Ruth 1 - Naomi and Ruth

The story of Ruth is a familiar one, but it never ceases to amaze me how old stories can reveal new truths, and so I approach this reading with fresh eyes, hoping for fresh understanding.

The first thing that strikes me is that the story of Ruth begins "in the days when the judges ruled".  Ruth comes immediately after the book of Judges and so we may expect to move on to a new period, but instead we find ourselves going backwards for a closer look.  It's a reminder that Judges is at best a summary of a particular people in a particular place at a particular time, and that there are countless personal stories which it does not tell.  The fact that the scholars and scribes who wrote and compiled the Hebrew scriptures chose to tell this particular story suggests that it is important, and that is perhaps worth bearing in mind.  The second thing that strikes me is the fact that Ruth's story does not begin with Ruth.  It is a gentle reminder that our stories never truly begin with us because we're always part of something much bigger.

The opening verses of the Book of Ruth introduce us to a man named Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their sons Mahlon and Kilion.  We are told that this family is from Bethlehem, but there is a famine in the land and so they move to Moab "for a while".  This is supposed to be a respite from suffering, but the relief is short lived as there Elimelech dies.  Of course every death is desperately sad, but I think it is easy to overlook the significance of the circumstances of Elimelech's death.  The Israelites had fought hard and endured much to reach their promised land, and so for Naomi to have to bury her husband in foreign soil would have been gut-wrenching.  And Naomi is fortunate to have two sons to care for her, but they do not marry until after their father's death, suggesting that they are still a fairly young family.  It seems Naomi has long years of widowhood ahead of her, in a foreign land where she is likely to have few friends or relatives to comfort her or provide the companionship she has lost.

There is another chance of happiness for Naomi when her sons marry Moabite women called Orpah and Ruth, but again it does not last long as both sons die within ten years, apparently without leaving any children.  Again Naomi finds new hope, and again she sees it turn to dust.  I wonder if the promise of better times ahead made the worse times that came all the harder to bear.  Sometimes it is not the low points of our lives that are the most difficult, but the sickening drops that bring us to them, and that sense of disappointment can be the cruelest thing. It is a feeling as familiar to us as it was to Naomi, and it reminds us that so much of the Bible is concerned with human life in all of its glory and its despair, and we need only look at its pages to see ourselves reflected.

The rollercoaster continues for Naomi when she learns that the Lord has provided food in Israel and so decides to go home.  We don't know how she hears this, but it seems likely that it is a whisper that travels across the border and spreads from town to town rather than a direct message, and so there is a good chance that Naomi has no idea what will await her in Bethlehem.  She must know that she may return to discover that the famine has killed the friends and family that remained behind and she is more alone than ever before, but she bravely decides to take that chance and make the long journey home. 

Unless Moabite culture was dramatically different to Israelite culture, Naomi's daughters-in-law would have been expected to remarry or return to their families, but they remain with her and the three set out for Bethlehem.  The love these women have for each other is truly remarkable.  They've not gone far however when Naomi tells Orpah and Ruth to return to their mothers and find new husbands, saying that she has little to offer them.  These two young women are all that Naomi has left in the world, and so this is a beautiful act of self-sacrifice as she tries to save them from the loneliness and estrangement she herself has experienced.

If you will allow me to indulge in some speculation for a moment, I think it's interesting that Naomi tells Orpah and Ruth to return to their mothers, when it was their fathers who would have assumed responsibility for them.  We've already seen something of the strength of feeling between three women thrown together by circumstance, and now we are reminded of the special bond between mother and daughter.  Virgina Woolf once noted that male authors rarely write of relationships between women, and for the most part my reading supports this, and so the focus on female love and friendship leads me to wonder if the Book of Ruth may perhaps be evidence of female scholarship or at least female influence.  Of course it is not impossible that a male scholar would choose to write about Naomi and her daughters-in-law, but the idea that a woman may be behind this story is an interesting one.

Back with the story, Orpah kisses Naomi goodbye and turns back, but Ruth is undeterred.  We must remember that she too has lost a husband, and perhaps she wants to hold on to the last part of him, to stay with someone who understands her loss, to comfort as she is comforted.  She clings to Naomi and tells her, “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”.  It's a beautiful declaration of love and commitment which almost sounds like a marriage vow, reminding us that there are many types of love, each as strong and as valid as any other.

And so Naomi and Ruth travel to Bethlehem, where their arrival causes quite a stir.  Naomi tells the people of the town to call her Mara because she believes the Lord has made her life very bitter and brought misfortune upon her, perhaps blaming God for all that she has suffered, or perhaps acknowledging his hand on her life and trusting that he is still in control. The people of the town could not fail to notice that she has returned without her husband or her sons, but this change of name is still a startling confession of just how bad her life is.  She must have been relieved to return home and overjoyed to have Ruth with her, but those happinesses do not wipe out her grief and she admits that with breathtaking honesty.

It's easy to lose sight of Naomi when we focus on Ruth, but I will always love her for the way she is not afraid to feel, for the way she throws herself back at life whenever it knocks her down, for the way she loves enough to let go, and for the way she owns her pain without letting it own her.