Several of you asked me to blog on the various perspectives I mentioned during this past week’s teaching entitled, The Long Road Home, Part 1, regarding the thought processes that Naomi might have gone through when asking Orpah and Ruth to not continue with her to Bethlehem. The story is an odd story in that Naomi gives both Ruth and Orpah the impression that they will all travel from Moab to Bethlehem (some 40-55 miles, 7 to 15 days of travel) and then during the journey stop and tell both women that they should go back to Moab. The dialogue went like this:

Ruth 1:7: So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. 8 But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

I mentioned at least six things that could have contributed to Naomi stopping and telling the women to go home:

Did she start to consider how dangerous the route they were travelling was? We know that the region would eventually become notorious for bandits and crime through the teaching of Jesus in Luke 10 regarding “The Good Samaritan.” Could it be that Naomi was realizing that three women travelling together in this area was an open invitation to disaster?

Did she see something that reminded her of her initial trip with Elimalech and the boys over 10 years ago? Did she see where they had camped beside the road? A watering hole? A rock formation? A view? Did she remember her boys discovering a bug or snake hole and remember what it was like to be a family?

Did she remember the hope they had seeking to escape the crushing hunger in Judah? The feeling that at least they were together. Now they were dead.

Did she then turn to being thankful that her two daughters in law were with her and how difficult this would be without them?

Did she then wonder how the people of Israel will receive these two Moabite woman? It’s going to be tough for them in a land that views the people of Moab as idolaters, banned from the Temple, having a heritage vastly different than Israel. These women were not the chosen people and there will be people who tell them that to their face.

Did she worry about how she would be accepted? When famine came they left. Sure, they were trying to survive, but shouldn’t they have sought the Lord? Wasn’t she to repent ad God would “heal the land?” There is no hint of that in the story of Elimalech. The people would hear of how her husband died, her boys inter-married wives from Moab (something forbidden), and how they died too. This would be a stigma on her and if the famine returns ro something happens to someone in the village of Bethlehem, you bet they will whisper that maybe it was due to God judging them for Naomi returning with “those women.”

Regardless of what Naomi may have thought, I believe the overarching issue for her was the reality that if these two women accompany her to Bethlehem they will, most likely, have the same type of life that Naomi had just left in Moab. A life without a husband and children. Notice the double emphasis in v. 8:

But Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. 9 The Lord grant that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband!” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

Both of these references are given to us by the storyteller to underscore the passion that Naomi has for these woman to start a family of there own. In short, Naomi wants her daughters-in-law to not have the type of life she has had. Naomi knows that the road they are on will most likely leave both of these women without a husband or family and living in a foreign country when she dies. Naomi knows what that feels like, it is a horrible thing. Naomi looked at Orpah and Ruth as they traveled down the dusty path and was startled by the picture of herself years ago leaving her land in the hopes of finding food and a place in which her family could thrive to only endure years of loss and heartache. Naomi will have no part of contributing to a situation that will lead Orpah or Ruth to the type of life she has had to live. For Naomi to not send them back is a burden she cannot bear.

Can you feel the weight of Naomi’s struggle? Do you see the anguish in her eyes? Then read Ruth’s declaration of committment in the face of such a situation. Ruth’s declaration is the strongest expression of self-sacrificing love found in the Old Testament. Outside of the life of Christ, I can think of no other example of such a willing commitment of one person to another in the face of overwhelming obstacles. It is profound in it’s depth, breadth, and unconditional commitment regardless of what may happen.

… Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” (1:16-17).

God has been gracious to Naomi in providing her with such a devoted companion. While Naomi lost her husband and two sons, she has gained a daughter-in-law that will do whatever it takes to show kindness to her. I wish I could have whispered into Naomi’s ear, “God has not forgotten you, Naomi.” However, Naomi doesn’t see the hand of God working in her life … yet. What is stopping her? Arriving in Jerusalem to face the friends and people she left over 10 years earlier. This Sunday we will continue with part 2 of, “The Long Road Home.”