Naomi

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab.  The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.

~Ruth 1:1-2

Describe what you think the family of Elimelek and Naomi may have been like.  Keep in mind the meanings of their names; Elimelek ("my God is King"), Naomi ("pleasant"), as well as the meaning of their hometown, Bethlehem ("house of bread").

• I imagine this family was very strong in its faith and got along well with each other.

How is this family similar or different from yours?

• I would say it is very similar!  Everyone one in myine is strong in their faith and for the most part - there's no telling that Elimelek and Naomi's family didn't fight at all - we all get along fairly well

Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.  They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years,  both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

~Ruth 1:3-5

Choose three or four words you think would describe what Naomi experienced here.

• shock, grief, bitterness

When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there.  With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.

~Ruth 1: 6-7

What kind of reception do you think Naomi expected on her return to Bethlehem with her Moabite daughters-in-law?

• I think she was hoping to be welcomed back home

If you have ever faced a totally unclear future, what did you learn from that situation?

• that if you stay patient with God, you will be able to recieve any answers you should hear in your heart faster

 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me.  May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”

   Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”

  But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands?  Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!”

  At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.

  “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

  But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”  When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

~Ruth 1:8-18

What do these verses reveal about the relationship that Naomi and Ruth had?

• that they had a pretty close bond after Ruth was married to her son

If you have a daughter-in-law, how could you be a Naomi to her?

• Well, I'm not married right now, I don't have children of my own - yet I'm old enough to have both, but definitely not old enough to have a married son right now - but if I was asked this question again many years down the road, I would treat my daughter-in-law as if she was a daughter of my own and always make her feel welcome in my house.

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”

  “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.  I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

  So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

~Ruth 1:19-22

Was the Lord at fault for Naomi's circumstances?  Was he at fault for her bitterness over them?

• No, far from it in both senses I believe!  God is never at fault for anything; He never brings harm to anyone on purpose.

Describe one situation for which you have held or do hold bitterness?

• At times it does seem a little silly but in the past you could say that I have held bitterness as to why I have been without a significant other.  But really, that's the time where you need to just sit back and be patient with reality. As a friend told me recently "Trust Him to find *him*"

What is more important in life: your circumstances or your reactions to them?  Explain your answer.

• In a way, I'm thinking that one's reactions are more important.  Any circumstance can be god or bad But it's the way we react to them that can impact the way we treat that circomstance.