Naomi — A Picture of Israel

Full, Then Empty

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Naomi is one of the saddest people in the Bible, and one of the most loved. Her story shows how God stays close to people who are hurting.

A full life. Naomi had a husband, Elimelech, and two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Her name means pleasant. Life in Bethlehem was good.

Hard times. Then came a famine, and the family moved to Moab (Ruth 1:1). Naomi had to leave her home, her friends and God's land.

Loss after loss. In Moab her husband died. Then, about ten years later, both of her sons died (Ruth 1:3-5). Naomi was a widow far from home.

Still praying. Even in her sorrow, Naomi prayed for her daughters-in-law: “The Lord deal kindly with you” (Ruth 1:8). She had not stopped trusting the Lord.

Honest words. In Bethlehem she said, “call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20). Mara means bitter.

Full and empty. “I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty” (Ruth 1:21). Naomi told the truth about how she felt.

God hears honest prayers. David prayed, “How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1). God put prayers like that in the Bible so we would know we can pray them too.

Pour it out. “Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8).

Near to the hurting. “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart” (Psalm 34:18).

Jesus understands. Jesus was “a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). He knows what sadness feels like.

God gave her a friend. Ruth would not leave Naomi alone. God often comforts sad people by sending someone who loves them.

Mercies every morning. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Not really empty. Naomi felt empty, but Ruth was standing beside her, and the barley harvest was beginning (Ruth 1:22). God was already at work.

What we learn. It is not wrong to be sad, and it is not wrong to tell God about it. God stays close and keeps working, even when we cannot see it.

What to do. If you are sad, tell God and tell a grown-up you trust. Peter wrote that we can give God our worries, “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Naomi's grief fills the end of Ruth 1. She is not scolded for it. Her story teaches how God's people can grieve honestly and still belong to Him.

Her names (1:20). Naomi (say: nah-oh-MEE) means pleasant; Mara (say: mah-RAH) means bitter. Naomi renamed herself after her pain.

The hand of the Lord (1:13). Naomi said, “the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!” She believed God was in control of her life. She was right about that. What she could not see yet was His kindness.

Shaddai (1:20-21). She named God Shaddai (say: shah-DYE), the Almighty, the name God used for Himself with Abraham. Even her complaint was addressed to the God of the covenant.

Lament. Many of the psalms are laments, prayers of complaint and sorrow spoken to God. Psalm 13 moves from “How long, O Lord?” to trust. Lament is an act of faith, not a lack of it.

Lamentations 3:22-23. Written after Jerusalem fell, the book of Lamentations still says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning.”

Psalm 146:9. “The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow.” Naomi the widow and Ruth the stranger were both under His care.

1 Peter 5:7. “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” Casting means throwing a heavy load onto someone strong enough to carry it.

What Naomi missed. Ruth, the Moabite daughter-in-law Naomi had urged to go back, was the very gift God would use. Later the women of Bethlehem would say Ruth was “better to you than seven sons” (Ruth 4:15).

Bread again (1:22). Barley was the first grain harvest of spring. The season itself announced that the famine was over.

Grief and community. The women of Bethlehem noticed Naomi (1:19) and later rejoiced with her (4:14-17). God often comforts grieving people through His people.

Jesus and grief. Jesus is the “Man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3). He wept at the tomb of His friend Lazarus (John 11:35), and He promises a day when “God will wipe away every tear” (Revelation 21:4).

Application. When you are grieving, pray honestly, stay with God's people and wait for God's kindness. When a friend is grieving, notice them, listen and stay close, the way the women of Bethlehem did.

Israel's Story in One Woman

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Naomi's story does not end in Ruth 1. By the end of the book, her empty arms are full again. Many Christians also see in Naomi a picture of the whole nation of Israel.

From empty to full. In Ruth 4 a baby is born to Ruth and Boaz. The women say to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative” (Ruth 4:14).

A restorer. They say the baby will be “a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age” (Ruth 4:15). Restorer means someone who brings back what was lost.

A grandmother's joy. “Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him” (Ruth 4:16). The bitter one became the happy one.

A famous family. The baby was Obed. “He is the father of Jesse, the father of David” (Ruth 4:17).

A picture of Israel. Many Christians see Naomi's story as a picture of Israel. Israel also left the Lord's ways, went into a far country, lost almost everything and came back empty.

Bitter made sweet. Long before, at a place called Marah, God made bitter water sweet for Israel (Exodus 15:23-25). He did the same for Naomi's bitter heart.

Going away. Years after Ruth, Israel turned to idols, and God allowed enemies to carry the people away to Babylon.

A promise in exile. To those people God said, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Coming home. God brought them back to their land, just as He brought Naomi back to Bethlehem.

A Redeemer. Naomi was rescued by a relative who redeemed her family. Israel's greatest rescue came through the Redeemer God sent: “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman… to redeem those who were under the law” (Galatians 4:4-5).

Jesus loves Israel. Jesus wept over Jerusalem and said, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Matthew 23:37).

For everyone. Naomi's joy came through Ruth, a foreigner. Israel's Messiah came to save people from every nation too.

What we learn. God does not forget His people. He can turn empty into full and bitter into sweet.

What to do. Pray for the Jewish people this week, and thank God that His promises never fail.

Ruth begins with an empty woman and ends with a full one. Many Christians see in that movement the story of Israel, and of the Redeemer God promised.

Ruth 4:14-17. The same women who asked “Is this Naomi?” now bless the Lord who “has not left you this day without a close relative.” The word for close relative, go'el (say: goh-EL), means a kinsman-redeemer.

Restorer of life (4:15). The Hebrew phrase uses shuv (say: SHOOV), the same verb as Naomi's return in chapter 1. The one who returned empty is given one who will return life to her.

Full to empty to full. In 1:21 Naomi said, “I went out full… empty.” In 4:16 her arms are full again. Grief did not have the last word.

A picture of Israel. Many Christians see Naomi as a picture of Israel: a people who left the place of blessing, suffered loss in a foreign land, returned with nothing and were restored through a redeemer. The book itself is set in the days of the judges, when Israel kept turning away (Judges 21:25).

Marah made sweet (Exodus 15:23-25). At the bitter waters of Marah the Lord made the water sweet. Mara, Naomi's chosen name, comes from the same root. Her bitterness, too, was turned to sweetness.

Exile and hope. Jeremiah 29:11 was written to Israel in exile in Babylon. God's plans for His people included “a future and a hope.”

The Redeemer. Galatians 4:4-5 says God sent His Son “to redeem those who were under the law.” Jesus, born in Naomi's Bethlehem from Ruth's family line, is the Redeemer of Israel and of the nations.

Visited (Luke 1:78). The Lord “visited His people by giving them bread” in Ruth 1:6. Zacharias sang that “the Dayspring from on high has visited us” in Jesus. God's visit in Christ is the greater homecoming.

Jesus' lament (Matthew 23:37). Jesus grieved over Jerusalem like a mother hen longing to gather her chicks. His love for Israel is real.

Bethlehem again. The story that began with an empty town ends with a baby in Bethlehem, the town where God's own Son would one day be born, “a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

Ruth's place. Naomi's restoration came through Ruth the Moabite. God's blessing on Israel was always meant to overflow to the nations (Genesis 12:3).

Application. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). Pray for Israel, and trust God with the empty places in your own life.

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