I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty (Ruth 1)*

Ruth 1:1-22

Key Verse: “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." (Ruth 1:21).

Introduction: The book of Ruth is a story about a family from Judah in Bethlehem.  Sometime during the period of Judges, a man named Elimelek (also spelled Elimelech) had two sons and he went to Moab to live there for a while. However, he died there, along with both of his sons. The trauma of these tragedies was most grievous for Elimelek’s widow, Naomi, who was left alone with two daughters-in-law. It became evident to her that God’s punishing hands were upon her family. She did not see any hope for herself, or for her two daughters-in-law if they followed her. However, one of her daughters-in-law, Ruth, decided, out of her deep conviction that the God of Israel is the true Lord of all, to follow Naomi. This began to shine a new light on Naomi’s life.

The time and theme of Judges

In Scripture, the book of Ruth is placed after the book of Judges, and its story happens during the period covered by Judges. Because of this, we must understand Israel’s situation during this period in order to gain a proper understanding of this book. In addition to this, we must consider this book’s purpose, in relation to both the book of Judges and the book of Samuel, which follows it.

In its overall outlook, this book sets up a hope against the hopelessness and frustration pervading throughout the period of the judges. This hope became reality in the book of Samuel, as Ruth’s son, Obed became King David’s grandfather.

In the book of Judges, there were six cycles involving Israel’s rebellion, retribution, remorse, and restoration (ch 1-16). This is followed by two serious events (17-23), involving the Levites. The author characterized this time as follows:

“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 17:6b).

This denotes the particularity of the time of the Judges. Why did everyone do things as they saw fit? In order to fully capture the significance of this time, we must look at the history leading up to this time.

God chose Abraham to bless with three things, a son in order to make him a great nation, a blessed relationship with Him as His first son, and a promised inheritance of land that He had blessed. God fulfilled these three promises in sequence; first, four hundred years later, He created a new nation out of one man in Egypt. Second, after He visited Moses in the wilderness, God began His relationship with Israel and solidified it by giving them a covenant by words and action. The final element of these promises was to give them land. This was fulfilled through Joshua, as Israel conquered and settled in the land of God’s promise. By this time, i.e., at the end of Joshua’s life, as far as God was concerned, He had fulfilled His promise to Abraham (though there was a lingering issue of the ‘completeness’ of its fulfillment). Out of these three promises, came Israel’s identity as God’s chosen people, and the Law of the Covenant, which enabled them to sustain that identity and relationship, and lastly, the mission given to Israel by God, to protect, preserve, and prosper in the land for generations to come.

Having provided them with everything they required to sustain themselves under His blessing, God gave them true freedom to honor their true King and Lord and to sustain that blessing in the land that He had given to them.

The period of the Judges is that period of freedom. There was no king to supervise, regulate, or manage the lives of God’s chosen people. The people of Israel had all of the rules and regulations in their hands. They knew their true King, the Lord (Joshua was the model for such faith), and had the knowledge (the Law of Covenant) of how to live in order to fully honor Him, so as to preserve the blessing. In their freedom, they were to serve Him with a willing heart by observing the Law of the Covenant.

Out of Israel’s autonomy as God’s chosen people, they followed their instincts and desires, instead of the Law of the Covenant, thus incurring God’s punishment. The result was pathetic. They failed six times to honor their true King and Lord (Judges 1-16) and came under God’s punishment, as prescribed by the Covenant. However, in His grace, God intervened by sending twelve judges to govern in their time of need, in order to keep them in His blessing.

The gravity of the Israelites’ inability to keep the Law of the Covenant and the overall sinfulness of their being is vividly depicted in the two events described at the end of this book (ch 17-21). In the first event (ch 16-18), a Levite from Bethlehem left that town to search for some other place to stay. He went to a town in Ephraim, where he met a man named Micah, who offered him a place to live and some food. This Levite was established in Micah’s house as a priest before a calf-idol made of stolen silver. The Levites were dedicated to the Lord, especially since God had entrusted the care of the Law of the Covenant to them. However, for the sake of providing food for his table, this Levite wandered around and ended up being a priest serving an idol in a private house. This act eventually led to the entire Danite tribe into apostasy.

