Ruth—Part 1—Naomi the Prodigal Daughter
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The Romance of Redemption
“Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God."— Isaiah 40:3
This study will include allegorical interpretations. Although this story's places, events, and characters are literal, they also symbolize deeper spiritual truths relevant to our Christian journey.
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they (the Old Testament events) were written for our admonition
— I Corinthians 10:11
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| Pelikana |
The Backdrop
Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land.— Ruth 1:1
According to the Holman Bible Dictionary, there is a connection between moral depravity and famine in the story of Ruth.
"The productiveness of the earth is related to people's obedience to God."
Fuchsia Pickett offers a life application of this principle in her book, The Prophetic Romance, on Ruth.
"We can expect to experience famine of the blessing of God if we turn from worshiping the living God, replacing Him with the worship of idolatrous things ...
The Bible confirms this reality.
If you are willing and you are obedient, you shall eat the good of the land
— Isaiah 1:19
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| Our Lord favors us with a famine in the land that it may make us seek after himself the more ~ Charles Spurgeon. Famine Memorial, Dublin, Ireland, by Alan Mc, Sculpture by Rowan Gillespie |
A Famine of Another Kind
“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.— Amos 8:11
It is so easy and tempting to become distracted and entangled in this world's offerings, neglecting our spiritual lives. Jesus' parable of the soils illustrates this point through the seed sown among thorns.
... these are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
— Mark 4:18-19
Surprisingly, this can be most problematic when we are the most prosperous, as Revelation chapter three recounts when Jesus confronted Laodicea's lukewarm church.
... you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
— Revelation 3:17
While searching for the meaning of Laodicea, I found a forum post that defines it in terms of Christ's application. By definition, Laodicea's abundance bred self-reliance, which, in turn, led to the exclusion of Christ.
"Laos" means “people”, and "dicea" means “principle, decision”. Christ showed that Laodiceans trusted in their ability to rule themselves, judging and deciding matters to the exclusion of Christ’s rule within His Church.
In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, God warns His people of the possible pitfalls of plentitude.
“So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
— Deuteronomy 6:10-12
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| Bethlehem, the house of bread. Vasily Polenov (1844-1927) |
The House of Bread
The first chapter of Ruth introduces Elimelech's family. Elimelech's name means "My God is King." They are from Bethlehem, which means "house of bread" in the land of Judah and is also associated with "praise." The story notes that they were Ephrathites. Ephratah was the ancient name of Bethlehem and means "fruitful."
The narrative also tells us that Elimelech and Naomi had two sons, Mahlon, meaning "weak" and "unhealthy," and Chilion, meaning "failing" and "wasting away." It could be assumed that these children were born during a famine, as their names suggest.
Studies suggest that famine during pregnancy affects the size and health of the baby, and according to PubMed, famine can be the origin of many adult diseases and conditions, which may be why they both died young. The effects of famine illustrate how a famine of the Word can affect our spiritual lives and the fruit we produce.
In the next section, we will pull the names together and see how the characters and places in this story depict what happens to us when we live by the dictates of our desire and reasoning rather than making God our ruler and King. When we don't abide in the vine and remain in the "house of bread," we become fruitless.
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.— John 15:4
His Words are Life
... man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.— Deuteronomy 8:3
"We may indeed read the scriptures as men cultivate the earth simply to find food to support the life which God has given."— Andrew Jukes
The Word of God is the only life-sustaining food for our spiritual lives. According to Jesus, as recorded in John, hearing from the Lord is both relevant and essential.
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
— John 6:63
Do we consider His Word irrelevant, uninteresting, or unworthy of our time and attention? Are we seeking God's counsel and will for our lives and decisions? The answers to these questions may reveal where we are in our relationship with the Lord. Our responses may indicate that we have made our own thoughts, opinions, and wishes the King and Lord of our lives. God asks us similar questions in a portion of Scripture known as the "Gospel of Isaiah."
Why do you spend money for what is not bread
... Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance
... Let the wicked forsake his way,
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the Lord,
And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon
... For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth.
— Isaiah 55:2,7-11a
Elimelech's wife was Naomi, whose name means "pleasant and delightful." In the passage above, Delight is associated with listening to God, consuming and digesting what He says, and is symbolized by eating what is good and satisfying. Later in this story, we see how our lives can quickly turn bitter rather than pleasant when God is not our Lord and King. When we leave the "house of bread" (Bethlehem), we inevitably end up in the land of compromise and complaint rather than the land of praise (Judah), resulting in unfruitful lives.
