Life is a journey through a foreign land
O. R. Melling
Naomi had no say in the leaving, although she knew they couldn’t stay.
There was no food. Her children were hungry. When Elimelek said they must travel to Moab, they went. It was not hers to lead, but to follow.
How hard it was to leave the small town where she was born, where she had wed and bourne her children. Who would be there for her to share her life with in a foreign land? How would she pray in a place of foreign gods?
But the barley crop failed for too many seasons, stalks withering, the rot creeping up from their roots. No matter how they worked together to pull each root from the ground and plow it until the soil was free of rot, with the next season the scourge returned. The barley died.
Their hectare was completely sown with barley. Unlike many families, they had never acquired goats or sheep or other livestock to help them through this famine. They had never planted olive trees or other fruits. They had nothing to eat and nothing to trade.
Their neighbors were generous but there was no longer anything to spare. Her friends gathered and gave them all that they could for the journey, but it would not be enough, no matter how careful they were.
This time it was her decision to leave. She did not belong to this foreign land. She never had. No longer did she need to follow a man’s direction. There was no man to follow. There was nothing in Moab to keep her from her home.
Elimelek died less than a year after they arrived, and now her sons were dead as well. Her dreams for her sons and their wives to have children and prosper would never happen. She would never cradle grandchildren in her arms. Yahweh had turned his face from her.
There was noone in Moab to care for Naomi and the wives of her sons. She would send Orpah and Ruth back to their families where they would be cared for. She would return to her home, to her friends and the familiar landscape of her beloved Bethlehem, to the people she knew and who knew her. Naomi was certain she would be remembered.
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.
Ruth 1: 16-17
No matter how she pleaded, Orpah and Ruth packed their belongings and followed her on the road encompassing the Salt Sea. Naomi knew from her trip of over a decade ago what a hard journey it would be.
Several days into their arduous walk, Naomi again turned to her daughters-in-law. Orpah could still bear children. Even Ruth was not yet beyond child bearing. Naomi knew many other women who bore children after being barren with their first husband.
“Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”
She hugged these women who had become like her daughters. They did not deserve to live the life of poverty she was returning to.
“We will go back with you to your people,” they said to her.
They were being kind. Naomi knew they truly loved her. But she would not let them leave their home as she had to go to a strange place without family or friends.
“Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!”
She heard the asperity in her voice. Had she not been a faithful servant to Yahweh, her God? Had she not always followed the bidding of her husband? Had she not prayed for these women to have sons that would be raised to worship the one true God? Their wives were free to worship their own gods, but her sons had never joined them. Should they to be punished for seeking food and shelter in a foreign place?
Yahweh did not answer her plea. Instead he took all that she had. How could she not feel this wretchedness in her soul?
Orpah picked up her belongings and began her return to Moab. Naomi blessed her leaving. She knew how desperately Orpah wanted a child and how hopeless that would be if she followed Naomi. Orpah left sobbing, but Naomi welcomed Orpah’s decision. Naomi rejoiced that Orpah chose to live her own life, to pursue her own dreams.
Ruth did not follow but clung to Naomi.
“Look, your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her” she beseeched her.
Ruth refused, responding
“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 even death separates you and me.”
Naomi realized then that Ruth would not leave. Ruth knew that Naomi’s life would be destitute. She would never be able to obtain enough food to live. Naomi merely wanted to die at home.
Ruth wanted her to live.
And so they continued their journey through the harsh, rocky road that would lead Naomi to her childhood home. They found comfort in each other on the long journey, and Naomi was not sad that Ruth had not left her. True to her words, Ruth began to join Naomi in the rituals of Yahweh worship.
The people of Bethlehem met Naomi with cries of delight. Those of the village who saw her first called to others to come and greet her.
“Naomi has returned. She has come back to us when we thought never to see her again.”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
The people saw how tired she was, how she mourned her husband and sons. Her friends took her burdens in their own hands to lead her to food and rest. That is when they realized that Naomi was not alone. The woman standing silently behind her must be the wife of one of her sons. She was dressed in a widow’s garment. Why had she come? they wondered; but they said nothing. Ruth followed them as they led Naomi away.
“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” – Coretta Scott King
They settled in Naomi’s former house using straw for their bed. Neighbors repaired the roof. They could do their cooking outside. The fields were overgrown. There was no time to sow seed for a crop. Naomi knew she must allow Ruth to glean in others’ fields if they were to eat.
This troubled Naomi.
Ruth’s beauty could be seen no matter how modestly she dressed. If she went to the wrong field without the protection of friends, she might be attacked. But there was no other way.
Naomi spent that first day on her knees in prayer, asking God to care for Ruth as she worked for their food.
When Naomi saw how much Ruth had gleaned that day, she was amazed. How could she return with so much grain? Not only would they eat tonight, but they would be full. Her astonishment grew even greater as Ruth handed her the already cooked grain.
“What has happened, my daughter?”
“A great fortune has been given us by your God. I went to a field as you said where I was allowed to walk behind the servants of the master as they were harvesting the field. All morning I walked behind his servants at a distance and found gleanings still left behind.”
“What a generous man!” Naomi pronounced. She knew that many owners left the barest amount the law required.
