Kicking the Goads, yes you have it...my point exactly. You caught the safety thing.
They owned land and they must have had possessions , did they sell them all so they could buy seeds and not starved. Did they finally run out of things? They had land and two sons to work it, others obviously made it through the famine.
You are exactly right it was God who caused the famine and it was He who caused them to decide to leave...unlike Abram who was well fed and secure. t Abram was directly told by God to leave and Abram obeyed. Did you catch those words.....
a certain man in the opening verses....sound like he was hand picked by God for this sojourn.
Lets look at the all of the names
H458 אלימלך 'ĕlîymelek From H410 and H4428; God of (the) king; Elimelek,
Hitchcock
Elimelech my God is king H5281 נעמי no‛ŏmîy no-om-ee' From H5278; pleasant; Naomi
Hitcock
Naomi
beautiful; agreeable Mahlon infirmity; a harp; pardon Ruth married the first born Rth 4:10
Chilion finished; complete; perfect since Orpah is mentioned first she probable married the pretty one
.
They both came with dowries, perhaps that is why they married these women .
They lived there 10 years so it does not sound like they had land or a business etc or much of anything even then since Naomi was willing to leave it all and send the women back to their mothers houses.
Ruth drunk; satisfied Other source oint out that it is a contraction for re'uth perhaps signifying "comrade," "companion"
Orpah the neck or skull Her name is supposed to be derived from the Hebrew word for "neck" (`
oreph), and so to mean "stiff-necked" because of her turning-back from following her mother-in-law; others take it to mean
"gazelle."
Do not know if this is tue or urban legend but this was the name picked out by Oprah Winfreys mother and it got misspelled on the birth certificate.
Yes Marques your reference show us that it was the piety and fidelity seen in Ruth in this narrative, she refused to abandon her mother-in-law, although
three times she was exhorted to do so by Naomi herself.
Naomi was getting on in years and there were probably better prospects for Ruth in her own country. Orpah yielded to persuasion, and went back to Moab; but Ruth followed Naomi. I will address more on your verses later
We are all Elimelecks and say God is my King but then we try to do things to make things go the way we want them not understanding that everything in our lives is making us make our decisions, the things we are taught and learn from parents and others all color our ideas, the thing that happen to us color our emotions and these all play a role in our behavior.
We all are Naomi, beautiful and agreeable until things turn sour then we are also quick to change our names to bitter and miserable.
Paul instructs us
(Php 4:12) I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
(Php 4:13) I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Proverbs also tells us this
(Pro 30:7) Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
(Pro 30:8 ) Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
(Pro 30:9) Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
I was just recently struck when I realized that the early believers only had the TENACH or Old testament to go by. The New testament or Brit Chesad can therefore be seen as the spiritual commentary to the TENACH.
Thanks for all of the comments so far this story is so full of milk and meat when you look at it closer.
I have to get my taxes done right now so I can render to Caesar what is Caesars
.
Beloved