Naomi Becomes a Widow
(1 Timothy 5:3–16)
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man from Bethlehem in Judah, with his wife and two sons, went to reside in the land of Moab. Gen 12:10Gen 26:1Ezk 14:132Ki 8:1-2Deu 28:38Gen 43:1Jdg 17:8Jol 1:16-20 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah, and they entered the land of Moab and settled there. Gen 35:191Sa 17:21Mic 5:21Sa 1:1
Then Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons, Psa 34:192Ki 4:1Heb 12:10-11Heb 12:6 who took Moabite women as their wives, one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. Mat 1:5Deu 7:31Ki 11:1-2Deu 23:3
And after they had lived in Moab about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and without her husband. Deu 32:39Psa 89:30-32Isa 49:21Jer 2:19Luk 7:12Mat 22:25-27
Ruth’s Loyalty to Naomi
When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had attended to His people by providing them with food, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to leave the land of Moab. Psa 132:15Psa 111:5Exo 3:16Exo 4:311Sa 2:21Exo 16:4-6Isa 55:10Jer 29:10 Accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road leading back to the land of Judah. 2Ki 8:3Exo 18:27Rut 1:10Rut 1:14
Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you loving devotion, 1 as you have shown to your dead and to me. Rut 1:5Rut 2:20Col 3:18Col 3:24Eph 6:2-3Eph 5:22Jos 24:15-282Ti 1:16-18 May the LORD enable each of you to find rest in the home of your new husband.” Rut 3:1Act 20:37Gen 29:11Gen 27:27Gen 45:15
And she kissed them as they wept aloud and said, “Surely we will return with you to your people.” Zec 8:23Psa 119:63Psa 16:3
But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb to become your husbands? Deu 25:5Gen 38:11 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, Gen 17:171Ti 5:9 would you wait for them to grow up? Would you refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.” Job 19:21Psa 32:4Jdg 2:15Psa 38:2Psa 39:9-101Sa 5:11Deu 2:15
Again they wept aloud, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. Pro 18:24Mat 16:24Mat 10:37Heb 10:39Jhn 6:66-69Mat 19:221Ki 19:20Deu 10:20
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; follow her back home.” Jdg 11:24Zep 1:62Ki 2:2Jos 24:15Psa 125:51Jn 2:192Sa 15:19-20Heb 10:38
But Ruth replied: 2Sa 15:21Rut 2:11-122Ki 2:2-6Psa 45:10Mat 8:19Jhn 13:371Th 1:9Isa 14:1
“Do not urge me to leave you
or to turn from following you.
For wherever you go, I will go,
and wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
Where you die, I will die, 1Sa 3:171Ki 2:232Ki 6:312Sa 19:131Ki 20:101Sa 25:222Sa 3:351Ki 19:2
and there I will be buried.
May the LORD punish me,
and ever so severely,
if anything but death
separates you and me.”
When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her. Act 21:14Act 2:42Eph 6:10
The Return to Bethlehem
So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole city was stirred because of them, and the women of the city exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” Mat 21:10Isa 23:7Lam 2:15
“Do not call me Naomi, 2” she replied. “Call me Mara, 3 because the Almighty 4has dealt quite bitterly with me. Job 6:4Heb 12:11Psa 88:15Isa 38:13Job 19:6Lam 3:1-20Psa 73:14Job 5:17 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.” 1Sa 2:7-8Job 1:21Job 13:26Job 16:8Job 10:17Mal 3:5
So Naomi returned from the land of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. And they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Rut 2:232Sa 21:9Exo 9:31-32