In the second event, a Levite from Ephraim went to retrieve his unfaithful concubine from Bethlehem. He barely managed to get her away from her father, and on the way home, he spent the night in Benjamite territory. There, she was raped and killed by the Benjamites. The Levite was enraged and cut her body into twelve pieces and sent them to all the tribes, calling for God’s justice. This fight for God’s justice against the Benjamites’ treacherous act resulted in the death of about seventy thousand Israelites (twenty thousand Benjamites, and fifty thousand from the other eleven tribes).

It is important to note that these two events involved  Levites. One was enacted in total rejection of the Covenant by one who was to keep it, leading to the outright defamation of the Lord’s name. The other was a result of Israel’s collective disregard for the Law of the Covenant, shown by their disrespect to the Levite, and their drive for sexual orgies. Simply put, it was not only the Levites, on whom God entrusted the Law of the Covenant, who failed to keep that Law, but also the rest of the Israelite tribes.

Therefore, this period is characterized as when each served the Lord, according to the Law of the Covenant; there was no middle man (king) between God and His people. Instead, the Lord was their King, and He ruled His people directly, according to the Law He’d given them. God wished and expected that each Israelite, by household, by clan, or by tribe, would love and fear Him, out of a willing heart. When and where there was no leader who would keep the Law of the Covenant, it was interpreted and manipulated, according to each person’s taste for their own desires and needs.

The story of Ruth serves as an example of this and gives us insight into how God would weave through the weaknesses of His chosen people to bring about their salvation.

I will divide this first lesson into five parts: 1) Elimelek, an Ephrathite (1-2), 2) the decimation of Elimelek’s family (3-5), 3) Naomi’s choice (6-7), 4) Ruth’s choice (7-18), and 5) I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty (18-22).

1.      Elimelek, an Ephrathite (1-2)

Judah was blessed to be viewed as a leader among all of his brothers by his father, Jacob, the patriarch of the nation of Israel (Genesis 49:8-12). Out of Judah’s lineage would come a leader for the entire nation (49:10). The most powerful demonstration of his godly spirit was his will to take Benjamin’s place as a prisoner in Egypt, when Joseph forced his brothers to pay for the wrongs they had committed (Genesis 44:33-34). This spirit came about after he realized that he had had ungodly relations with Tamar, his daughter-in-law (Genesis 38). Out of that union came Perez; Judah’s descendants then continued with Hezron, then Caleb, who married Ephrathah. She became a matriarch and their descendants were called the Ephrathites. The Calebites (1 Chronicles 2:18–24) and the Jerahmeelites (1 Chronicles 2:25–33) were two great clans in Judah (ABD*), and being an Ephrathite meant that Elimelek’s clan was most famous and well known for their courage and heritage as a family of faith, blessed by God. Also, they were likely a well-to-do family. In this regard, Elimelek’s move to Moab was very significant, even though he meant to only stay for a while.

Why did he move to Moab, a foreign and ungodly land? Scripture says that there was a famine in the land and that this famine forced him to move to Moab for a while. There, Elimelek suffered a great disaster, which resulted in the eventual decimation of all the males in his family. This event was somewhat comparable to Judah’s move to a Canaanite town, where he married Shua, a daughter of a Canaanite man (Genesis 38:1). Afterward, he faced a very serious punishment from the Lord; his two sons died and he eventually ended up sleeping with his daughter-in-law, Tamar. If Judah had left his brothers soon after their attempt to kill Joseph, it is somewhat believable for him to also leave and stay with a Canaanite man out of his distaste and hatred for his brothers’ sins. If the similar discontent that Elimelek felt against Israel’s devious life-style reinforced his need to move to Moab in search of food, then his move was strikingly similar to Judah’s. In this aspect, the surrounding circumstances of such a move could have given Elimelek a good justification for such a move.

2.      The decimation of Elimelek’s family (3-5)

The Scripture does not say anything about what Elimelek, or his family, did or did not do while in Moab; however, it suddenly drops a bombshell.

“Now Elimelek, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah , and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.” (Ruth 1:3-5).

