Ruth 1:8-9
Ruth 1:7 So she departed from the place where she was, and her two young daughters-in-law with her; and they traveled on the way in order to return to the land of Judah.
8 Then My Pleasant One (Naomi) said to her two young daughters-in-law,
“Go, return each of you to her mother’s house.
May YHWH deal kindly with you both,
just as you both have dealt [kindly] with the dead and with me.
9 “May YHWH grant that you both find rest,
each one in the house of her husband.”
Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and wept.
Introduction
Our text this morning continues our study of the book of Ruth.
Now remember, last week we left Naomi (My Pleasant One) and her two daughters-in-law on the road heading back to Bethlehem. And as we watched them get ready and then depart, we learned a few important things that we will need to have with us as we move forward in the text.
First, we were introduced to the theme of returning that is central to this section of the book. Remember in Ruth, returning not only indicates a physical movement, it also points to the spiritual factors that motivated that action. In other words, in Ruth, returning is always a matter of the feet and the heart.
Second, we saw the very heart and faithfulness of Naomi that have made her pleasant to God. For example, no sooner did God deliver her from the faithless leadership of her husband and sons, then Naomi uses her new found freedom to return to God and His land.
In our text this morning we pick back up the account a little further down the road. As we do so, we will get to see a bit more of Naomi’s heart, faithfulness, and witness.
Verse 1:8
Notice at once the setting of verse 8: somewhere along the road out of Moab, Naomi stops to have a serious talk with her daughters-in-law. Importance: first there seems to be a legal and cultural obligation for these girls to go with Naomi. They are part of her house now and under her charge. Therefore, they are with her on her journey. Second, for the third time in as many verses the author’s word choice “young daughters-in-law” reminds us that these girls are just recently wed and in their prime childbearing age. As such, we are once again confronted with the real cost that going with Naomi means to these two girls. Notice then, the family is not only impoverished but going to a land where pagan marriage is forbidden severely lessens the chance that these two Moabite girls will ever find husbands.
Next, notice what Naomi says to them. Naomi tells them to return FN#1. Importance: once again we meet with this central theme of returning. However, here in verse 8 we see this theme from the other side. Notice then, Naomi is returning to God and His land. However, Naomi is not inviting these girls to go back with her (they are already obligated and on the way). Instead, what Naomi is offering them is a chance to return to pagan Moab and remain there. In other words, just as Naomi is returning to her home and to her God, she offers these girls the same option. Importance: in both cases (be it Naomi or the girls) this notion of returning brings to light the spiritual factors that drive it (it’s not just where they are returning but why and to what). Regardless, in verse 8-9 it is vital that we recognize that what Naomi has given these girls is an official contractual release from all their obligations to her.
Next, notice the emotion and situation behind verse 8: the women have been on the road for a while. In fact, they are probably near or at the boarder of Moab. Along the way, Naomi has seen the girls’ sorrow over leaving their land; and she has had time to think through what this relocation will mean to them. Therefore, she releases the girls and instructs each of them to return home FN#2. Importance: at once we see the tenderness and compassion of Naomi’s heart (a tenderness and compassion that reflects the very heart of God). Notice then, Naomi offers a release that she does not have to grant despite the fact that it will make her life far more difficult and lonely. Not only that, she does so simply because she genuinely loves her daughters-in-law. However, notice the surprise: we would have expected Naomi to tell each girl to return to the house of her father, since they would be returning to his care and legal guardianship. However, Naomi tells them to go out from their mother-in-law’s care and return to the care of their own mothers. In other words, Naomi is making the case for their return. She is reminding them that their own mother’s tenderness, care, and life situation will be much better than what Naomi can offer. Simply put every detail of verse 8 underscores the sincerity and affection of Naomi’s heart.
Next, notice as a part of Naomi’s last act of official oversight and release she blesses the girls and their departure FN#3. Importance: at once Naomi’s blessing again shows the genuineness of her heart and affection for these girls. There is no passive aggressive guilt or manipulation going on here. There is no bitterness or resentment. Instead, Naomi sincerely wants what is best for the girls and asks God to bless them. Not only that, in a book that is all about names, it is of great significance that Naomi does not just use some generic term for god (which in a pagan land and to pagan ears could mean anything). Instead, she repeatedly uses God’s specific covenant name YHWH FN#4. In addition, notice that she does so without giving any explanation or identification to these Moabite women, such as “YHWH, the God of Israel”. In other words, this repeated use of YHWH’s specific covenant name, together with the lack of any explanation, indicates that this is Naomi’s usual practice. She does not need to explain because these girls are well aware of who YHWH is and how Naomi regards Him. Notice the result: Naomi’s blessing not only displays her heart for these girls, it also displays her heart for God and the faithful witness that she has been to these girls even in pagan Moab and even under faithless leadership. One last point: did you notice the subtle hope: Where? Remember we have not heard Naomi’s name mentioned since verse 5 where she was left destitute, nameless, and with no future FN#5. However, it is here in verse 8, as we listen to Naomi’s witness and as we watch her heading back to God’s land, that mention of her name (My Pleasant One) resumes, and with it, hope and her future. Importance: at once verse 8 reminds me that amid whatever difficulty I face, hope is always found in faithfulness and in facing God.
Next, notice what Naomi’s blessing seeks: first, she asks YHWH to deal kindly with the two girls just as they have shown kindness to the dead and to Naomi. In other words, they have dealt kindly and shown regard for their dead husbands by showing regard, fidelity, and kindness to Naomi, their husbands’ mother FN#6.
