Naomi and a Famine – from Emptiness to Wholeness
From full to empty.
Naomi leaves Bethlehem full. She has a husband and two sons. Because of the famine, her husband Elimelech decides to leave Bethlehem (the house of Bread) and go to Moab. There in Moab, Elimelech and Naomi’s sons marry Moabite women. The Moabites are a pagan people, descended from Lot through his first born daughter. God has restrictions for the Children of Israel regarding the Moabites.
Naomi lives in Moab ten years – during which time she loses her husband and her sons. Naomi is bereft. Her family is back home in Bethlehem. Her husband and offspring are dead. She has no one but the wives of her dead sons.
She decides to go back home. Home, where her family lives. Home, where the famine is over and there is food. One daughter-in-law chooses to stay in Moab. Naomi returns a different person than when she left.
Bereft but not alone
Naomi’s daughter-in-law Ruth returns with her. Upon their arrival in Bethlehem, the people murmur, “Is this Naomi?!”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she says. “Call me Mara because the Almighty has made my life bitter.”
It’s interesting that the fault of her loss and bereavement, she thinks, is God. Yet, she and her husband made the decision to move away from people who worshipped their God and move to people who worshipped Baal. We can’t say that the deaths in Naomi’s family were a punishment from God, nor do we know what caused their deaths. We only know she is lost and at a loss. Once a pleasant and faithful Jewish woman, she now bemoans her lot in life. Does she realize the jewel she has in her daughter-in-law who provides for her? Does she understand God has a bigger plan and is orchestrating things even now, to bring Redemption, not just to Naomi, but to the world? How is God going to get Ruth to Bethlehem unless Naomi suffers loss?
Naomi is bitter. She has no concept that true Redemption is coming. God’s plan is to use Ruth, the Moabite woman to bring Redemption! While Ruth gleans in the barley fields, she has no idea that her offspring will play a pivotal part in redemption. She doesn’t need to know this to be faithful. All God asks is that we are faithful in the barley fields of our lives.
After the famine, redemption
What Naomi doesn’t know is that her sorrow is going to turn to joy. The way is paved through Ruth and her Kinsman-Redeemer, Boaz. The part I like about this story is that God uses the outcast in His plan of redemption. Naomi goes from empty to full, again!
Boaz is the grandson of Rahab, the woman in the city of Jericho who saves the spies and is later saved by them. Rahab, a prostitute who lived on the outer wall of Jericho, finds Redemption and is listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer. She marries Salmon. Their son is Boaz, who marries the Moabite widow Ruth. .
Boaz becomes Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer. Their son, Obed is born, bringing joy and delight to Naomi. The bitterness and sorrow in Naomi is gone. In its place is joy, peace, and hope! Naomi doesn’t know that this baby she will help raise is going to become the great-grandfather of King David. Generations later, the Christ Child comes from this union.
Once again, the scarlet thread of salvation and redemption is shown in this story. It should be a part of our story, too. God is faithful. After the famine, there is Bread and there is always, always redemption.
Photo credits:
1-color photo: Jan van ‘t Hoff of Gospelimages.com through pixabay.com 2-Black and white photo: pixabay.com