Elimelek died, and his two sons married Moabite women. Less than ten years after this, both of them also died. The Bible is silent on the exact causes of their death, but their names provide a clue. The meanings of Kilion and Mahlon are “extermination” and “sickness,” respectively. In other words, the subtle but strong allusion is that God punished them for their sins. Since the Bible is silent about the immediate causes of their sudden deaths, we must look into the premise which God had set up for Israel during this period.

Elimelek moved out of the land of God’s blessing in order to solve the food problem. Israel was given the land as their possession, and they were to enjoy dwelling with the Lord in their midst, as His people in the land of His blessing. Moving to another land, Moab, meant that he was seeking a better blessing, which is a total disregard of Israel’s covenant with the Lord. Even though Elimelek might not have thought about this decision in such a way, from God’s perspective, this was an outright rejection of Israel’s relationship with Him.

What should he have done instead of moving to Moab? According to the Law of the Covenant, the abundance of crops was a sign of God’s blessing (Deuteronomy 11:13-14), and famine was one of the early signs of the five series of punishments from the Lord when one does not follow Him (Deuteronomy 11:16-17; Leviticus 26). In and of itself, famine in the land of God’s blessing was an expression of God’s love so that His children might come to repentance and that they might continue to stand as His children, preserved in His blessing. However, Elimelek did not take this seriously and decided to move to Moab.

This was an obvious violation of the Law; first, he took the famine as an excuse to move to Moab. There was a totally different principle of life between Moab and the land of God’s blessing. The land of God’s promise was under God’s blessing; whether one fell or rose was the result of what God did, specifically in application to the Law of Moses. Against such a law, Elimelek thought, “I can escape this famine by moving to Moab”— this was the basic understanding of his life.

He left the land of God’s blessing in order to move to Moab; to do this, he had to cross the Jordan River or Araba Depression. This reminds us of how his ancestors passed through the Jordan River on dry ground. Thus, this region should have reminded them of God’s power and His will to bless Israel. However, when Elimelek crossed back to Moab, he became like the people of Jericho or Achan, liable to destruction. He did not teach his children about the Law. The result of this is clear; after their father’s death, his two sons chose to marry women of the land, against God’s will, thus also becoming liable to God’s destruction.

The end result of his actions was grievous; all of the men in his family died and there was no one left to inherit his name. His name and family line were totally cut off. This was the complete opposite of God’s promise and blessing to Abraham

“I will make you into a great nation”(Genesis 12:2).

"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.” (Genesis 17:4 NIV).

This was far more serious if Elimelek’s family stood in the direct bloodline for God’s blessing, not just for their family, but also for their tribe, and for the nation of Israel overall (such an understanding is alluded to in 1:21; 4:14). Everyone hoped that this family might bring forth a leader for the tribe of Judah, and even for the Israelite nation, and yet it became empty, having been totally cut off by the Lord.

“Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.” (Ruth 1:5b).

This seems like God’s assertive statement concerning what one will face when they reject His punishment under the Covenant and choose to no longer be in His fold. One death is serious, a second death is appalling, but a third death undermines life’s foundation and throws one into a crisis. No word can comfort and no reason can ameliorate the pain and sorrow. In this situation, what choices are left?

3.      Naomi’s choice (6-7)

Having lost all of the men in her house, she had no choice but to look for some other means of making a living. Then, she heard this news from her people:

“When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.” (Ruth 1:6).

This was a very critical moment of decision for Naomi. When one hits rock bottom in their life, his or her genuine character and beliefs are revealed. There are two choices: choose what is good, or choose what is evil, choose God or choose the ways of the world. Naomi could give up all hope and chose to live like any of the other Moabite women, or she could pull herself together and come back to her own God and live in the land of His blessing. God foresaw this and gave this message in the Law of the Covenant (Leviticus 26:40-42). This was also reiterated by Moses:

“When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.” (Deuteronomy 30:1-4).

