“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:6-9)

“He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.”  (Proverbs 28:13)

The Story of Naomi and Ruth

The book of Ruth begins with tragedy and ends with great blessings. The means of turning evil into good was the repentance of one woman, Naomi, wife of Elimelech. Because of a famine in Israel, Elimelech took his family to Moab, probably intending to stay until the famine ended. Moab was intensely evil, making it onto God’s list of cursed nations. Instead of Elimelech affecting the Moabites, they affected him, and he and his family remained in Moab.

It is difficult to say whether Naomi sinned in leaving Israel and going to Moab with her husband, Elimelech, and her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. A famine was in the land of Israel and Elimelech decided to move his family to Moab, where crop conditions were better. Yet, the spiritual climate of the country was heathen and wicked, and the people served idols. Moab was a sworn enemy of Israel and had strived for its destruction for years. The king of Moab had even hired a carnal Jewish prophet, Balaam, to curse Israel for him.

I know the Bible teaches submission of the wife to the husband, but I do not believe a wife should desert God at her husband’s wish. These details are not given in the story of Ruth. Elimelech might have told his family it would be temporary until conditions changed in Israel, but it never happened.

The World Has Nothing to Offer Christians

Elimelech adopted the ways of the Moabites and the two sons married Moabite women. In a short period of time, Elimelech died and so did both sons. Naomi was left with her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. She decided to return to her home and gave her daughters in law a choice to stay in Moab or go with her to Israel. Orpah ended up staying in Moab, but Ruth went with her mother-in-law to the land of Abraham. Before leaving, Ruth gave her life to the Lord telling Naomi, “your country will be my country, your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16).

Naomi’s decision to get right with God affected her unbelieving daughters-in-law.  As they began to leave for Bethlehem, Naomi probably told both about the covenant of Abraham, the years in Egypt, and deliverance into Canaan.  Naomi witnessed to them both. Orpah heard, rejected, and remained in Moab. Ruth heard and accepted. Naomi’s name means “pleasant” but I’m sure she did not see herself that way.

However it happened, Naomi returned to the Lord and to Israel, to the land of God’s will. I can’t help but think Naomi must have repented somewhere along the line for not protesting enough at the family’s move to Moab or requesting more that they return to Israel before her husband and sons died in Moab’s heathen environment. It had to be more than Israel’s famine was over that drew her back. All I know is, once Naomi came to herself and returned to Israel with her daughter in law Ruth, blessings beyond her wildest imaginations found them and overtook them both.

God Would Restore Naomi and Bless Ruth

Swallow your pride. You have never sinned too much or left an example so bad before others that you cannot come back to the Lord. 

Ask the prodigal. It is never too late to come back home. As long as your heart is still beating, God is not through with you and can turn your condition around. Admit to God you have blown it and repent to Him.

“Now the two of them went until they came to Bethlehem. And it happened, when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was excited because of them; and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

But she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?” (Ruth 1:19-20).

Naomi had to repent in a land she appeared hypocritical toward. She told them it had been a difficult life and God had dealt bitterly with her, convicting her through the years she had been gone. But she returned with a convert, Ruth, her Moabites daughter-in-law who was now a believer in the Lord. The inhabitants of Bethlehem learned to love Ruth and saw her as Naomi’s deliverance.

Ruth’s Blessings Became Naomi’s Restoration

Both Naomi and Ruth, being single women, found it difficult to live when they settled into life in Israel. Ruth became a gleaner, one who went behind the reapers and gathered the scraps of the harvest.

But with trust in God, Ruth was guided to glean the scraps of wheat from the fields of Boaz, an unknown and distant relative of Naomi’s husband Elimelech. Boaz saw her from across the fields and was attracted to her.  He asked who she was and took special care to leave large quantities of grain for her. When Naomi heard Ruth tell of the kindness toward her of the owner of the field, Boaz, Naomi recognized his name and told her about a law in Israel, the kinsman redeemer. Ruth had the right to ask Boaz to marry her and redeem her back from the misfortune at the death of her husband. Ruth did ask Boaz to redeem her, and he accepted. Boaz’s love and God’s love brought great blessing into the life of Ruth and overflowed into the life of Naomi. Neither woman lacked for anything the rest of their lives.  

A Genealogy of Royalty

Ruth not only became part of the nation of Israel and a wife to a leading member of Jewish society, but she also found herself a part of Israel’s ruling class. She and Boaz had a son whose later marriage joined them to royalty.

“Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel!  And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom and became a nurse to him. Also, the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.” (Ruth 4:13-17).

Naomi’s offspring was restored in Ruth’s child, Obed. Obed’s name means “worshipper.” To Naomi, who acknowledged her sins, God restored her dignity, her friends, her progeny, and the years the locust had eaten (Joel 2:25). Obed, Naomi’s grandson and Ruths son, became the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David the king, the great grandson of Ruth. To further add blessings to all this, the same genealogy opens the New Testament in Matthew 1:5-6. And, by the way, the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth, was Rahab. God just keeps on turning cursing into blessing for those who will let Him.