Verse 9
Next, notice the second part of Naomi’s blessing: she asks YHWH to bless the girls with rest. That is, she asks God to grant them security, settledness, and well-being. Not only that, notice she asks that they each find these things in the house of their (new) husband. In other words, Naomi asks YHWH to grant these girls remarriage and a whole new start on life. Importance: notice the contrast and Naomi’s effort to sell the girls on their departure: what Naomi ask YHWH to give her daughters-in-law (rest, security, a home, and remarriage) stand in absolute direct contrast to what they will have with her. As such, Naomi’s blessing both incentivizes their departure (life will be so much better) as well as shows Naomi’s heart and true desire for them FN#7.
Finally, notice the result: Naomi ends her blessing by tenderly kissing each girl and then all three weep. Importance: the Hebrew word “lifted up” indicates a loud cry or utterance. In other words, this in not simply a tearful occasion. Instead, the text tells us that they wept bitterly and loudly. Not only that, notice the text says that they lifted up their voice (singular). In other words, the author’s deliberate word choice indicates that they all wept with one voice and one heart. Simply put, this is not fake grief nor is it an easy decision for any of them FN#8.
Bottom line: So is this it? Is this the last time we will ever see the girls? Is the fellowship broken? Is Naomi really going to be left all alone? And yet God’s hand is at work in Naomi’s life (we know that from the text). Therefore, we leave our passage this morning with three women bawling on the side of the road and with a sense of that unsettling hope that only YHWH can give.
Footnotes
1] Go, return each one of you– What the text literally reads here is, “Go return each woman to the house of her mother” Importance: in the force of this distributive (each woman) there is a real sense that Naomi has included herself as well. She too is returning to the land and house of her mother and now makes that same offer to the girls. As such, verse 8 points to a parting of ways of this company/family (both physically and spiritually). In turn, the text quietly invites us to compare and contrasts these returnings.
2] The imperative tense used here for “Go” and “return” alerts us that this is not a suggestion or request. Rather, it is a command. In fact, the strength of Naomi’s instruction indicates that she intends it to serve as the last act of her oversight. She has released them and ordered them to go back home. At the same time, the strength of Naomi’s command leaves no room for ambiguity or passive manipulation. Naomi does not give the girls an option or a choice. She tells them to leave and expects them to do so.
3] Again we see the official nature of this release and Naomi’s position of authority over her household. Thus after granting these girls a legally binding freedom and commanding them to leave, she now turns and blesses them. All of which point to her authority and the official capacity in which she is acting.
Thus three times in verse 8 the text has underscored Naomi’s authority and the official nature of what is happening here:
1. Naomi grants the girls an official release from their obligation
2. She orders them to return home
3. And as the matriarch of the family and the last authority figure standing she blesses them and their departure
4] With the repeated use of God’s specific covenant name YHWH it is as if the pages of the text are reflecting Naomi’s heart back to the reader. In other words, in the repetition of God’s Name, we are meant to see the fixed focus of Naomi’s heart and witness
5] Back in verse 5, the loss of Naomi’s sons and husband is not just an emotional tragedy; it is also a dire financial and social tragedy. Naomi is left with no real way to provide for herself or move within respectable society. As a poor widow who has to beg, she will be a reproach and outcast. Importance: at once the central theme of “future” emerges in the starkest of terms. Naomi’s entire future is in real jeopardy. In fact, notice that it is at this point, in a book full of names, that Naomi is left conspicuously nameless. In verse 5 she is only called “the woman”.
In turn, this namelessness continues. In verses 6-7 Naomi is referred to only as “she”. To make matters worse this pronoun “she/her” grammatically refers back to “the woman” and not to Naomi’s proper name. As such, the feeling of dread over the reality of her jeopardy persists.
6] Note: here the dead refer explicitly to Naomi’s two sons, the girls’ two husbands. By extension it also includes Naomi’s husband, the boys’ father. In other words, they have dealt kindly and shown regard for their husbands by showing regard for the sons’ mother, thus honoring their wedding vows and not deserting their husband’s house or family.
7] Naomi is faithful. However, she does not see God’s hand at work. Instead, like us, she is too overwhelmed by her situation to notice. Case in point: as in the book of Judges (during which time Ruth occurs) Naomi blesses her daughters-in-law as “seems best in her own eyes” (Jud 21:25), She does not see God’s hand or even imagine the possibility that He has a future for her. If she did, her blessing would probably seek more for these girls than just the best that the world has to offer. Thus, in a lot of ways, Naomi’s blessing is wrong, shortsighted, and seeks far less than what God actually offers. Nonetheless, it is faith (born of Naomi’s faithful witness) that will serve as the only grounds that her blessing is rejected by at least one of daughters-in-law. In the end, God uses Naomi’s blessing over against Naomi’s witness to present the girls with a true logistical and spiritual decision.
8] Notice why they all weep: (1) these women genuinely care for one another. Thus, the girls have gone with Naomi and Naomi is seeking to send them back home. (2) There is no easy path here. To leave is to abandon Naomi to what the girls know is a life of endless hardship and loneliness. However, to go with her is to abandon their own future, rest, and security for that very hardship. And so they all cry over the hurt, loss, and separation that greats them no matter which way they turn. (3) That said, there is a real sense that as the decision is forming in each girl’s mind, her weeping focuses on some points more than others.