When life seems cruel

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

Salmon was the father of Boaz, who mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. Matthew 1:5-6

Some people seem to have a particularly difficult lot in life – hardship, sickness, bereavement, troubles of all sorts. Others seem to coast through pretty easily, outwardly at least (though the person looking on doesn’t see the hidden pains). Usually, only God knows why this should be: to the human eye it all seems just a matter of luck.

Naomi certainly qualifies as what we might call one of life’s unfortunates. Born in Judea in that shadowy period of history after Moses but before David, having married Elimelech and given birth to Mahlon and Kilion (can you picture the happy little family group?), things start to go wrong. Famine forces them to leave their home in Jerusalem, so they move to neighbouring Moab where, presumably, they were able to make a better living. Then Elimelek dies. The two boys grow up and marry local girls called Orpah and Ruth. But then, cruelly, both boys die and Naomi, left alone, has no-one to care for her except her two daughters-in-law. Both girls seem to have been loving and sensitive, but there is no man to earn a living (a must in that society at that time), and certainly no “social security”, so what is Naomi to do?

Word has got around that things are looking up in Jerusalem, so there seems only one answer: head back home. But… is Jerusalem any longer her home? She has lived in Moab for some ten years by now, her sons grew up, married and died there, and Jerusalem seems a bit of a distant memory. And what about Orpah and Ruth, possibly the only people in Moab with whom she has a strong, warm bond? They, after all, are under no obligation to come with her.

Bu she feels she has no realistic choice, and the decision is made: Jerusalem it must be. And so the story unfolds… (Please take the few minutes it needs to read it right through.)

Several things strike me as worth taking to heart.

First, we must avoid any tendency to imagine that our lot in life is dictated by good or bad deeds we have done. True, some people who live what might generally be regarded as a thoroughly wicked life do indeed “come to a bad end”; but others in that same category die comfortably in their beds surrounded by luxury. To human eyes the different fates of different people do indeed seem a case of pot luck. But let the words of Jesus in Luke 13:1-5 be our safeguard against slipping into superstition in this way.

Second, the story of Naomi reminds us that, as Paul says in Romans 8:28, “in all things God works for the good of those who love him”. True, it may take time; and true, the path may be rocky. But God knows what he is doing, even though we may need great faith to hang on to his promises. After all, right at the heart of the Christian faith stands a cross, a symbol of pain and defeat.

Third, we should never pronounce too dogmatically on the decisions other people make. Think of Orpah. Have you ever wondered what became of her? Verse 14 is particularly touching: “At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good bye, but Ruth clung to her”. Truly a parting of the ways. Orpah’s life has become intertwined with Naomi’s and Ruth’s, but now we see her turning away and walking slowly back to her Moabite home.

I heard a Christian once say how sad it was for Orpah – how sad that she chose to make the “wrong” choice. But surely no. Both young women were confronted with a difficult decision, and what was right for one may not have been right for the other. Of course, we know now how Ruth’s decision worked out – marriage to a kind and generous man, Boaz, in Jerusalem; the gift of a son called Obed, who had a son called Jesse, who had a son called … David; and thus, for Ruth the Moabitess, a place in the family line of the Messiah. Truly wonderful! Orpah meanwhile sinks into obscurity.

But wait a minute – who are we to talk about obscurity? What appears to us as obscurity may have been a rich and rewarding later life for Orpah in the familiar surroundings of Moab, fulfilling the purposes of God in a different but still meaningful way.

Who knows what God might be doing through the lives of people we think of as completely insignificant?

Two final thoughts…

First, a big part of the appeal of the Ruth story is that all the main actors in it – Naomi, Ruth, Orpah, dear kind Boaz, even the unnamed women of Jerusalem who welcomed back Naomi and her foreign daughter-in-law – behave well. No spite, no selfishness, no jealousy; just kindness and compassion. In our modern world, so poisoned by hatreds and animosities, so much in need of honesty and integrity, doesn’t this give us qualities to aspire to?

Second, it’s hard to read this story without thinking of the plight of migrants today – a prime modern example of the “unfortunates” of our world – men, women and children carrying their pathetic few belongings as they walk miles in the hope of finding a place to rest their heads… May God give us hearts of compassion.

Meanwhile we leave Naomi and her family in Jerusalem. Naomi, now old and worn, is holding baby Obed on her lap. Little did she know what this child was destined by God to be.

Thank you, Father, for the lovely book of Ruth, and for the kindness and compassion it demonstrates for us. Please help us to hold on to you in faith if hard times come, and always to have tender hearts for those whose lives are cruel and sad. Amen.