Title Farewell (1)
Ruth 1:8-10
Naomi said to her two sons, "Go, each of you, to your mother's house. May the Lord do you good to you as you have done to the dead and to me, and may the Lord grant you peace, each of you in your husband's house." and kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept and said to Naomi, No, we will return with you to your people.
In verses 8 to 18, Naomi and her two daughters-in-law are saying goodbye. In the end, Orpah returned to her people and to her gods at the insistence of her mother-in-law Naomi. But Ruth persuaded her mother to the end. In the end, Ruth forces Naomi to give up trying to let her go, and they go on the road together.
The book of Ruth has outstanding literary features. It's mostly conversational. The book of Ruth has 85 verses, of which 56 are dialogues. From verse 8, a long conversation begins between Naomi, Ruth, and Orpah. This is the first dialogue we see in the book of Ruth.
At the end of verse 7, it says, “Walking on the road.” Judging from this, the conversation between Naomi and her two daughters-in-law must have started somewhere along the way back home. It must have been some distance from Moab. From ancient times, in the East, there is a custom of seeing off guests from afar. It is believed to have gone as far as the border of Bethlehem and Moab.
But in reality, Naomi had no intention of returning to Bethlehem with her two sons.
1:8, "Naomi said to her two wives, Go back to your mother's house, each of you."
So why didn't Naomi say goodbye to Ruth and Orpah at all in Moab? Needless to say, he knew that if he had said goodbye to Moab, the two wives would have discouraged Naomi from leaving. Because they must have been earnestly pleading with them to stay in Moab and live with them. But at this point, I thought that I would be able to easily defeat their persuasion.
Naomi wanted to return to Bethlehem alone. When Naomi herself returns to Bethlehem, she still has friends and relatives. However, it is an unfamiliar land for both of them. It is a place where no one knows and the beliefs and customs are different. Naomi was well aware that her mother-in-law's home was not in Bethlehem, but in Moab. So I urged my two daughters-in-law to return. Here you can see Naomi loving and caring deeply for her two daughters-in-law. If you look at today's text, where are you telling us to go?
"Go back to your mother's house, each of you."
In the Old Testament, it is usually referred to as "father's house". Let's look for an example.
Genesis 38:11, "Judas said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Be womb and stay in your father's house, and wait for my son Shelah to grow up."
Numbers 30:16, "These are the ordinances the LORD commanded Moses, for the husband to his wife and the father to the young woman in his house."
Deuteronomy 22:21 "You shall bring the virgin out of the gate of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, for he has done what is evil in Israel, by the act of a prostitute in his father's house; in this way you shall bring evil among you. Remove it."
Judges 19:2,3 “The concubine, who committed adultery, left her husband and returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem, Judah, and spent four months there. He brought him to him, and the woman led him into his father's house, and the woman's father saw him and welcomed him."
In verse 8 of the main text, it is expressed as “the mother’s house,” but let’s look for a place called “the mother’s house” in the Bible.
Song of Songs 3:4, "As soon as I left them, I found the one I loved in my heart, and I took hold of him and did not let him go until I went to my mother's house to the room of the one who conceived me."
A mother's house makes you think about things related to love and getting married. One of the roles of a mother in the home is to educate her children about heterosexual love and marriage.
Gen 24:67, "Isaac brought Rebekah into the tent of her mother Sarah, and took her and took her as a wife and loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother's superiors."
Isaac married Rebekah and welcomed the bride into her mother's tent.
In verse 9, when Naomi is blessing her wives, the word "husband's house" appears, which refers to the two wives getting married and living with a husband.
Ruth 1:9, "May the Lord grant each of you peace in your husband's house."
These words are the words of the second blessing that Naomi prayed to her two daughters-in-law following verse 8. These verses show that Naomi could do nothing for the two wives. The two self-confidences show that there is no hope for Naomi. In fact, Naomi was well aware that she could not do anything good for the future of the two wives. So Naomi asked God to do what she couldn't do.
Naomi thought that God had struck her. He believed that God had tormented him. Verse 13 says, “Because the hand of the Lord was against me.” He said the same thing in verse 20.
1:20, "Because the Almighty has afflicted me exceedingly."
All these misfortunes were caused by God's wrath. Perhaps Naomi thought that God had punished her because she came to a foreign land that God hated to avoid the famine when there was a famine in Bethlehem.
But is that really the case? Naomi thought so, but it is not. Whether she left her hometown or her husband and sons died, God's providence was behind all of this. Through Ruth, who followed Naomi to Bethlehem, David, a holy soldier of Israel, was born from her descendants. And we know well that Jesus Christ was born of that descendant.
What is the first blessing Naomi gave to her husband and wife in verse 8?
“May the Lord do good to you as you did to the dead and to me.”
Who is "the dead" in this verse? These are the two dead sons of Naomi. Orpah's husband Kirio and Ruth's husband Marlon. Orpah and Ruth had become widows because of their husband's death, and had no sons, but they were willing to endure and live together. I prayed that God would do good to those who have lived like this.
In verse 8, following the blessing that Jehovah wants to do good for us, verse 9 also prays for blessings for our own children.
"May the Lord grant each of you peace in your husband's house."
"Peace" here refers to the end of moving around or long wanderings on the road. In the text, it means that Ruth and Orpah get married and settle in one place and enjoy stability.
Let's look at an example of the use of the word peace in Psalm 132. First, I need to tell you about the event behind Psalm 132. On one occasion, the Philistines took the ark of the covenant that Israel had commanded the Israelites to build. During the reign of King David, the ark of the covenant was brought back to Israel. It took a long time for the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to come back to Jerusalem, and after wandering on the road for a long time, it was finally settled forever. Let's look at the next verse from Psalm 132:
Psalm 132:8, "Arise, O LORD, and enter into a place of peace, with the ark of your power."
Psalm 132:14, "This is my resting place forever; I dwell here, because I have desired it."
In this way, peace refers to moving from place to place without being able to settle down, or to settle down in one place after not having a resting place.
But in essence, this peace can only be given by God. This is why Naomi asked "from the Lord" that the wives should be newly married and have peace in their husband's house. Who is giving you food? It is God. And who is the One who gives the husband? It is Jehovah. Jehovah is the Filler, the One who controls human life and death.
There are many difficult and difficult times in our lives. But there is someone who gives us peace and gives us rest. That is Jesus. Jesus said.
Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
After Naomi had prayed for her husband and wife to find peace at her husband's house, she kissed her farewell.
“I kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.”
Naomi, who entrusted her two sons-in-law, kissed her as a sign of separation. And they lifted up their voices and wept together at the kiss of farewell. It's a touching scene. They lived together for a long time. It made them more intimate and firm between them. This can also be seen in verses 11, 12, and 13 when Naomi called her two sons, “My daughters.” Naomi entrusted her two wives to God so that a brighter tomorrow could be opened for her two wives like her daughter.
Verse 10 records the reactions of the two daughters-in-law to Naomi's farewell.
"No, we will return with you to your people."
They would have spoken with tears in their eyes. But here they said, "I will go back." This does not mean that they will return to their hometown of Moab. It means that I will go back to my mother's hometown of Israel with my mother. Whatever the reason, whether this is to repay Naomi's love, or whether the two seek to remain loyal to their deceased husband to the end, or to avoid the pain of a breakup, the two wives have their own hopes. It was a declaration of sacrificing the future.
In verses 8-10, the first conversation of the three men, who stood on the way back to Bethlehem and wept over farewell, ended with this.