And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house. Jehovah deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me.
Naomi has turned homeward from Moab. Her two widowed daughters-in-law set out on the road with her. Then she stops and tells them to go back. Her words sound warm and generous. But commentators differ: is this thoughtful kindness, or the voice of a faith that has grown cold?
Naomi was going home. The two young women would be leaving home.
In leaving Moab, the elder widow felt that the case of her young companions was very different from her own. She was an Israelite, and was returning to the land of her birth, of her family inheritance, and of her God. But Orpah and Ruth had no such prospect in Judah. In fact, they would leave behind in Moab their relatives, their own nation, and their idols. And Naomi felt she ought not to expect them to give up their natural ties with Moab for her sake. So she advised them each to return "to her mother's house," while asking the LORD to bless them both for their kindness to her and to the dead (Ruth 1:8-9).
The law itself also stood against them.
But the poor woman seems to have thought that Israel had nothing for these two Moabite widows. In fact, a Moabite could not enter the assembly of Israel even to the tenth generation (Deut. 23:3), so it seemed a hopeless prospect for either Ruth or Orpah.
Other writers read the same words as a failure of faith. Naomi asks the Lord to bless them, then sends them back to the land where He is not known.
Yet Naomi's words seem kind and plausible: "May the LORD deal kindly with you" (verse 8); "The LORD grant that you may find rest" (verse 9). What mockery! Turn your back on Him, and look for rest!
She tied that rest to the very thing that had already collapsed in her own life.
Her daughters-in-law get up to come with her to the land of Judah. But living in Moab had done its sad work in her desolate heart. Instead of leading them to Judah's God, she says, "Go, return to your land and your gods." She wished them to find rest in the house of a husband — the very thing on which God had written death.
Naomi was on her way back, but she had not arrived. It showed as soon as someone else needed help.
Faith would have seen mercy toward these foreign women in this, and would have encouraged them to follow. But Naomi was not yet restored in her own soul, and so she could be no help to others. Her own resources had failed, so she thinks God has failed too. She has nothing to set before these women to encourage them to seek the Lord.
What Naomi said in words, a cold believer says by manner and appetite.
But such is unbelief, never more evil than in a saint. It can see no hope for others because it sees none for itself, and would even discourage those who are seeking God. If believers are out of touch with the Lord themselves, they not only suffer personally but become stumbling blocks to anyone seeking the Lord. The cold, wretched spiritual state of God's people repels the seeking soul instead of attracting it. If not in words, then in manner and actions, God's people too often let the world think that there is nothing in the things of God to satisfy the cravings of the soul.
The root of it is a shifted gaze — from God to the situation.
They do not encourage others to come to where the Lord is, because they think there is nothing there to attract them! They are thinking of the circumstances rather than of the Lord Himself. Can He not satisfy the hungry soul?
God used even this discouraging word. "Go, return each of you to her mother's house" became the sieve that separated real faith from warm feeling.
Both Ruth and Orpah make a profession of devotedness to Naomi... But, as always, profession is put to the test. Naomi says, "Go, return each of you to her mother's house" (v. 8). They have the opportunity to go back. This brings to light whether their inward thoughts agree with their outward profession. If they are "mindful" of the country they came from, they have the chance to return (Heb. 11:15). It is significant that Ruth mentions Naomi's God, but with Orpah it is only Naomi, and Naomi's people.
- Kindness — Naomi's words are courteous and even prayerful. Commentators differ: real care for two Moabite widows, or a faith too weak to offer them more?
- Circumstances — she measured their future by what she could supply, not by what God could. A hopeless prospect on paper became a hopeless message on her lips.
- Rest — she wished them rest in a husband's house, the one place death had already emptied for her. She pointed them back to Moab instead of forward to God.
- Repelling — a believer out of touch with the Lord does not suffer alone. By manner as much as by words, he tells seeking souls, "go back."
- Sifting — God turned that discouragement into a test. Ruth named Naomi's God; Orpah spoke only of Naomi and her people.
Jehovah grant you that ye may find rest, each in the house of her husband. And she kissed them; and they lifted up their voice and wept.