When she heard that God’s blessing had been restored to the land of His promise, Naomi remembered God’s grace to Israel and decided to return home. In some sense, God forced and lured her to return through His judgment and by sending her the good news from her homeland. The Covenant was in and of the Promised Land, for it was given to them as theirs. The restoration of their relationship with the Lord would begin with the restoration of the land of His promise, bringing it under His blessing again.

So, Naomi’s decision came out of her acknowledgment that God was right and just in what He did to her family (Deuteronomy 30:2-3). She chose to return to the land, which God had given to her people as His blessing and set off toward Bethlehem. She had arrived in Moab with many things, along with her husband and two sons; however, after their deaths, she had become destitute, having lost all of her possessions, as well as her entire family. Simply, she was helpless. Under such dire circumstances, she had to decide whether God was right in punishing her family or if she and her family were right and just, undeserving of such tragic deaths as had happened to all of the men in her family. She still had to decide whether the blessing would still come from the Lord or if she could make her own blessing. Though this was a difficult choice, she was reminded of God’s blessing of the past through the news that He had come to aid His people, and she decided to move back to her native land, Israel, the land of His blessing.

“With her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.” (Ruth 1:7).

We seldom appreciate God’s blessing when we are well off, but when the blessing is gone and we come under bad weather, we begin to realize the blessings of the past and remember His grace in those blessings. Under deprived conditions, our minds and hearts realize the true reality of our existence and come to fully appreciate what God was doing and has done in His grace. However, if one does not turn his or her heart to the Lord, even with such a warning, they will face a far worse outcome.

What if Naomi had become bitter in her heart, and rejected God’s offer for His blessing? Or refused to consider His blessing? Then, she would have suffered the utter curses of the Law of the Covenant (Leviticus 26:27-34). The Law of God’s Covenant forces all to turn to Him for His grace; He did not leave any room to negotiate the Covenant’s terms, and all who are under sin’s power will violate the Law at one point or another (Jam 2:10).

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6).

Everyone has a hard time accepting that he or she is powerless to keep the Law or to admit that he or she is a sinner by birth; that is to say, we are sinful by nature and no one can make themselves righteous through their own efforts. In this regard, the Law was powerless in bringing our lives into alignment with God’s righteousness (Romans 8:3). This became evident in Elimelek’s family, and Naomi was the living proof of his failure.

This issue becomes even more significant when we trace the lineage of the one who possessed such faith. Judah was the most faithful among the twelve tribes, and that faith was sustained through Perez, the son of his union with Tamar, then through Hezron, then through Caleb, his wife Ephrathah, and finally through Elimelek. It seemed that Elimelek was the best example of faith in Israel, and yet his family failed to keep the Law; the outcome of this was the total decimation of all of the men in his family. Literally, no hope was left for his widow, Naomi, except if she returned to the Lord for mercy.

God marked such a turning point as the end of the Law. This was foretold in both Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

“when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin” (Leviticus 26:41b).

“you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today” (Deuteronomy 30:1b-2).

As we have seen, Naomi’s decision to return was compelled by the Law of judgment (punishment in the form of three deaths) as well as by the Law of blessing (1:6, 22). In these two passages, we must also note how the turning point could come about. Four phrases describe the actions Israel must take in order to return to the Lord: “humbled”, “pay for their sin”, “return to the LORD”, “obey him with all one’s heart”.

Undoubtedly, Naomi humbled herself in making the decision to return to Israel. She humbled herself and accepted that the Lord was right in judging her family (1:20-21). Elimelek’s family paid for their sins by the three deaths of the male members, and Naomi bore all the pain and anguish of those losses. Finally, she made the decision to return to the Lord, acknowledging that He was the only source of life and, at the same time, denying that whatever was out in the world did not offer her any life at all.

At this point, she could not claim anything from the Lord by her own merit or right. From this point on, anything helpful for her life would be granted out of God’s grace and mercy. Likewise, Naomi’s return provides a vivid picture of what Paul said to the Galatians:

“Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.” (Galatians 3:23 NIV).

