When All That Matters Is Being With NAOMI

The story of Ruth and Naomi remains one of my favorite bible stories. The society I grew up in often made an emphasis on the latter part where Ruth ends up married to Boaz. I suppose it was because we were and remain a people captivated by happy endings. Even in this day, it is every would-be bride’s dream to bump into a Boaz kind of a groom. Sadly many have no clue Ruth paid a price unknowingly. The price was; she wholeheartedly loved Naomi, a mother-in-law, without having had planned to get an incentive in return. Boaz then came unexpectedly ‘as a reward’. It was until a couple of years ago that God made me understand how the story directly replicates what loving God with a whole heart, whole soul, whole mind and whole strength is all about. Hence if we dare extrapolating such a model into our own relationship with him, we can equally be assured of a happy ending ever! This publication therefore aims to explore Ruth’s model of demonstrating wholeheartedness in a love relationship, so that we may all adapt.
Chapter 1: Ruth and Naomi
I probably should have entitled this section Naomi, Ruth, Orpah and Boaz, because each of them played a pivotal role in the narrative. The story kicks off with a married couple Elimeleck and Naomi immigrating to Moab with their two sons, because famine had struck their home town Bethlehem Judah. Tragically Elimelek died after a short period. The two sons left to Naomi married Moabite women namely Ruth and Orpah.

Ten years later, tragedy hit Naomi again, because she lost both sons leaving their wives widowed. Ruth and Orpah continued to live under Naomi’s roof, for back in those days’ families lived in clans. In a way both Ruth and Orpah became more like adopted family members through marriage. Similarly, we too were adopted by God through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5).

Later on Naomi resorted to returning back to Bethlehem Judah because she had learnt that God had remembered the people with food.
Her daughters-in-law also packed up their bags to follow her. At that point, I got intrigued why Ruth and Orpah effortlessly embraced the idea of relocating to Bethlehem Judah.

In my opinion, there was no justifiable need for them to relocate. Foremost the death of their husbands and having had no children meant end of matrimony and husbands’ lineage. Therefore they were justified to break free from Naomi if they had decided to do so. I am not even sure whether the daughter-in-law or mother-in-law title was still applicable or relevant. Helping Naomi with the relocation process could have had been a kind enough gesture if they had decided to do so. Nevertheless, they took it upon themselves to go all the way. They probably assumed Naomi expected them to do so. Nonetheless, I concluded Naomi must have had been a pleasant mother-in-law to be around or simply the trio may have had built a strong bond to be inseparable.

Thus the three women set off on a journey. As they got to the road that led to Bethlehem Judah, Naomi paused to challenge her daughters-in-law regarding the relocation move they had jumped onto. She did so by simply encouraging them to return to their parents. She gave them her blessing too. I applauded Naomi for being considerate, for the young women may have forced themselves into relocating. They may have decided not to part with her for fear of causing further grief and loneliness. However the fact that Naomi suggested the idea and attached a blessing meant they could do so without feeling gulty or negligent.

Surprisingly the pair got upset with Naomi’s suggestion. They were probably not expecting her to put them off from what they had genuinely set their minds to do. They both cried aloud and declined Naomi’s suggestion. At this point I was assured the women were really into serious business. I got convinced they were determined to reach the final destination with Naomi.
However, as if not satisfied by their sincere cry, Naomi persisted in ‘discouraging’ them from following her. I suppose this time she wanted to make them aware of other options available to them besides committing to following her. I also have a feeling she probably wanted to thoroughly vet their motives.

She presented the issue of marriage. Back in those days young widows were allowed to remarry, have children and manage their homes as it is in this day. Again back in the days a younger brother could marry his late brother’s wife and have a family in-order to uphold the late brother’s family lineage. However Naomi had nothing to offer as far as that option was concerned, because she never had any other sons besides the deceased. Moreover she had gone past the reproductive age.


Even if she were within the reproductive age, there was going to be a lifetime delay for the young widows.
For that would have meant waiting for Naomi to get a husband, have sons and waiting for them to be mature enough to be husbands.