And she arose, she and her daughters-in-law, and returned from the fields of Moab; for she had heard in the fields of Moab how that Jehovah had visited his people to give them bread.
Naomi has buried her husband and both her sons in Moab. This verse is the turning point: news reaches her from home, and she gets up to go back. Commentators ask what moved her — the emptiness of Moab, or the report of what God had done in Bethlehem. (Where the ESV reads "given them food," older translations read "bread," and the writers quoted below use that word.)
The news Naomi hears is not that harvests improved but that the LORD acted. One writer makes this single fact the foundation of the whole book, and follows the phrase forward to the Messiah.
On hearing the news that the Lord had shown grace to His people, Naomi rose up and set out to return to her own land. Israel's condition had not changed. But God Himself had ended the days of judgment He had sent on the nation. This poor widow, weighed down by grief, could hope again for better days. As we have said, grace is the first and dominant note of Ruth. Every blessing in this book depends on one thing: "the LORD had visited His people to give them bread." The Old Testament uses this well-known expression for the blessings the Messiah will bring to Israel: "I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread" (Psalm 132:15). If only the nation had wanted them, these blessings would have been hers for good when Christ appeared among them, multiplying bread for five thousand and for four thousand men.
Loss had not moved her. A report of plenty did. That distinction decides what we think brings a wanderer home.
What moved her to return? Was it the sorrows she had endured and the losses she had sustained? No! It was the good news of the Lord's grace that drew her back... Sorrows will not move us to return to the Lord. They may teach us how bitter it is to wander, and so prepare the heart to listen to the good news concerning the Lord and His grace to His people... And with the Lord before her she is lifted above all her failure, and she rose to return.
The message travelled to where she was. Another writer sets that beside the son in Jesus' parable who remembered his father's house.
Though she had left the Lord, He had not left her. The prodigal heard there was bread enough in his father's house. In the same way the report reached Naomi: "the Lord had visited His people and given them bread." And, like the prodigal, "she set out from the place where she was." Wonderful indeed is the grace of our God, who never forsakes the wanderer, but draws and restores with cords of love.
Notice where the bread is — and where it is not.
How gracious the Lord is to spare her to the last! Now that she is free to do as she wishes, she hears a message: the Lord has visited His people and given them bread — not in Moab but "in the land." Bread is found only "at the house of Bread" (the meaning of Bethlehem), and it is for all God's people. Naomi hears this glad message and she believes it.
Commentators differ on how pure Naomi's turning was. Some read it as grace drawing her; another sees a self-interested motive.
But the rekindling of faith makes at first only a feeble flame, with more smoke than light. A selfish motive makes her return, much like the one that stirred the prodigal to turn his face toward his father's house. There does not seem to have been any sense of wrong in having left the "house of bread," or of having sinned in turning to the people of Moab. Even our repentance has nothing in it that we can boast of — all is tainted.
Naomi was not the only one who heard. The same report reached Ruth, a Moabite. One writer takes it forward to the message preached today.
Ruth was a sinner in the far-off country of the Moabites. There she heard the good report, "that the LORD had visited His people and given them bread." She believed this report. This testimony of the goodness and mercy of the God of Israel won her heart and stirred her whole soul. And, dear reader, what is the report now? Is it not that God has sent His Son to be the Saviour of the lost? Is it not that He has provided "living bread" for poor, dying, perishing sinners?
- Visit — God acts first. The famine ends because the Lord visits His people, and every blessing in Ruth traces back to that visit.
- Report — the news travels to Moab and reaches Naomi there. God never forsakes the wanderer, but draws and restores with cords of love.
- Draw — losses did not bring Naomi home; hearing of plenty did. Sorrow prepares the heart, but grace moves the feet.
- Place — bread is given in the land, not in Moab; the "house of bread" is where God feeds His people, and it is for all of them.
- Reach — the same report won Ruth, an outsider from Moab. The report now is that God has sent His Son, the living bread for dying sinners.
Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
Naomi has heard that there is bread in Judah again, and here the news turns into movement. She takes the road home with both daughters-in-law beside her — but what turns a wanderer back, and does starting a journey mean you will finish it?
The verse does not say Naomi wished herself home; it says she left the spot where she had been living. One writer treats that as the first step of recovery, and notes its effect on the two women with her.
Her first step on the homeward path was to break completely with her wrong ties in Moab. "She set out from the place where she was" (v. 7). And this very practical step had an immediate effect on others. Her two daughters-in-law went "with her." To speak against a wrong place while still living in it will have no effect on others. If the place is wrong, the first step must be to separate from it. That is what happened with Naomi. She set out, and her two daughters-in-law with her. They leave their wrong ties behind, and the right place is now before them, for "they went on the way to return to the land of Judah."
Ten years of loss had not brought Naomi out of Moab. News of God's giving did. The same writer draws the line between what teaches us and what draws us.
What moved her to return? Was it the sorrows she had endured and the losses she had suffered? No! It was the good news of the Lord's grace that drew her back. Sorrows will not move us to return to the Lord. They may still teach us how bitter it is to wander. That prepares the heart to listen to the good news about the Lord and His grace to His people. It was not the misery of the far country that drove the prodigal son back, but the grace of the Father's heart that drew him back.
The road to Judah starts here, but the traveller is not yet a restored woman. One commentator is blunt about how little there is to admire in her reasons for going.
But the rekindling of faith makes at first only a feeble flame, with more smoke than light. A selfish motive leads her to return. It is much the same motive that stirred the prodigal son to turn his face toward his father's house. She seems to have had no sense of wrong in leaving the "house of bread," and no sense of sin in turning to the people of Moab. Even our repentance has nothing in it we can boast of — all of it is tainted.
Three women are walking this road. At this stage nothing marks Orpah out as different from Ruth.
We see the form of godliness strikingly shown in Orpah. First, she identified herself with Naomi, a true believer. We read of both Ruth and Orpah that they went "with her," and again, "they went on the way" (v. 7). It looked as if Orpah had made a clean break with her old life and had started for Immanuel's Land.
What later divides them is not attachment to Naomi, since both women show that. Another writer finds the difference in how each one reacts when the road offers her nothing.
In appearance there is no difference at all between them. Both leave with Naomi and walk with her, showing their attachment to her. But it is possible to have a very likeable character without having faith. Faith makes a gulf between these two women who are so alike in so many ways. Faced with things that look impossible, the natural heart draws back. Faith feeds on those same impossibilities and grows stronger.
Commentators differ on Naomi's influence here. One sees her step out of Moab and draw others after her. Another sees a woman not yet restored enough to help anyone else.
They had gone with her on the way home. It looked as if they meant to tie themselves fully to her future. Faith would have seen God's mercy to these women of a foreign nation in this. Faith would have encouraged them to follow. But Naomi was not yet restored in her own soul, and so could be no help to others.
- Bread heard. Grace, not grief, turns the wanderer around — ten years of loss kept Naomi in Moab; news of God's giving moved her out.
- Place left. Recovery begins with a real step out of the wrong place, not with regret from inside it.
- Company gained. That one step pulled two others onto the road. Speaking against a wrong place only counts once you have left it.
- Motives mixed. Naomi set out with a weak, self-interested faith and no sense of the wrong she had done. Even our repentance is tainted.
- Faith tested. Both daughters-in-law started well. Only the one with faith kept walking when the road promised her nothing.