We all human beings need to decide to return to the Lord for His blessing. This decision must include: “being humbled”, “paying for our sin”, “returning to the LORD”, and “obeying Him with all our heart”. How can one adopt these repentant actions, once they have already failed through their own efforts? In this aspect, how Naomi’s bitterness changed into the light of life gives us a light as well. Her bitterness over God’s judgment was completely wiped away and undone when she saw Ruth’s new baby, Obed (Ruth 4:14). The baby was born through God’s mercy, displayed through Ruth’s faith. This will be discussed in further detail in Ch 4.

In this regard, the book of Ruth speaks of the true story of how the Law of the Covenant would bring about the salvation of God’s chosen people, Israel. The turning point was Naomi’s return to the land of God’s blessing.

4.      Your people will be my people; your God, my God (7-18)

Naomi chose to return to Israel. Her two daughters-in-law followed her. As they were on their way to Israel, Naomi suddenly stopped on the road and said to them:

“Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "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." Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud.” (Ruth 1:8-9).

Naomi truly appreciated their love/kindness to their deceased husbands, her sons, and she blessed them, asking that the Lord, the God of Israel, might be with them in His grace and kindness. Here, we learn that these two daughters-in-law had shown their love to their husbands, even though both of them died prematurely. They also cared dearly for their mother-in-law. As she expressed her will to depart from them, they wept aloud. They all shared a common empathy as widows; they all felt as if someone had stolen their lives by taking away their husbands. Even while facing the same predicament, Naomi was the worst off among the three women. Who could understand a widow’s mind, especially when she was as old as Naomi, likely in her sixties or older while having no one to lean on? However, these younger women’s care for her was strong.

“and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."” (Ruth 1:10).

Naomi’s daughters-in-law were Moabites, and they had families in the land. Therefore, they could easily go back to their mother’s home.

Also, Naomi had called down the blessing of the God of Israel, the Lord, upon them. This tells us that Elimelech and his family had served the Lord all along, although they did so on their own terms. In other words, this family never abandoned the Lord, their God; rather, they sought to fulfill their needs through their own efforts.. It is possible that, in this hopeless situation, she came to think of the Lord of Israel once again. It takes somewhat unique courage and commitment to say that these women might experience the Lord’s grace, unless He had been the Lord of their family all along.

However, both daughters-in-law said that they wanted to go with Naomi. Was it because they did not like Moab, their native country? Was it because they loved Naomi? Or was it because they feared the Lord, the God of Israel? One thing is for sure; they both loved Naomi and cared for her, and even for her people, Israel. However, Naomi had a good reason to send them on their way:

“But Naomi said, "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” (Ruth 1:11-12).—

If they were to follow Naomi, then they could marry only Elimelek’s or Naomi’s son. She was too old to have another son; furthermore, even if she could bear a son, it would take another twenty years or more for them to be able to marry. This was an impossible proposition. Virtually, following her meant they were to live as widows for the rest of their lives, like Naomi! There was no hope whatsoever for them finding any future husband in Israel!

If we put this in today’s terms, these daughters-in-law may have been in their early thirties; Naomi would be well above fifty years old. If they were to marry a son born through Naomi, then the chance for them to marry Naomi’s son was virtually zero. Naomi’s last word to these younger women was like a sharp surgical knife to sever all of their good-willed reasons for them to stay with her:

“Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters”. (Ruth 1:13b).

These young ladies in their late twenties or early thirties would live as widows for the next twenty years at least, and then they would be in their fifties, beyond the age of bearing children. Simply put, staying with Naomi did not make any sense for these two young ladies’ futures.

This poses a question: What was the true value of life for these two widowed women? In those days, the ordinary or common practice was that, once a woman married, if her husband died, she was to remain a widow for life. That was a woman’s virtue. According to the Law of Moses, once one’s husband died, a widow had a choice to remarry another man. In addition to this, these daughters-in-law were worthy or deserving of such kindness, because they were so kind to Naomi and her family. The true reality of this was so biting and corrosive to any possible meaning and hope of them following Naomi, no matter how good of a mother-in-law she was. Life was too valuable and precious for them to waste remaining single, just to serve an old mother-in-law who may die soon. Naomi made one final remark, something that was lurking in the depths of her heart and which she could not erase or shake off.

“It is more bitter for me than for you  because the LORD's hand has turned against me!"(Ruth 1:13c).

