterness. The phrase “hand of Yahweh” refers to divine acts or divine sovereignty (see Numbers 11:23; Joshua 4:24; Isaiah 41:20; 59:1). Job, who himself was bitter (Job 7:11; 9:18; 10:1; 27:2), had a similar perspective: “Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?” (Job 12:9).

While I will say more about this in next week’s lesson, it seems that Naomi did not want her daughters-in-law to go to Judah with her because of her bitterness which is the result of the hand of Yahweh. In other words, perhaps she means that the daughters-in-law will find rest in Moab but not in Judah because to go to Judah is to continue with Naomi in her bitter situation. Perhaps she means that the daughters-in-law should not subject themselves to the ongoing bitterness in which Naomi lives because the hand of Yahweh is against her. She does not want her daughters-in-law to share her ongoing bitterness and Yahweh’s seeming hostility towards her. They will not find rest in Judah with Naomi because Yahweh’s hand has, literally, “gone out” against Namoi.

The Daughter-in-Laws Choose (Ruth 1:14-18)

Then they wept aloud again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. So she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said,

            “Do not press me to leave you

                        or to turn back from following you!

            Where you go, I will go;

                        Where you lodge, I will lodge;

            your people shall be my people,

                        and your God my God.

            Where you die, I will die—

                        there will I be buried.

            May the LORD do thus and so to me,

                        and more as well,

            if even death parts me from you!”

When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

Orpah kissed Naomi, but Ruth clung to her. Orpah turned back “to her people and to her gods,” and Ruth embraces Naomi’s people and God. Orpah returned to Moab, and Ruth continued with Naomi.

Both Orpah and Ruth have great affection for Naomi. Orpah kisses her and returns to Moab. She doesn’t leave Naomi in anger; she does not reject Namoi. She surrenders to her wish and accepts Naomi’s blessing. Indeed, from every reasonable point of view, Orpah makes the most sensible choice, as difficult as it was. Orpah is not critiqued for her decision; she submits to her mother-in-law’s direction. She does exactly as Naomi blessed her to do. She leaves with Naomi’s blessing.

Yet, Ruth “clung” to her, which is an intimate verb reflecting a close relationship (Genesis 2:24). Ruth is immovable; she is going to hang on to Naomi. This is beyond the bounds of duty. There is no obligation. It is gracious; it is Ruth’s gift to Naomi.

Instead of returning to her mother’s house, Ruth commits to sharing Naomi’s future: where she lives, the people among whom she lives, the God she worships, and the ground where she will be buried.

It is a wonderful statement of loyalty and commitment. It arises out of her hesed for Naomi, which arises from Yahweh’s own work in that family. This is the sort of commitment (covenant) Yahweh has made the people of Judah, and Ruth commits to share Naomi’s people and God. It is a commitment until death parts them, and even in death, Ruth will remain in the land and be buried in the place where Naomi is buried. Her commitment is total.

Ruth confirms this commitment with an oath using the name of Yahweh. It is a self-imprecation: “may Yahweh kill me if I don’t keep my promise to you.”

Perhaps her invocation of the name of Yahweh—whose hand had brought bitterness to Naomi’s life and in whose name Naomi had blessed her daughters-in-law—convinced Naomi that there was no use in trying to persuade Ruth otherwise. She swore an oath in the name of Yahweh, and there is no taking that back. Consequently, she said nothing else to her about it.

So, Naomi and Ruth continued their journey to Judah and ultimately Bethlehem. The widow with her barren daughter-in-law return to the land which Yahweh has recently “visited” with grace. What will they find there?

Naomi’s Tragedies (Ruth 1:1-5)

NRSV: “In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons. 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. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. When they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.”

Thus begins the story of Ruth, the daughter-in-law of Naomi. In the first paragraph, however, she is a minor character and the emphasis lies on Naomi.

Her story is located in a specific time, situation, and space.

“In the days when the Judges ruled” points us to the period described in the book of Judges—the book that precedes Ruth in the Protestant arrangement of biblical literature. Judges were both military leaders as well as, at times, judicial leaders. They were both political and religious leaders within Israelite culture. Yet, this was a time of moral degeneration within Israel’s culture. It was epitomized by the violent abuse of women (Judges 19:24-29; 21:20-24) and characterized as a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The period of history in which Ruth’s story is situated is a violent, chaotic, and disturbing world.