"I need to watch lest, in a busy age, the Scripture should cease to be the constant nourishment of the my higher life; lest I hurry off to my business in the morning, too pressed for time to study it, and come in at night, too tired to do it; and lest all kinds of literature eagerly read should destroy my relish for it, and so my soul should starve, even with God's rich bread within my reach."— G.H Knight "In the Secret of His Presence."
The Grass is Not Always Greener
And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country (field) of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.— Ruth 1:1
The Hebrew word translated as "country" in the above verse is also the word for "field." When we view this word through the lens of its earliest uses, we can see a connection to being outside God's "good" provision. The field was considered the outer court of God's sanctuary of creation. Adam was exiled from the garden to the field. The field was associated with sustenance through toil and hardship, and, spiritually, it illustrates life in the flesh apart from God's provision and power. Therefore, the field connection starts the narrative by showing that they weren't supposed to go. Elimelech and his family left the land of promise to seek sustenance in the field, doubting God's provision, much like Adam and Eve found themselves outside the garden. Both Naomi and Eve subsequently lost two sons in the field.
Moab descended from the incestuous relations of Lot and his oldest daughter. Lot and his family were once residents of the depraved city of Sodom, which was destroyed because of its irreparable state of immorality. The Bible does not tell us whether Lot and his family were influenced by the godless culture in which they lived. Still, their behavior and their becoming worshipers of the pagan god "Chemosh" suggest this was a strong possibility. The worship of Chemosh included sexual immorality and human/child sacrifice. II Kings 3:27 records that King Mesha of Moab offered his son as a burnt offering on the city wall in an attempt to appease this god whom he thought would help him in his rebellion.
Many times, Moab in Scripture is depicted as an enemy of Israel. Balak, the king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse Israel during their wilderness journeys, but he was unsuccessful. In the time of the Judges, when the story of Ruth takes place, it is believed to have occurred during the reign of Eglon, king of Moab, who oppressed Israel and held them in servitude for 18 years.
Isn't it amazing the places we will go when there is a famine in the land, and it looks like we will never get what we think we want or need? As despicable as the lifestyles seem on the west side of the Jordan when there is a famine in the land, we consider going there, not concerning ourselves that we venture into enemy territory.
A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb,
But to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.
— Proverbs 27:7
Matthew Henry, a late 1600s theologian, adds some sobering thoughts to this scene.
"It is an evidence of a discontented, distrustful, unstable spirit, to be weary of the place in which God has set us, and to be for leaving it immediately whenever we meet with any uneasiness or inconvenience in it."
— Matthew Henry
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| Sweet Publishing |
... the woman was left without her two sons and without her husband— Ruth 1:5"Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay."— unknown
The number ten in Scripture also signifies a test. In this case, they failed.
Naomi the Prodigal Daughter
... they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts (self on the throne), and went backward and not forward.— Jeremiah 7:24My people are bent on backsliding from Me.Though they call to the Most High,None at all exalt Him.— Hosea 11:7
The Hebrew word for backsliding conveys the idea of defecting to enemy territory and is associated with unfaithfulness. In this verse in Hosea, it is notable that the people call God the "Most High" yet do not exalt Him. He does not hold the rank and position in their hearts that He ought to have.
Naomi's husband died, as did her two sons, who had married local girls. One of the sons' wives was named Orpah, meaning "back of the neck," and the name is related to a verb meaning "to turn one's back." The writer of Chronicles uses the term "stiff-necked" to denote stubbornness and rebellion.
Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord.
— 2 Chronicles 30:8
Ruth's name means "Friend." Loyalty is included in this definition.
... there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother
— Proverbs 18:24
Naomi learns that the Lord had visited His people with bread.
"Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread."
— Ruth 1:6
She then decides to return to her homeland. According to the IVP Bible Commentary, the Hebrew verb for "return" in this verse is the same as that used for "repent."
Some scholars have called Naomi the Old Testament's prodigal daughter. In her book The Romance of Redemption, Fuchsia Pickett notes that hunger for fresh bread motivated the prodigal's return to his Father's house.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
— Luke 15:17
Naomi then arises with her daughters-in-law to return to the land of Judah (praise). We might wonder why her daughters-in-law would go with her, but in ancient times it was customary for a bride to leave her family of origin and join her husband's family. This concept concerning the bride is depicted in Psalm 45, titled "The King's Marriage," in the New King James Bible.
Forget your own people also, and your father’s house ...
— Psalm 45:10
It is a vibrant, symbolic image of us leaving our original family of sin to be brought into a new family of righteousness in Christ, never to return to our old life.
"Ruth received the divine promises of restoration because she chose to follow the living God at the cost of breaking earthly ties and enduring the uncertainty of an unknown future foreign land."