“The owner himself came into the fields to give us greetings. I did not expect an owner to come into the fields himself. His servants claim he works alongside them in the winnowing.”
“I was so afraid when he called me to himself. I feared he would have me leave as I am a foreigner.”
“What did he say to you, my child?” Naomi was overwhelmed by Ruth’s news.
“He told me, My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”
“I am a Moabitess. Why would he treat me so? I asked him why he would do this for a foreigner. He did it for you, Naomi. He said to me
“I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
‘He invited me to eat with his own servants. That is the leftover meal that I saved for you.”
Naomi was certain that this man had rewarded Ruth for her faithfulness to her. If she had known such an owner, she would have directed Ruth to him that morning.
“Where was this field? What man did this for you?” Naomi asked.
“The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” Ruth told her.
Naomi heard his name with great joy.
“The Lord bless him! He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead. That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.”
Naomi quickly realized how she might repay Ruth for her fidelity. Boaz had the legal right to claim her as wife. Perhaps he could be convinced to redeem Ruth for her son.
Then Ruth told her, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’”
What a blessing Yahweh had sent her. Boaz would see Ruth every day. He would see more than her comeliness; he would see her goodness and faithfulness as he had already shown with his generous gift. He would not be bound to accept Ruth, but with time, he might look at her with favor. It was not unusual for even a man as old as Boaz to take another wife. Even if this did not come to be, Ruth would be safe. They would have what they needed to survive.
“It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”
Naomi’s neighbors were eager to tell her of Ruth’s hard work in the fields. All of them expected Ruth to find a husband among the workers. Many had shown an interest in her but none of them had received any encouragement from Ruth. She responded with modesty and no more.
It would not be bad for Ruth to attract a younger husband, one who could give her children. Boaz was a wealthy but old man. It would not be a long marriage.
But Ruth seemingly had no interest in remarrying. She had loved Mahlon very much and seemed content to remain with Ruth. Naomi would wait until the harvest was over before she made judgment on what she should do. She did not want Ruth to suffer for her choice to follow her.
I'd rather be in the palm of Your hand
Though rich or poor I may be
Ron Block
The season was at an end. The winnowing had begun and Boaz had shown Ruth nothing but kindness. Naomi knew the path she must take. She instructed Ruth to bathe in sweet oils and to dress in her finest clothes to go to Boaz.
“Go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
As always, Ruth obeyed her in all things.
It was with great dismay that Naomi saw in the shadow of the early morning a figure she knew to be Ruth. Had Boaz rejected her? Had he taken her and then sent her away? But when Ruth presented Naomi with the six measures of barley, she knew Boaz would treat her fairly.
“Why did Boaz send you away?” Naomi asked her. “Did he not accept you as wife?”
“He told me that another man is a closer relative than he. He must first ask this man if he wants the land and me.”
Ruth looked worried. She had done as Naomi asked but she had no desire to leave Naomi for another household, another man she had never met. Boaz had been good to her. She did not fear him. What if this other man treated her ill?
“Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”
It was a long day. Both women looked surreptitiously to the horizon for any sign of Boaz. It was late in the day before their prayers were answered. In his hand, Boaz carried the sandal of the other man that meant he had rejected his claim. Ruth embraced Naomi. They would remain together. Boaz would become Ruth’s redeemer.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
-Luke 1:41-42
Only a few months after the marriage, Ruth found herself with child. Naomi’s joy knew no bounds. All that she had hoped for was coming true.
Ruth’s pregnancy was not an easy one. Naomi resided in the house of Boaz and took great care of Ruth just as Ruth had once cared for her. While in Moab, Naomi lay ill with a sickness that had claimed many lives, and Ruth never left her side.
Naomi now made Ruth the soothing teas of her native land. Naomi rubbed Ruth’s back with oils. When the time came, Naomi stayed with her, holding her hand through her long labor.
The midwife placed Ruth’s son in Naomi’s arms where she cleaned the birth water from him before giving him into Ruth’s waiting arms.
“Obed” Naomi whispered to the child. “You have named him well, Ruth. Yahweh has blessed his servant this day with joy. This child will serve Yahweh as faithfully as you have served me.”
The bitterness that followed Naomi on her journey home was replaced with gladness. She was Naomi again. Ruth, indeed, was better than seven sons as her neighbors so often told her. Ruth provided Naomi with the means to live. Now she gave Naomi a life to live for.
What promise this tiny boy whose fingers grasped her own had brought to Ruth and Naomi. Ruth, the one who had been barren, had given birth to a son when hope was gone. Naomi looked into his dark eyes sparkling with a brightness that reminded her of her own son. Mahlon had truly been redeemed.
She knew in her heart that Obed, son of Boaz, would grow to be a good man. Her thankfulness to Yahweh knew no bounds.
Naomi could already see the good in this boy child. He would bring light into Naomi’s life and into the life of those in Bethlehem and beyond. Her desire for the love of a grandchild had been granted by a merciful God. Yahweh rewarded them both with the smile on the face of this child.
Mercy upon mercy.
Grace upon grace.
Merry Christmas
I love you,
mama
