Naomi has made the momentous decision to return home to Judah. In Moab she lost everything but, hearing of the LORD's grace to his people, she is going back.
But we saw last time that she isn't going alone. Although she has been the focus of attention, her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, are also in the picture. It seems that they have every intention of going to Judah with her.
Listening to, or reading, the story, that fact raises a number of questions: how will they fare as widows in a foreign land, especially being Moabite women? "They are caught by ethnic divisions...by gender divisions...by religious divisions and by the mystery of the way God deals with us" (Goldingay p.200/1).
It may well be that the tension of such divisions has been weighing heavily on Naomi's mind because in these verses she speaks to persuade the women to go back to their own people. Her arguments for them doing so give us an insight into her own heart and state of mind as she returns to Judah.
1. Concern for Others
One of the most notable aspects of these verses, and indeed of the whole book, is the concern for others that the characters display.
You see it in Orpah and Ruth's intention to go to Judah with Naomi. For them to do so would be to leave their own people, as they show in v.10. It isn't "so much a change of physical location as a change of social orientation" (Sakenfeld p.26). Families joined by marriage often go their own way after bereavement. But these girls wanted to 'go the extra mile'.
And that same concern for others is seen here in Naomi. You see it the arguments she uses to persuade them to go back. She is obviously concerned for their future happiness above any concern for own welfare and the help that they may give her.
Her desire for them is expressed very tenderly: she wants them to go back to their mothers' homes (a phrase that conjures up pictures of marriage) and there for them to “find rest in the home of another husband”.
That word “rest” speaks of a settled security and of relief from weariness. Their lives have been anything but settled in recent times and they must be very weary of sadness. Having them go back with her might have given Naomi greater security (although that is not certain); it certainly would have been company for her, but her concern is for them.
In all three women, this trait is clearly seen and is something for us to learn from. But we don’t simply learn it from them; the greatest example of concern for others is our Lord Jesus Christ dying in our place. Paul’s words in Phil. 2 and 2 Cor. 8:9 show us powerfully what it means to put others above ourselves.
2. Praying for God's blessing
Someone might ask 'Why if she was so concerned for them did she not encourage them to leave Moab and its false gods and go with her to Judah and to the Lord's people?'
Naomi is obviously aware of the problems of going back and, humanly speaking, perhaps sees the problems as being too great for Orpah and Ruth. To go with her will require a step of faith but that must be theirs and not hers on their behalf.
But notice that she does what she can for them (a very important principle). She commits them to the Lord and to his kindness. Her prayer in vv.8,9 is very revealing and very instructive to us.
Naomi's life has been devastated. Her own assessment of it is in vv.11-13. But the hard experiences of life haven't made her hardhearted towards others. She is full of concern for Orpah and Ruth. But more importantly still, it hasn't overturned her view of the Lord. She prays here that he will “deal kindly” with them and in doing so she uses a word that is at the heart of the Lord's covenant with his people.
She prays that the Lord will show them 'hesed', a word that is often translated as 'loving kindness' or 'loyal love'. It is a word that has a real depth of meaning and is a key to this whole book. One study into its use suggests it has the following aspects:
- the "action is essential to the survival or basic well-being of the recipient";
- "the needed action is one that only the person doing the act is in a position to provide"
- it "takes place or is requested within the context of an existing, established and positive relationship between the persons involved" (Sakenfeld p.24)
Naomi has experienced something of such kindness from these girls (“as you have shown to your dead and to me”); now she prays they would know its highest realisation. No prayer could be higher in its aspiration for others, nor in its estimation of God.
Often we feel powerless to help others. Their needs are far too great for us to meet. But what we can do is to pray for them and in particular we can pray that God will show them his grace and mercy, the ‘hesed’ he displayed in Jesus. In urging them to go home, Naomi doesn't abandon them to Chemosh but commits them to God.
When we pray for others, committing them to the mercy and kindness of God, we may have in mind what we hope for by way of an answer. Naomi's hope is that they will “find rest in the home of another husband”. If you know the story, then Eph 3:20 may well come to your mind! But that's running ahead.
3. Bitterness of heart (vv.11-13)
Naomi is concerned for others above herself. She prays that others will know God's rich blessing on their lives. And yet in vv.11-13 we see that her view of her own life and her own experience of the Lord is not so straightforward.
In these verses she closes her argument as to why they should go back to Moab. If they stick with her, they've got no chance of another marriage; they'll have no hope of achieving the rest that she has prayed for. It all sounds so reasonable.
But there is another, darker aspect to her thinking here. She describes her experiences in this way: “the LORD's hand has gone out against me”. The key thing to know is that that phrase is used of God dealing with his enemies. Naomi seems to feel that is what she has become and is expressing her pain and frustration at that.
It may well be that, like Job, she doesn't know why this has all happened to her. Or maybe she silently feels she’s getting what she deserves for having gone to Moab (did she have a choice?) and must simply resign herself to the Lord's ongoing chastisement. Maybe she doesn't want them to go back with her partly because she feels that this is something she must bear alone.
Naomi's perspective is shaped by the bitter experiences of life. She hasn't renounced her faith but she is subdued in it. It has lost its vitality and joy. For her, life in God's family is now hard and bitter and will perhaps always be like that (cf. v.21). She is broken-hearted and crushed in spirit.
Maybe you feel the same way today. You know that God is good, that he is a God of mercy and you hope others will know that. But, for yourself, the experience of such blessing is a thing of the past; it’s no longer a living reality. You feel that somehow the Lord's hand has gone out against you and that his lot for you in this life in only pain and sorrow.
That seems to have been Naomi's perspective but it isn't the book's perspective - the story isn't over yet! I won't elaborate on that now but let me just say in closing that this book and the Bible as a whole give us a different perspective (cf. Job - end better than the beginning; and esp. Jesus – ‘Eli, Eli…’ & raised to life again).
If you can relate to Naomi this morning, let me just close by saying that your story isn’t over yet either. It is possible to find the rest and the relief that Naomi asked for Orpah and Ruth; we find it in the Lord who is “close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Ps 34:18).
May he help us to grasp that hope for ourselves, even as we pray for others. Amen.
