Ruth’s story starts with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi traveled from Bethlehem to Moab, where her two sons married women from Moab. Sadly, Naomi’s husband and her sons died.
Now back in the promised land, Naomi tells her daughters-in-law to return to their homeland. She wants them to find new husbands, have children, and live happy lives while she goes to Israel to manage on her own.
[They] said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
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—
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!” (Ruth 1:10-13).
Ruth and Orpah promise to stay with Naomi, but Naomi urges them to leave. She knows she’s too old to remarry, and even if she had children, they would be too young for Ruth and her sister.
Naomi ends by saying that the Lord’s hand has turned against her. This is how she feels as she heads back to Bethlehem.
Ruth’s Commitment
Orpah took Naomi’s advice and returned to Moab, but Ruth clung to her in faithful devotion (verse 14).
When Naomi urges Ruth to follow her sister and return to Moab, Ruth replies with a statement often read at weddings. It’s interesting that these familiar words of Ruth are not spoken to a husband, but to her mother-in-law.
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).
Arrival in Bethlehem
When Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem, the story’s focus is on Naomi’s name. The people ask, “Is this Naomi?”
She responds by saying she isn’t really Naomi anymore. The name doesn’t fit her. Naomi left full but has come back empty. Naomi is a name that signifies fullness.
She chooses the name Mara instead. Mara stands for emptiness. She feels that God has changed her status, and thus her name too.
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?”
“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 1:19-21).
Self-Image and Sorrow
Gabor Mate has written extensively about the effects of trauma on people. Trauma changes us. It impacts our bodies and especially how we see ourselves.
Naomi’s experience in Moab, losing her husband and sons, deeply affected her self-view, leading her to rename herself Mara.
Naomi means “sweet” or “pleasant,” but Mara means “bitter.” She believed that, for some reason, God had afflicted her with misfortune. No longer did she see herself as pleasant, but bitter.
One of my friends from years ago seemed to limp through life.
One day, in a moment of reflection, he told me, “I had to leave home and join the military before I learned that my name was anything but Stupid.”
His father’s constant negative words during his childhood and teenage years made him see himself as stupid rather than competent, fun, and a good person I believed him to be.
If you can relate to Naomi’s sorrow, my friend’s negative childhood words, or Gabor Mate’s view of trauma, and see yourself similarly, I encourage you to regularly ask Jesus to help redefine yourself.
Know that God loves you. He wants to be your friend and have a personal relationship with you. Don’t miss out on knowing how much God cares for you.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I continue our study of Ruth on YouTube today.
Real Voices 