This was Naomi’s true reality, and it was so pathetic and hopeless, like stabbing her heart with a sharp knife. The Lord, her God, was against her! Nothing worked, because God Almighty was against her! No matter what she did, it would be futile and fruitless and would cause only pain and sorrow to those around her. “Do you want to see more of how God is against my life? Haven’t you seen enough already after His mighty hand has struck down my husband and my two sons? I am not sure what else is coming! I cannot escape from Him, and I am caught under his mighty arm; I have no guarantee for any good things. It is even possible that I might be struck down tomorrow!!”

At this point, it would be good to explore the names of Naomi, her husband, and their two sons. Elimelek means ‘my God is king”, and Naomi means “good, pleasant, lovely”. Kilion means extermination/perished, and Mahlon means sickness/blotted out. It is possible that these two names are fictitious, in order to characterize the problem associated with each of these two sons. Simply, these two sons’ name speaks of God’s punishment on them. Naomi’s last word speaks powerfully, “God’s blessing has left me!” (Ruth 1:13c). Both of her daughters-in-law shared a deep empathy with her, but their decisions were different from one another.  

“At this, they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.” (Ruth 1:14).

A life cursed by the Lord of heaven and earth, a life deprived of anything good by the One who holds all good things, is sorrowful, painful, and mournful. Knowing this well, these ladies wept aloud again. Each of them made a choice. Orpah accepted the true reality posed by a life with Naomi and told her goodbye with a kiss. This was the most reasonable and sound decision for the given situation. However, Ruth replied:

“But Ruth replied, "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." (Ruth 1:16-17).

Ruth deeply felt Naomi’s determination to cut off their relationship; it was filled with sorrow, as well as empathy for her, along with a good and endearing spirit. However, as soon as Naomi finished speaking, Ruth spoke words filled with her conviction and will to follow her anyway. She committed her entire life to Naomi, her people, and her God; only death could separate her from Naomi.

Naomi’s overwhelming demeanor was sorrow and helplessness, grounded in the fact that God’s mighty hand of punishment had come upon her family. To her, this was certain, beyond doubt. Out of the certainty in her heart regarding God’s punishing hand, Naomi insisted that they must leave her and go their ways. However, Ruth had also come to realize something with great certainty through the subsequent deaths of her husband and brother-in-law. Her belief went beyond the power of death. That is to say, she saw more than what Naomi did, and her conviction for her beliefs was more powerful than Naomi’s. Because of this, she not only overcame Naomi’s plea for her to remain behind, but she also made a firm commitment to her beliefs. Her commitment was a commitment for life.

Such a commitment is almost unheard of in human history, especially when one faces an utterly hopeless reality. Certainly, Ruth loved and was loyal to Naomi, but she had something even more than these. When one fully commits oneself to someone for life, their commitment is rooted in something worthy and valuable, for it carries a deep sense of what is right and just, good and godly, meaningful and worthy. All of these are connected to one thing - the truth that goes beyond life’s current realities.

How then can one see something good in Naomi’s life, who was so sure that God has punished her (1:21)?

First, death speaks the truth in power. One death is tragic; two are overwhelming. However, a third death is crushing and devastating, causing one to think deeply and to consider the kind of power that takes away one’s life.

Death must be seen from a totally different perspective or understanding than just as a means of God’s punishment! It is not just a tragedy of ill-stricken fortune, but also something good and worthy of being considered in a positive light! In and through the deaths of these three men, Ruth saw the hands of the Lord, the God of Israel, and His justice and righteousness. She saw God’s invisible hand of goodness, and she called on His name to curse her if she should ever separate herself from Naomi by anything other than death. This is all about how one views men’s sin or society’s evils, and God’s judgment on them. Isn’t this similar to the way in which people see Jesus’s death on the cross? God shouted His message of truth and salvation through Jesus’ crucifixion.

Likewise, death after death of her loved ones was also God’s shouting out His message, this time calling for Ruth to see and believe in Him as the God of righteousness and the Lord of heaven and earth. Naomi saw God’s mighty hand in His holiness, but Ruth saw something far beyond His judgment. How was this possible?