And “there was a famine in the land” of Judah. In addition to moral confusion, the land fails to bear fruit and people are going hungry. Life in Judah was a subsistent one; it was based on dry agriculture (that is, crops depended on rain rather than irrigation). Famine wrecked economy of Israel. Life was a struggle, and apparently it called for desperate measures on the part of Elimelech and Naomi.

One such desperate measure was to leave the inheritance of their ancestors to live in a foreign land. They abandoned their inheritance to live in the land of that God had not given them, the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 2:8). They left the land given to their fathers and grandfathers in Bethlehem to move to Moab. Elimelech may have come from a rather important family, probably from the clan associated with Ephrath. David belonged to that clan (1 Samuel 17:12).

Moreover, the two sons married Moabite women. Joshua warned Israel about the danger of marrying the women of other peoples (Joshua 23:12). Indeed, Moabites (as well as Ammonites, both were the descendants of the incestuous relationship between Lot and his daughters, Genesis 19:31-39) were an excluded people—no Moabite for at least the first ten generations was permitted to participate in the assembly of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:3) Further, the two sons and their wives did not conceive any children over a period of ten years. This, too, would have been interpreted as a tragic reality.

We might raise a few questions here. Was the famine a judgment against Judah? Was this part of the cycle of unfaithfulness that leads to judgment in the book of Judges? We are not told, though it is possible. Jewish tradition often interpreted this paragraph as a sign of divine judgment. Was the move to Moab an abandonment of God’s inheritance? Was the move a lack of faith in God’s providence and faithfulness to God’s own possession? Was the marriage of the sons to Moabite women an act of unfaithfulness? Perhaps, but we are not told any such thing in explicit terms, though one might argue that the narrator presumes it and assumes the reader will recognize it. Nevertheless, the emphasis lies on the tragic circumstances rather than interpreting divine action and meaning.

The narrator pictures a degenerative scenario that reflects the mileu of the book of Judges. It narrates a degenerative spiral: famine, movement to Moab, marriage to Moabite women, childlessness, and the death of the husband and sons. But perhaps this is not so much a moral degeneration but a spiral into tragedy as things go from bad to worse and the proverbial “other shoe” continually drops over and over again.

Most importantly, who is left? The women survive, and they are vulnerable. Without a living male in a foreign country, there is no inheritance and no means of support. The women are alone. Naomi, in particular, is alone in a foreign land without male support so important in ancient culture. She has the responsibility of two widowed daughter-in-laws. She has no resources.

If the family left Judah in desperation, Naomi finds herself in an even more desperate situation. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine a more desperate situation for an Israelite woman in the period of the Judges.

We might even say that Noami is the female Job of the Hebrew Bible. Or perhaps it is better to say that Job and Naomi share a similar losses and desperation, though her position as a woman in a patriarchal culture compounds it even more. Neither, however, seem to have a future worth living.

What would Naomi be thinking in this moment? How might she have viewed this unfolding tragedy? Fewell and Gunn, Compromising Redemption, pp. 26-27, offer a credible suggestion. Perhaps she was thinking something like this:

“She knew they should never have come. It had been wrong from the beginning. Leaving their own folk, their native place, to live among these foreigners. Elimelech’s death, the barrenness, now the deaths of her sons, both of them. They should all have gone back years ago when she had heard that the famine was over. The boys should never have married Moabite women. They should have gone back to find wives.”

Naomi probably lived with some significant regrets or perhaps some “what ifs” that would consume most people in her circumstance. Truly, it was a horrendous place to find oneself after living in Moab for at least ten years.

This lesson is based on Ephesians 4:1-16, delivered at the Northwest Christian Convention in Turner, OR, on July 30, 2023.

This is lesson was delivered at the Northwest Christian Convention in Turner, Oregon, on June 28, 2023.

The message is based on Ephesians 1:3-14.

Text: John 13:1-17

The sermon begins at about minute 43 at this link.

Through washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus teaches us to receive grace even when we feel unworthy and full of shame, and he also teaches us to follow his example of giving grace by serving others.

Text: Matthew 9:9-17

Jesus uses Hosea 6:6 to critique the criticism of some who objected to his eating with “tax collectors and sinners.”

The point? Jesus pursues mercy for the sake of healing, and this is at the heart of kingdom living. It is pouring new wine into wineskins.