Bitter to Blessed: Is This Naomi?
Ruth 4:14
The Scroll of Ruth gets a happy end. Naomi and Ruth’s plot succeeds as Boaz becomes their protector, according to the laws of loyalty and family redemption. After an odd and elaborate release ritual involving a shoe and the closest male relative to Naomi’s family who agrees to hand over the protective rights to Boaz - Ruth moves in. Soon there is a baby boy. All is well in Bethlehem again.
Baby Oved will become the ancestor of King David - the final word in this scroll. But who is this story really about?
Is it about Ruth or about Naomi?
Although Ruth is the heroine whose journey takes her from foreign widow to motherhood of monarchy - the main character of a literary work is not always the one who makes things happen but the one around whom the plot revolves—the one who actually drives the action, and the one whose goals and emotions are the focal points of the narration. If that’s the case - then it may be Naomi, and not Ruth, who is the heroine here.
Prof.Adele Reinhartz demonstrates Naomi’s critical role in the story - analogous to the land itself:
“The story moves forward on two tracks: an agricultural track, in which the movement is from famine to plenitude, and a familial track, which follows Naomi’s life situation, and her emotional state, from wife and mother, to childless widow, to (adoptive) mother and grandmother. These two tracks are at times parallel, at times intersecting, but they are not quite in sync. The agricultural track is always a step ahead of the personal track, foreshadowing the developments on the personal track. Both YHWH and Ruth have their roles to play in moving the plot along, but all is for the sake of Naomi.”
We first encounter Naomi as the widow of Elimelech, with two dead sons and two remaining foreign daughters in law. As she makes her way back to Bethlehem, along with the insistent Ruth, she is bitter and ashamed of her reduced status. The chorus of local women who play a pivotal role in this story greets here with pity:
וַתֵּלַכְנָה שְׁתֵּיהֶם עַד־בּוֹאָנָה בֵּית לָחֶם וַיְהִי כְּבוֹאָנָה בֵּית לֶחֶם וַתֵּהֹם כׇּל־הָעִיר עֲלֵיהֶן וַתֹּאמַרְנָה הֲזֹאת נׇעֳמִי׃ וַתֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶן אַל־תִּקְרֶאנָה לִי נׇעֳמִי קְרֶאןָ לִי מָרָא כִּי־הֵמַר שַׁדַּי לִי מְאֹד׃ אֲנִי מְלֵאָה הָלַכְתִּי וְרֵיקָם הֱשִׁיבַנִי יְהֹוָה לָמָּה תִקְרֶאנָה לִי נׇעֳמִי וַיהֹוָה עָנָה בִי וְשַׁדַּי הֵרַע לִי׃
The two went on until they reached Bethlehem.
When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole city buzzed with excitement over them. The women said, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara - Bitter, for Shaddai has made my lot very bitter. I went away full, and God has brought me back empty. How can you call me Naomi, when God has dealt harshly with me, when Shaddai has brought misfortune upon me!”
Ruth 1:19-21
Naomi’s dramatic name change echoes through the first scenes of the story, as the two widows struggle to survive. But as the harvest season commences and the plot to secure a protector succeeds - so does Naomi’s status.
The end of the story is startling. The baby born to Ruth and Boaz is raised by Naomi and it’s the women who name him - not the parents. It’s this chorus of local women who welcomed her back into town who now name the baby and place him in his non-biological grandmothers’ lap:
וַתֹּאמַרְנָה הַנָּשִׁים אֶל־נׇעֳמִי בָּרוּךְ יְהֹוָה אֲשֶׁר לֹא הִשְׁבִּית לָךְ גֹּאֵל הַיּוֹם וְיִקָּרֵא שְׁמוֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל׃ וְהָיָה לָךְ לְמֵשִׁיב נֶפֶשׁ וּלְכַלְכֵּל אֶת־שֵׂיבָתֵךְ כִּי כַלָּתֵךְ אֲשֶׁר־אֲהֵבַתֶךְ יְלָדַתּוּ אֲשֶׁר־הִיא טוֹבָה לָךְ מִשִּׁבְעָה בָּנִים׃ וַתִּקַּח נׇעֳמִי אֶת־הַיֶּלֶד וַתְּשִׁתֵהוּ בְחֵיקָהּ וַתְּהִי־לוֹ לְאֹמֶנֶת׃ וַתִּקְרֶאנָה לוֹ הַשְּׁכֵנוֹת שֵׁם לֵאמֹר יֻלַּד־בֵּן לְנׇעֳמִי וַתִּקְרֶאנָה שְׁמוֹ עוֹבֵד הוּא אֲבִי־יִשַׁי אֲבִי דָוִד׃
And the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be God, who has not withheld a redeemer from you today! May his name be perpetuated in Israel!
He will renew your life and sustain your old age; for he is born of your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons.”
Naomi took the child and held it to her bosom. She became its foster mother,
And the women neighbors gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi!” They named him Obed; he was the father of Jesse, father of David.”
Ruth 4:14-17
It’s unclear why Ruth, the young mother, is out of the picture, although she is celebrated by the women as proving Naomi with love worthy more than that of seven sons.
The plot now comes full circle. Naomi is restored in Bethlehem as a proud matriarch, while Ruth will become known over time as ‘the mother of monarchy’.
So who is the story’s heroine?
Prof.Nehama Aschkenasy suggests it is indeed Naomi:
“While the story is told from Naomi’s point of view, detailing how she went from despair to elation, emptiness to joy, it might just as easily have been told from the point of view of Ruth. Such a story would have begun with her marriage to one of Naomi’s sons, her adoption of Naomi as her mother, her gleaning in Boaz’s fields, the threshing floor scene, marriage, and birth of her son. In theory, it could even have been told from the point of view of Boaz. It would have begun with the appearance of a lovely Moabite woman in his fields—the daughter-in-law, or perhaps now daughter, of his kinswoman Naomi—climaxed (so to speak) on the threshing floor, and ended happily in marriage and the birth of a son and heir. And yet, the author chooses Naomi as his focus, making her life, its challenges and triumphs, the narrative arc of the book.
Why, then, is the book named after Ruth if Naomi is in fact its focus? The name could highlight the genealogical connection between Ruth and her descendant David. Alternatively, it could emphasize the charm of a younger woman who willingly joins her mother-in-law’s people and their God. Or perhaps whoever it was that named this book did not adhere to the convention of naming a book after its main character.”
Farewell to Naomi’s family and welcome to the next in the series of Five Scrolls: Lamentations.
The pastoral scenes of Bethlehem give way to the horrific historical destruction of the Davidic empire, its people’s mass exile, and the burning of the First Temple.
Perhaps whoever arranged the sequence of these texts in the biblical canon wanted the readers to read between the lines and witness history’s cruel and compelling course? Perhaps by holding on to the journey of Naomi from rags to riches we too can hold on to the eternal hope that exiles can be redeemed and the future, with faith, will offer consolation, rebuilding, healthy babies and days of serenity and peace. May it always be so.
Image: Ruth and Naomi by Jacob Steinhardt
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