Naomi Becomes a Widow// 1 Timothy 5:3–16
1In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab. 2The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there.
- RUTH 1:1[NOTE]IN THE DAYS WHEN THE JUDGES RULED. Ruth happens in the same dark days as the book of Judges. Bethlehem means house of bread, and the house of bread had no bread.
- RUTH 1:1[FIELD NOTES]Moab was a real kingdom east of the Dead Sea, and its own king carved a stone about 840 BC. See The Mesha Stele Field Notes page.
- RUTH 1:2[NOTE]Elimelech means my God is king. Naomi means pleasant. Many think Mahlon and Chilion mean sickly and failing, which fits what happened to them. Ephrathites were people from Ephrathah, the old name for the Bethlehem area, Genesis 35:19 and Micah 5:2.
3Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons, 4who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth.
And after they had lived in Moab about ten years, 5both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband.
- RUTH 1:4[NOTE]The Moabites came from Lot, Abraham's nephew, Genesis 19:37. God's law kept Moabites out of the assembly of Yahweh, Deuteronomy 23:3. See the Big Question pages A Moabite in Jesus' Family?
Ruth’s Loyalty to Naomi
6When Naomi heard in Moab that Yahweh had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab. 7Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road leading back to the land of Judah.
8Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s home. May Yahweh show you loving devotion, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9May Yahweh enable each of you to find rest in the home of your new husband.”
- RUTH 1:8[NOTE]LOVING DEVOTION is the Hebrew word hesed: loyal love that keeps showing up. It is the big word of this book, 1:8, 2:20 and 3:10.
And she kissed them as they wept aloud 10and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.”
11But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands? 12Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, 13would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it is much more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of Yahweh has gone out against me.”
14Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
15“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.”
- RUTH 1:15[DEMONIC]Orpah goes back to her people and her gods
16But Ruth replied:
“Do not urge me to leave you
or to turn from following you.
For wherever you go, I will go,
and wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
- RUTH 1:16[NOTABLE]One of the greatest promises of loyalty ever spoken, and a Moabite widow said it. Ruth chose Naomi's people and Naomi's God for life. It is still read at weddings.
17Where you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May Yahweh punish me,
and ever so severely,
if anything but death
separates you and me.”
- RUTH 1:17[NOTE]Ruth swears by Yahweh, the God of Israel, by name. A Moabite woman is now calling on Naomi's God.
18When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.
The Return to Bethlehem
19So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women of the town exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
- RUTH 1:19[FIELD NOTES]A clay seal found in Jerusalem names Bethlehem. See the Bethlehem Field Notes page.
20“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me. 21I went away full, but Yahweh has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, Yahweh has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.”
- RUTH 1:20[NOTE]Mara means bitter. The Almighty is the Hebrew name Shaddai, the name God used with Abraham, Genesis 17:1. Naomi is honest with God about her pain, and the book does not scold her for it.
22So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
- RUTH 1:22[FIELD NOTES]The barley harvest came in spring, about April. A farm calendar from about the 900s BC gives it a month of its own. See The Gezer Calendar Field Notes page.