The Bible does not say anything about how Ruth came to have such faith, but one thing we know is that the deaths of her loved ones speak to us of the power to search, reexamine, and consider all that our life entails. The events of 9-11, where over three thousand people died in a matter of a few seconds spoke powerfully to the entire American nation. The week afterward, church attendance swelled. What are we to consider or to reexamine in our lives?

The most common source of understanding in life is history or past experience. History especially stands tall in helping one’s understanding and beliefs in life. For Ruth, the Moabite lifestyle and beliefs, particularly their relationship with Israel, likely helped her to reexamine her life.

History provided quite a few engaging events; the first was the fact that the Moabites were descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Second, the Moabites had tried to curse Israel through Balaam; however, because of God’s power, Balaam could not curse Israel (Numbers 22-24). Third, the Moabites had seduced Israel and God punished His people so severely, that more than twenty thousand people died from a plague (Numbers 25). Later, Israel defeated the Moabites. Fourth, during the time of the Judges, God subjected Israel to being ruled by a Moabite king (Judges 3:12-14), after they had done evil in the eyes of the Lord. Later, God helped Israel to defeat Moab (Judges 3:15-29). These are historical events of which Ruth was likely aware.

What do these events speak about? All this history tells us that Israel cannot be thought of without the God of Israel, YHWH (Lord). Further, in them, God’s blessing is evident, as Balaam’s oracle revealed. Also, God’s righteous judgment and His blessing are evident in Israel. HE struck the nation of Moab with His punishing hand, as He had shown Ruth through her husband’s death. Surely, she would have measured these experiences against her knowledge of Moab’s many gods. She saw all kinds of things that were sinful and ungodly in and among her people.

Ruth saw what God was doing in and through her husband, his brother, and his parents. Death invariably forces one into bitterness and anger. One death is painful, and a second death is too grievous to endure; A third death was far more than she could handle or understand. Ruth saw that these events came from God’s mighty hand, which upheld His justice and righteousness. If He was right and just in punishing wrongs, then He would surely likewise reward the right with good things! Simply, she saw God’s almighty authority and power when enacting His righteousness and justice. She thought “HE IS the only GOD, the Lord of all. I will bet my life on HIM as much as I commit my life to Naomi, in whose life God’s righteousness is evident.”

This is strikingly similar to the faith that God demanded of all men when He let His Son hang on the cross to display His righteousness. Just as these three deaths presented God’s righteous judgment to these women’s hearts, so also the death of God’s Son spoke of the power of His righteous judgment over men’s sinfulness.  

Although this is what Ruth may have thought, her commitment of her life to the Lord was clear when she said,

“May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” (Ruth 1:17).

Behind this commitment lay her undeterred conviction on and resolution to seek the Lord as the God of righteousness and just. We too are to seek Him, who is right and just. We must see the righteousness and justice of the only One who is right and just. Then, we can turn our hearts and mind towards Him.   

5.      I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty (18-22).

“When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?" (Ruth 1:18-19).

Naomi reasoned with Ruth, based on their current reality, but Ruth reasoned with her will, based on her faith in the Lord. If she learned this faith from Naomi, then how could Ruth have such faith that surpasses even Naomi’s? Naomi told her to return home to Moab, where all kinds of sin flourished, and yet she did not know it and did not see anything serious. Naomi was so concerned with herself that she did not have a genuine godly perspective of life. If she believed that the Lord is the source of life and blessing, not just for her and her people, Israel, then how could she tell Ruth to return home?

If she had seen the Lord as the source of blessing, then she would not have said such a thing. Compared with such a humanistic understanding, Ruth spoke to Naomi out of her faith, which was far more powerful and genuinely closer to the truth. She saw the Lord as Lord of all, and as the sole source of all blessing.

When she realized that Ruth’s decision was firm and that she couldn’t be dissuaded, she let Ruth come along with her. She did not see Ruth as a source of blessing. Instead, she thought that Ruth’s presence would cause her more pain because she did not have anything to give to her; she would have to live with her in sorrow and pain, as a constant reminder of her sons’ death. It was more bitter for her to take Ruth with her than to let her go back to her own home.