— Fuchsia Pickett
Charles Spurgeon writes the following related idea in his book The Treasury of David.
"To renounce the world is not easy, but it must be done by all who are affianced to the Great King, for a divided heart He cannot endure ... the house of our nativity is the house of sin."
— Charles Spurgeon
Naomi kindly dismisses both women from the obligation to remain with her. It is touching that both women wept and committed to staying with her, only for Naomi to make it abundantly clear that she had nothing to offer them in terms of "this life" happiness. Orpah turns back, but Naomi sincerely stays.
Paul discusses two types of sorrow in his second letter to the Corinthian church. One sorrow is centered on genuine repentance, including regret, and the other is a worldly sorrow that produces death.
... the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
— 2 Corinthians 7:10
This scene paints a vivid picture of Christ's call to eternal life with Him. In Luke 14:25-33, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that following Him is not an invitation to "this world's" comfort. He explains that following Him means risking the closest relationships and a complete end to the self-life. God makes no bones about it: if we are looking for worldly comfort and acceptance, God, like Naomi, has nothing to offer. In light of this, He asks us to count the cost.
In John chapter six, at the end of the chapter, after a discourse on Himself as the bread of life, Jesus teaches His followers a difficult lesson. He uses the metaphor of eating His flesh and drinking His blood to typify partaking in suffering with Him.
Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever." From that time, many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
—John 6:53-66
He asked the twelve who remained the following question.
“Do you also want to go away?”
— John 6:67
Peter loyally replied as follows.
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (bread).
Also, we have come to believe and know that
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
— John 6:68-69
Stiff-Necked Versus Loyal
Orpah (one whose neck is bent on turning back) kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth (loyal friend) clung to her.— Ruth 1:14
We are to cling to the Lord as desperately and loyally as Ruth clung to Naomi and Naomi's God. According to The One Volume Bible Commentary, the ancients believed that a god and his people were inseparable. What if that is also what we believe?
... love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.
— Deuteronomy 30:20
Orpah's neck was bent on "this world" happiness, and she returned to her gods, but Ruth loyally declares the following.
"Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you;
For wherever you go, I will go;
And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people,
And your God, my God.
Where you die, I will die,
And there will I be buried.
The Lord do so to me, and more also,
If anything but death parts you and me.”
— Ruth 1:16-17
Peter made a similar statement when some of Jesus's followers left Him. Jesus then asked His disciples the following question.
Then Jesus said to the twelve,
"Do you also want to go away?”
— John 6:66
Peter replied as follows.
But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
— Genesis 6:68
Ruth, by following Naomi, pointed forward to a future Messiah and would be a member of His genealogy.
Ruth made a decision not based on circumstances or current feelings. Had her comfort dictated this decision, she likely would have returned to what was comfortable and familiar, as her sister-in-law did. According to The World's Bible Handbook commentary, Ruth turned her back on family, customs, and religion. What Ruth may have realized is suggested by Fuchsia Pickett.
"Home is wherever the will of God is for our lives. That is where we enjoy the comfort and security of the presence of God."
Ruth depicts the kind of loyalty and faithfulness the Lover of our souls seeks in us.
“Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away."
— Song of Solomon 2;10
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| The city welcomes Naomi home. Dorling Kindersley |
Returning To the House of Bread
... when they had come to Bethlehem ... all the city was excited because of them.— Ruth 1:19
This excitement illustrates the joy of a sinner who hears the Gospel and turns from sin to God.
... there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
— Luke 15:10
Our Redeemer Lives
... I know that my Redeemer lives ...— Job 19:25"Nothing contributes more to satisfy a gracious soul in affliction than the consideration of the hand of God in it. He who empties us of the creature knows how to fill us with Himself."— Matthew Henry
© 2013 Tamarajo
Links to All Articles in This Series
Ruth—Part 1—Naomi the Prodigal DaughterRuth—Part 2—Faithfulness, Loyalty, and Humility
Sources
Note on Laodicea comment: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110602232728AA0otLm.
Article on the effects of children born to women who were pregnant during famine: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15590994
Christ in the Bible Commentary, A.B. Simpson, Copyright 2009 by Zur Ltd.
Holman Bible Dictionary,
The Prophetic Romance by Fushia Pickett, copyright 1996, published by Creation House
Matthew Henry Commentary, copyright 1992, by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
IVP New Bible Commentary, copyright 1994, published by InterVarsity Press
Bible History by Alfred Edersheim, copyright 1995 by Hendrickson Publishers Inc.
Life Application Bible Commentary
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