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The story of Ruth is full of surprises. She is the main character of the book of Ruth and she is someone who anyone would be proud to call family (if they knew her, that is). This is not only the story of a woman, but the story of a redeemer. That redemption requires love.
When one looks at the first verse of the book of Ruth, one can compare it to the first sentence of a newspaper article. The Holy Spirit was covering a story and it was trying to fit as much into the first sentence as possible. "In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man, from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 1.1). When did this story take place? It took place in the period of the judges around "twelfth century B. C." (Ernest et al. 126-133, 318). What happened? A man from Bethlehem in Judah went to Moab with his family to escape a famine. This was no ordinary famine. This was a famine sent by God to punish the people of Israel. The days of the judges were rather dark days because all the time God had to punish the Israelites and had to raise judges to deliver the people (Vernon 88-120).
In the Old Testament all the names have meaning. Bethlehem means house of bread and Judah means praise. Moab however, has quite a diverse meaning. In Psalm 108:9 David says, "Moab is my washbasin . . . (The Teen Study Bible, Psalms 108.9)" which can be likened to "Moab is my dumpster" (Vernon 88-120). So in the first verse of Ruth we see a family go from the "house of praise and bread" to a "dumpster". Running from God is not a good way to start off a story.
There are even more names in the second verse. "The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 1.2).” Elimelech's name means "my God and King" which is rather ironic given the circumstances; he is not acting like God is his king (Vernon 88-120). Naomi, his wife's name, means "pleasant" so it is safe to assume she is the kind of person you would want to be around, one can go as far as to pretend she has a bubbly and optimistic personality (Elizabeth 142-154). Moving on to the sons' names. Mahlon means "unhealthy and Kilion means "puny", Elimelech and Naomi had two sickly boys (Vernon 88-120).
In the next couple verses Naomi's husband dies and her two sons marry Moabite women (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 1.3-5). One woman named Orpah marries Mahlon and the other woman Ruth marries Kilion. Naomi's family ran away from God and continued to sin; they broke the Mosaic Law by marrying Moabite women. The name Orpah means "fawn" or "deer" so she was probably an athletic person. The name Ruth means "beauty" and "personality". One might stop and wonder how two sickly men got such nice looking and athletic wives (Vernon 88-120).
The two sickly sons die leaving Ruth and Orpah as widows. In the sixth verse Naomi hears a rumor that God is done teaching the Israelites a lesson and has blessed them again so she packs her bags for the "House of Bread and Praise" (Ernest, et al. 126-133, 318). The three widows are on the road heading to the House of Bread and Praise when Naomi tells Ruth and Orpah to go back to their homes because she cares about them (which is a lot more than most mothers can say about their daughter-in- laws). Naomi explains to them that she has nothing back in Bethlehem in Judah (Vernon 88-120).
Moabites and Israelites did not usually get along because of several reasons. The Moabites worshiped the idol Chemosh, which was very sinful in the eyes of the Israelites since their God declared to be a jealous God. This, along with some political rivalry kept the Israelites speaking harshly of Moabites for centuries. If that was not bad enough, before the Israelites entered the Promised Land Moabite women would seduce Israelite soldiers and persuade them to worship Chemosh. This resulted in God sending down a plague killing the sinners and Israelites who turned their backs on Him. If Ruth and Orpah go with Naomi, they will live in poverty and never be able to marry again because they are Moabites (Ernest et al. 126-133, 318).
In the crossroads of the land of Dumpster there are three widows. Naomi tells her two daughter-in-laws, Athletic and Beautiful, to go back to their homes. In verse nine their response is to cling to their mother-in-law and weep. They tell her they want to go back with her to the House of Bread and Praise even though Naomi has warned them of the consequences. After much sobbing on Ruth and Orpah's part and much pleading on Naomi's part, Orpah decides to go back to her home and idol. Ruth is left in verse fourteen clinging to Naomi. Mrs. Pleasant tells her to go back to her people and idol just like Orpah did but Ruth replies, "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 anything but death separates you and me" (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 1.16,17).
What Ruth is saying is so powerful. She says, "Where you go, I will go, and where you stay I will stay". This means Ruth is not just using Naomi as a passport into Palestine; she will identify herself with Naomi and stick with her. She then says, "Your people will be my people and your God my God". Ruth is choosing to leave behind her own people and identify herself with the people of God. Ruth is not only making a real choice for Naomi, but for God also. This is no story about religious tolerance; Ruth is choosing the God of the Israelites over her own. Ruth is choosing to repent from her ways and idol and cling to God and His people. "Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried." This had a lot more significance in Ruth's time than it did if it had been said today. The Israelites were not planning on going to Heaven; they were planning on being raised from the dead in the land they were buried in. That was the hope of Abraham to Jacob; that was why they were so scrupulous that they were all buried together. Ruth says that she accepts Israel’s hope and wants to be buried with Naomi (Vernon 88-120). How many daughter-in-laws want the first thing they see in the afterlife to be their mother-in-law? Not many.
Now Naomi is convinced that Ruth is not going to wimp out like Orpah, so she stops urging her to go back to Moab. When the two widows arrive in Bethlehem the whole town is stirring because of it. They are all wondering if this is the same woman who left with her family for Moab ten years ago. If she is, where is her family? Why on earth does she have this Moabite woman with her instead? When they ask, "Can this be Naomi?" she replies in verse twenty and twenty-one, "Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 1.20, 21)." Mara means "bitter" (Elizabeth 142-154). Naomi was telling everyone, "Do not call me pleasant, call me bitter. I have turned against God and I'm suffering the consequences!" She did go away "full". She went to Moab with a family, and she came back with the burden of having lost two children and a husband. Empty of the love of her family and the hope she had for her future with them, would cause most pleasant people to become bitter. At any rate, her pessimistic comment most likely rained on any reunion plans her neighbors were making for her.
No matter what Naomi tells people to call her, the Holy Spirit knows best because in verse twenty-two she is still called Naomi (Vernon 88-120). "So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning" (The Teen Study Bible, Ruth 1.22). Maybe Mrs. Pleasant will be making a comeback.
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Bibliography
Deen, Edith. All of the Women of the Bible. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.
81-87. Print
George, Elizabeth. A Devotional Walk with the Women of the Bible: Women Who Loved God.
Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1999. 142-154. Print
Heaton, E. W. Everyday Life in Old Testament Times. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1956. 60-61. Print
McGee, J. Vernon. Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee: Joshua through Psalms 2.
Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988. 88-120. Print
The Teen Study Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1998.
317-321. Print
Wright, G. Ernest, Vaughn E. Crawford, Stephen J. Hartdegen, Laton E. Holmgren, Robert H.
Johnston, James B. Pritchard, Nahum M. Sarna, Patrick W. Skehan, et al., Great
People of the Bible and How They Lived. Sydney, Australia: The Reader's Digest
Association, 1974. 126-133, 318. Print
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