Ruth’s word reminded Naomi of her God and His authority and power. There is only One through whom real blessings come, who determines the real truth of life.

When Naomi arrived in Bethlehem with Ruth, the whole town was stirred. They were shocked to see her coming home all alone, without any of her family, except for one Moabite daughter-in-law. She was poor and destitute, without anyone to help her, except this ‘Gentile Moabite woman,’ Ruth. Why was this a shock to them? Naomi’s words explain:

"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." (Ruth 1:20-21).

Naomi means ‘pleasant’; Mara means bitterness. “She went away full” means that, in comparison to her present situation, when she had left Bethlehem for Moab, she had pretty much everything - money and a thriving family. But now, all of those things were gone, and there was no joy or happiness in her life at all. She was only bitter in her heart. She saw the true, bitter reality of her life; she literally had nothing! God had taken everything away and made her life empty!

Have you ever felt that your life is fruitless, after working long and hard? During that time, what went through your mind?

What was the significance of what Naomi said? We know that she lived during the period of the Judges, and that period was the time when God gave Israel His command to live freely in the land of His blessing, without any outside influences, such as kings, governors, or any other form of rulers.

As I mentioned in the introduction, God’s administration of His people was through the Law of the Covenant, without any middle man between Him and His people (Ref. 1 Samuel 8:7). If Israel were to acknowledge the Lord as their king, then they must abide by the Law of the Covenant. In the Law, God laid out under which conditions one would be either blessed or cursed. This is found in the concluding chapter of Leviticus (ch 26).

“"If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.” (Leviticus 26:3-5).

Their obedience would be rewarded abundantly; however, their disobedience or violation of the Law of the Covenant will incur God’s punishment, as shown in this verse. God’s punishing force would increase progressively while His people continued to sin, despite the warning issued through His initial punishment. There are six steps increase in God’s punishment (26:14-45). Moses reiterated this again in Deuteronomy (28:15-68). How does the story of Elimelek’s family’s migration to Moab fit into this covenant curse? The primary cause of his move was to escape famine. Famine itself was the earliest sign of God’s punishment for Israel not following the Law of the Covenant. Escaping was not the answer; instead, the answer for this famine was repentance and renewed dedication to the Lord. Just as Naomi recognized, it was the Lord who had taken the lives of her husband and two sons, and she was bitter about this. However, she had no choice but to acknowledge this, for God’s power to punish His people had come strong upon her family.

We know from the rest of the historical books that Israel rebelled, and God sent them into exile in Babylon. There, they suffered a great deal and God brought some of them back to the land of His blessing again.

In this way, Elimelek’s story serves three purposes; first, it was a warning to Israel, that, when they reject the Lord and seek otherworldly means for their survival, God would surely punish them, to the point of total decimation. Second, if Israel reached that point, here was an example of how God would save them, despite their failures. Third, it revealed how the Savior, the leader, would one day come to save the nation. Simply, what God was about to do for Naomi and her family was a miniature history, which elucidated how the history of salvation for His people would evolve in the coming ages.

What does this passage teach us? First, God’s chosen must live according to the Law of the Covenant, for, in between God and His people, the Covenant serves as the only mediating set of rules. It was then, it still is now, and will continue to be until the day of the Lord. The Law of the Covenant is the only tool to bring judgment on the whole world.

Second, starting with Judah on down to Elimelek, this most promising family line failed to keep the Law; it is certain that all mankind, even with the best of God’s provision, will surely fail to honor the Lord and shall surely face all of the judgment, as prescribed in the Law of the Covenant, unless some other provision was made.

Third, if the most faithful failed to keep the Law of the Covenant out of their own will, then there would be no hope for remedying this failure, unless an intermediary between the Lord and sinful men appear, apart from or in addition to the Law of the Covenant.

Lastly, we must put our trust in the Lord and must understand how He, the God of salvation, will work out all things for those who come to Him in repentance. Or, how He provided an intermediary for man’s salvation (the following chapters in Ruth speak about how God works out His salvation plan).

*ABD-Anchor Bible Dictionary