As she leaves Moab, Naomi turns to her two widowed daughters-in-law and prays that each will find rest in a husband's home. The prayer is warm, but everything turns on where she points them to look for that rest.
Naomi's reasoning was that her road home and their road home were not the same. One writer traces her thinking and links her prayer to the kindness the two women had shown:
As she left Moab, the older widow felt that her young companions were in a very different position from her own. She was an Israelite, returning to the land of her birth, of her family inheritance, and of her God. But Orpah and Ruth had no such prospect in Judah. They would leave behind in Moab their relatives, their own nation, and their idols. So Naomi told them each to return "to her mother's house," and at the same time she asked the LORD to bless them both for their kindness to her and to the dead.
Commentators differ over how much blame she deserves. The same writer allows that her heart was unselfish, but weighs what her words told these women about God:
No doubt the grieving woman was speaking unselfishly. But she claimed to have faith in the LORD, the God of Israel. So when she spoke to these women of Moab, her witness to His unchanging care and unfailing goodness was feeble, and even false. It was feeble that after ten years she was still smarting under the bitterness of her own loss. It was false of her to say that the hand of the LORD was against her. His hand had not led the family to Moab; they had turned away by their own choice from the land where His hand would have kept them alive through the days of famine.
Other writers are blunter. They fasten on where she was sending the two women:
Her daughters-in-law set out to go with her to the land of Judah. But dwelling in Moab had done its sad work in her desolate heart. Instead of leading them to Judah's God, she said as it were: Go, return to your land and your gods. She wished them to find rest in the house of that husband on which God had written death.
Behind the words lies her own state of soul. Having lost everything in Moab, she assumed God had nothing left to give:
But Naomi was not yet restored in her own soul, and therefore could be no help to others. She urges them to go home, and hopes they may find rest in the house of a pagan husband! Her own resources have failed, so she thinks God has failed too. She has nothing to set before these women to encourage them to seek the Lord.
The warning is aimed at anyone who has drifted and is then asked the way back by someone else:
She kissed them, but both of them wept and told her they wanted to return with her to her people. When Naomi saw this concern on their part, was it faith for her to discourage them? No, it was not. But she was like so many believers who get away from the Lord. They do not encourage others to come to where the Lord is because they think there is nothing there to attract them! They are thinking of the circumstances rather than of the Lord Himself. Can He not satisfy the hungry soul?
The kiss and the weeping in this verse become a test. Both women wept, but the test showed what lay underneath:
Both Ruth and Orpah claim to be devoted to Naomi... Naomi says, "Go, each of you return to her mother's house." They are given the chance to go back. This will show whether their real thoughts match their outward claim... Orpah's heart clings to the land of her birth. Ruth, as we shall see, wants "a better country." Orpah makes a fair claim, but it is only a claim. Her feelings ran deep, for she lifted up her voice and wept. Her affection showed, for she "kissed her mother-in-law." And her words sounded right, for she said, "Surely we will return with you to your people."
Naomi says the word "rest" twice in this book, and the second time she has been corrected:
"Shall I not seek rest for you?" Ruth had been gleaning food, but only through constant toil, and only for the needs of the moment. She was now to have rest, all her needs met, her work over. What a change in Naomi! At the start, her unbelief would have sent Ruth back to find rest in the pagan home of some Moabite husband.
That rest has an address anyone can use:
And where does she advise her to seek rest? At the feet of Boaz. And to you, dear friend who is not yet saved, I say: at the Saviour's feet there is peace for you, pardon for you, forgiveness for you, life for you, rest for you.
- Rest asked. Naomi prays a real blessing, but sends it to Moab — to a home God had already marked with death.
- Rest misplaced. Her own losses convinced her God had failed too, so she had nothing to offer the two women beside her.
- Rest tested. The same words expose both hearts: tears, a kiss and fair words from Orpah, whose heart clung to Moab; a better country in view for Ruth.
- Rest relocated. Later Naomi seeks rest for Ruth again — this time at the feet of Boaz.
- Rest offered. What a discouraged believer could not give, Ruth found at the feet of Boaz — and the Saviour offers that same rest to you.