It’s Harvest Time!

But Ruth said, “…. Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there will I be buried. May the LORD do thus and so to me, and more as well, if even death parts me from you!”

When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her [Ruth 1:16b-18].

For the next two Sundays, the Revised Common Lectionary appoints two segments of text from the short book of Ruth as the OT readings. As you know, the book of Ruth is just four chapters long—about 80 or so verses—and yet there is much here that can be examined.

The first of the two readings—Ruth 1:1-18 (the OT reading for the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, RCL, Year B) begins in crisis. Famine has settled in and around a small Judean town near Jerusalem named Bethlehem. It is particularly ironic since Bethlehem means “house of bread.” Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, leave their hometown and journey toward Moab in search of food.

For listeners/readers of the original text, such a journey would have signaled that problems lie ahead. Jews and Moabites mixed as well as Hatfields and McCoys. Recall that Lot, Abram’s nephew, lost his wife in that unfortunate Sodom and Gomorrah thing, when she ignored the warnings, turned around to gaze at the sight, and was turned to a pillar of salt [see Genesis 19:26]. Later, Lot’s daughters decided that they’d get their father drunk and—how do I say it>—well, you know, both ended up pregnant [Genesis 19:30 et seq.]. They both had sons. The oldest daughter named her son Moab. So that tells you just how bad things must have been in Bethlehem, if Elimelech and Naomi, with two sons, are headed toward the land of Moab.

Things don’t get better when they reach Moab. Elimelech dies, leaving Naomi and her two sons to fend for themselves. Eventually, however, the two young men marry local women, Ruth and Orpah (I know, I know, the TV personality spells her name “Oprah,” but that’s a story for another day). Then, just when things are finally settling down in Moab, both of Naomi’s sons die. The “family” that started out as a woman and her three men has morphed into three childless widows. In a world in which husbands, fathers, and sons provided security, the prospects for a “family” consisting of three unrelated women were certainly on the wane.

Indeed, from all appearances, barrenness surrounds the three women. Not only is the land around them barren, so are they. Moreover, Naomi knows “who” is at the heart of the issue. Announcing that in her own loss she is far more bitter than the two young women, Naomi says that all this has come about “because the hand of the LORD has turned against me” [1:13].

Alas, their fortunes reverse, at least to some degree. Naomi hears that there is now food available in and around Jerusalem—thanks to Yahweh’s act [1:6], and so, she determines to return. Yet she will return, she says, clinging to her pain. In the verses that follow this week’s lesson to complete chapter 1, Naomi, upon her return to Bethlehem, will tell the women there that she is no longer to be called “Sweet” [Naomi], but rather “Bitter” [Mara][1:20]. But I’m getting a head of myself just a bit.

Naomi—with her two daughter’s-in-law in tow—begins the journey back to Naomi’s home. As they make their way toward Judah, Naomi begins to have second thoughts about the younger women’s future. Knowing what it was like to be an outsider in Moab, knowing as well that the younger women will be outsiders in Judah—no worse, they’ll be outsiders from Moab—she tells her daughters-in-law that their chances are much better if they do not continue. They should return to their home and “to their gods” [Ruth 1:15], for Naomi has determined that she will be alone in her grief.

The two young women protest, but eventually Orpah sees the wisdom in Naomi’s counsel and turns back. Naomi urges Ruth to follow her sister-in-law, but Ruth refuses to do so. She “clings” to Naomi, uttering instead the unforgettable lines that I included at the top of this meditation.

She will go with Naomi. She will lodge with her. She will make Naomi’s people her own people, and most astounding of all, Ruth will worship the God that Naomi believes has abandoned her. She even invokes a curse on herself—in Yahweh’s name—if even death parts the two women from each other [1:17].

One interesting aside: there is no evidence that Naomi was happy hearing Ruth’s words. After all, she is still consumed with her grief and bitterness. All we learn from the passage is that Naomi “ceased speaking” to Ruth [1:18, The Hebrew Bible, tr. by Alter]—so much for the power of positive thinking. The remaining verses in the chapter seem to indicate that Naomi continued to live within her solitary pain. As one reads the first chapter’s verses, one is left with the open question: “Where was Yahweh in all this?” He’s barely mentioned, and then not in altogether thankful terms.

I wish the Lectionary’s selection for Sunday continued on through the remaining few verses of the first chapter. Consider, if you will, what we see in verse 22, that the two women arrive back from the plains of Moab “at the beginning of the barley harvest.” We already know that the harvest will be bountiful, since even “bitter” Naomi has earlier admitted that the harvest was provided by Yahweh for “His people” [1:6]. And so it is, Naomi and Ruth have “come back” to Bethlehem just in time for harvest. And with this new harvest, there is the promise of life, if one can open one’s eyes to it.

Ruth and Naomi are back in Bethlehem, where barrenness has been transformed into plenty. Indeed, as is so often the case in our own world, the hand of Yahweh has been active behind the scenes in everyday life among ordinary people. I love Alter’s translation of verse 6: Yahweh has “singled out His people to give them bread.”

As the short book of Ruth progresses beyond chapter 1, we see that Naomi’s determined effort to suffer her bitterness alone will continue. And yet, we’ll also see that Ruth will begin to flourish. Through her “new god’s” almost silent activity, Ruth will be blessed in ways that she could not earlier have imagined. And if Naomi can open her eyes, she’ll come to see that Yahweh means for her to share in that blessing.

A turning point in this story of two vulnerable women is a gesture from Ruth to Naomi. The younger Ruth clings to her mother-in-law and pledges her fidelity. By the end of the story, in chapter 4, there will be another type of “clinging,” but this time it will be Naomi, as she holds the little grandson that has been born to Ruth. And Naomi will hear great words of kindness and praise from her kinswomen in Bethlehem. Speaking about the newborn, they will say:

Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth [Ruth 4:14b-15].

Deep within my heart, I sense that the story of Ruth and Naomi is a special one. It’s a story that speaks volumes to us in our present day. It’s a story that teaches us that Yahweh is always present, even when He appears not to be.

We’ve all suffered during the past two years, some much more than others. Some of us feel as if the proverbial rug has been pulled from beneath our feet. We’ve wandered off in our own ways to Moab, but He’s calling us back. Some of us have felt lost. We’ve experienced loneliness, fear, weariness, and not a little despair. And yet, this story teaches us that Yahweh has a way of setting aside his people and caring for them, of providing for them, of sustaining them in their days of need and hopelessness.

Let us return to Him, for the barley harvest is just beginning. Thanks be to God.