Ruth 1:11

ORPAH RETURNS

"And Naomi said, Turn again my daughters: Why will ye go with me? have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons; would ye therefore tarry till they were grown? would ye therefore stay from having a husband? nay, my daughters,; for it grieveth me much for your sakes, for the hand of Jehovah hath gone forth against me. And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her."

One of the very important things in this paragraph is that Naomi spelled out for her daughters-in-law, that there was in their situation no prospect whatever of any such thing as a levirate marriage. "Naomi is saying that there is no prospect of such a marriage in this case."[20] Baldwin agreed with this, writing that, "Naomi argued that in their case the law of levirate marriage could not possibly apply."[21]

"My daughters - my daughters - my daughters" (Ruth 1:11,12,13). The powerful emotional thrust of these lines is evident. The manifest love which united the hearts of those grieving ladies is brilliantly portrayed by the sobbing words of Naomi.

"The hand of Jehovah is gone forth against me" (Ruth 1:13). "These words emphasize a conviction that underlies every word of this Book, namely, that things do not happen by chance. God is sovereign, and He brings to pass what He will."[22] Of course, some things do happen by chance (Ecclesiastes 9:11), but it is also true that the omnipotent God is ABLE to overrule every chance and happenstance in the achievement of His own sovereign will. Jehovah was not Naomi's enemy here, despite her mistaken thoughts that God was against her. Such are the inscrutable and unfathomable mysteries of all life upon this earth, that all believers should learn to trust where they cannot see and say with the patriarch Job, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him."