This is the 4th post as I blog through my study of the book of Ruth. If this is the first post you are reading, I encourage you to read my prior posts.
Ruth 1:1-5; The Goodness of God
Ruth 1:6-18; Doing the Next Thing
I’ve had this post almost ready several times but I just kept procrastinating posting it. It is our birthday week in our house. I have 4 kids who were all born the same week of September so as you can imagine it’s been a fun, but busy week. And then the assignation of Charlie Kirk happened and I just didn’t feel as though my post was ready. But today, I’m posting.
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?” She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 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?” 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. Ruth 1:19-22
In the last 4 verses of chapter 1 we find Naomi & Ruth have returned to Bethlehem. Naomi is a changed woman, and apparently looks differently too. “The whole town was stirred” when they arrived. I have this picture in my head of a caravan walking through the city gates, Ruth & Naomi were a part of it and when the women, who were gathered by the city well noticed Naomi all conversations shifted. They seem to be shocked at her appearance because they asked if it was really her.
Her response is notable. She returns with the weight of the past ten years on her and it’s so heavy that her physical appearance has changed and she feels undeserving of her name.
“Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me” (vs 21)
In the midst of her grief and sorrow, she acknowledges God as the author of her adversity and gives us two pictures of God.
LORD in all caps means Yahweh. This is the sovereign God who is good and faithful.
Almighty is the name for God meaning he is omnipotent, all powerful.
This woman who has lost everything has returned to her people and to her God and acknowledges him as her all powerful, sovereign God who is faithful and good!
Because she is Hebrew, we know she was taught the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4-6, Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and strength. What a beautiful example of what loving the LORD with all your heart, soul and strength looks like. Your life is rooted in this love and what grows from it is what others will see. Out of that love also flowed responsibility for sin and brought her to godly repentance. Naomi may have wandered from the Lord by going to Moab, but she returned. And she returned in a way we need to return to the Lord, completely empty, ready for him to refill. By returning empty, she is given a new hope for her future. All of this exemplified for Ruth the Moab.
This is the glorious Gospel! God’s grace is abundant and sufficient for our salvation. We come to him completely empty and he fills us with his Spirit and gives us a new life.
The ladies return at the beginning of the barley harvest. This is important. Naomi left when there was nothing to harvest and is returning at a time of hope, celebration and provision.
When my husband and I married, he farmed with his father. Wheat was one of the crops they raised. It’s very similar to barley. I remember harvest season. It was hard. Many long hours and late nights, but it was also a time of hope. If the crops did well and the selling price was good, we could get paid very well. The anticipation of getting the crop out of the field and sold was always great! I can only imagine the buzz around town as the harvest was beginning. It was a joyful time, and I feel that Naomi returning home made it even more joyful for her family.
Let this passage remind you that our hope should rest only in Jesus. He alone is Saviour. We can hope in better jobs, better friends, a better life, but when it is all said and done, none of that will bring the satisfaction that only Jesus brings.
1 Peter 1:6-8 is such a precious reminder to me that we will suffer, but the suffering will never be in vain and through the testing of my faithfulness I really can experience joy that is inexpressible and full of glory because Jesus is my hope! When the trials seem bigger that we can stand, we have to return to what we know…our God is sovereign. He knows all about this and he has already made a way through for us because he is our absolute hope! We can’t rely on our feelings. If Ruth had relied on her feelings she probably would have died in Moab, but she loved her God more, pushed her grief aside, got up and returned to her people where soon her joy was restored.
There is a hymn we sing in our church that my mind continued to wander to as I studied this passage. It’s a hymn our pastor wrote, called “I Set My Hope”.
Jesus is our living hope. May we recognize his goodness and be filled with his hope as he empties us of all that would distract us from him, who made us in his image and to his glory!
Dana Bailey 