Returning to Yahweh
Introduction
6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept. 10 And they said to her, “No, we will return with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.” 14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” 18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” 20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.
Since God uses trials to return His children to Himself, we can suffer through difficulties with joy.
Naomi was emptied by God in Moab by the death of her men.
Yahweh visited His people in Judah and gave them food.
Naomi returned to Judah for filling because of her emptiness in Moab
Since God works in manifold ways to bless his children, we can suffer through difficulties with joy.
Naomi saw God’s hand of judgment and failed to see his lovingkindness.
Ruth saw God’s lovingkindness as worth more than any judgment.
God blesses a Moabite!
Since God has visited us in His son to bring us to glory, we can suffer through difficult times with joy.
Conclusion:
The link of חֶסֶד with covenant is made explicit in the hendiadic expression הברית והחסד, “the covenant and the lovingkindness,” viz., “the gracious covenant,” in Deut 7:9, 12; 1 Kgs 8:23 = 2 Chr 6:14; Neh 1:5; 9:32; Dan 9:4.
The phrase bêt ʾēm occurs elsewhere only three times. In Song 3:4; 8:2 it refers to the bedroom of a person’s mother, where lovers might find privacy. In Gen 24:28 Rebekah is said to have run home to her mother’s house to report her conversation with Abraham’s servant, who was sent to find a wife for Isaac. In each instance the phrase “house of a mother” is found in a context involving love and marriage. Accordingly, by sending each of her daughters-in-law home to her “mother’s house” Naomi is releasing them to remarry. Support for this interpretation may be found in v. 9, where Naomi prays that both of them would find security in the “house of her husband.”
The phrase bêt ʾēm occurs elsewhere only three times. In Song 3:4; 8:2 it refers to the bedroom of a person’s mother, where lovers might find privacy. In Gen 24:28 Rebekah is said to have run home to her mother’s house to report her conversation with Abraham’s servant, who was sent to find a wife for Isaac. In each instance the phrase “house of a mother” is found in a context involving love and marriage. Accordingly, by sending each of her daughters-in-law home to her “mother’s house” Naomi is releasing them to remarry. Support for this interpretation may be found in v. 9, where Naomi prays that both of them would find security in the “house of her husband.”
Ver. 15. Thy sister-in-law returned home to her people and to her God. In these remarkable words lies the key to the understanding of vers. 11–13. Her daughters had said to her (ver. 10), “We will go with thee to thy people.” It grieves Naomi to be obliged to tell them, with all possible tenderness, that in the sense in which they mean it, this is altogether impossible. It was necessary to intimate to them that a deeper than merely national distinction compels their present parting: that what her sons had done in Moab, was not customary in Israel; that her personal love for them was indeed so great, that she would gladly give them other sons, if she had them, but that the people of Israel was separated from all other nations by the GOD of Israel. Orpah understood this. Strong as her affection for Naomi was, her natural desire for another resting-place in a husband’s house was yet stronger; and as she could not hope for this in Israel, she took leave and went back. For the same reason, Naomi now speaks more plainly to Ruth: thy sister-in-law returned home to her people and to her God. It is not that we belong to different nations, but that we worship different Gods, that separates us here at the gates of Israel.
12 The Lord repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”