5 Days in the Book of RuthНамуна

Day 2: “Your God will be my God”

Read Ruth 1:6-22

Noami and Ruth Return to Bethlehem

When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”

At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

Reflection on the passage:
Picture a visit to the airport in which you witness an emotional goodbye or reuniting moment between people. The people-observer in me finds these scenes fascinating to watch. Similar dramatic scenes are described in this chapter of Ruth. First is Naomi’s tearful departure on the road to Judah, as she urges her two weeping daughters-in-law not to follow her, while Ruth clings to her. Second is Naomi’s return to Bethlehem which causes a stir among the women of the town, who seem to barely recognize her. Yet even more important than these human relationships, of which we are given such a vivid snapshot, are these characters’ relationships with Yahweh, the one true Almighty God.

Naomi is still operating out of a belief in Yahweh (translated as “the LORD” in the NIV), even though she has been living for the past 10 years in a foreign land, where the Moabites worshipped a god named Chemosh. She prays God’s blessing over her daughters-in-law, attributes to God the end of the famine (“…the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them…”), and sees God as the one who has brought misfortune upon her (“…The LORD has afflicted me….”). Although, in her grief, she is seeing through a bitter and hopeless lens, we still see faith in her.

As far as Orpah, we can say that she is certainly loving toward her mother-in-law and is willing to go with her. But after Naomi’s insistence and reality check that they are more likely to find marriage and security back in their homeland, Orpah listens to Naomi’s words and returns home to her people and her gods. Ruth, however, is not so easily convinced.

What makes Ruth stand out in her determination to follow Naomi seems to me to be about more than her beautiful, loving commitment to her mother-in-law. Ruth is turning away not only from her people and possible marriage prospects, but from the Moabite gods: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God”. In verse 17 she even refers to God by the specific name of Yahweh, given to the Israelite people. I wonder if over the years of being part of this Jewish family, Ruth began to believe in this one true God herself, and perhaps this is part of what drew her to Naomi. Now God is using Ruth’s faithful heart to bring light into Naomi’s dark bitterness, even if Naomi can’t see it yet.

May we be awake to how our relationship with God can bring love and hope into all our relationships. Others may be drawn to God when they see our love for Him, or someone’s new faith may reignite the faith of one who has known God all his/her life.

Focus verse for prayerful reflection:
“’Don’t call me Naomi,’ she told them. ‘Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.’” (Ruth 1:20)

1. Naomi means “pleasant,” and Mara means “bitter.” What does your name mean? Does it seem to fit what you are feeling about your own life right now?

2. Naomi is honest about how she sees God as the one who has afflicted her. Talk honesty with God about how you are feeling toward Him and about your life circumstances right now.

For further reading:
Read Deuteronomy 25:5-10 to better understand Naomi saying she’s too old to have another son for her daughters-in-law to marry.