The Bible is undoubtedly a profound and captivating book—one that brims with subtle literary nuances, expanding and sharpening the weight of the truths it conveys. It’s often said that the Bible is simple enough for a child to understand yet deep enough to confound the most astute of scholars.

The Book of Ruth beautifully exemplifies this dual nature. On the surface, it offers a straightforward message about God’s providence and faithfulness, especially as seen in the puzzling ancestry of Israel’s greatest king, David. A humble foreign girl was incorporated into this royal lineage, not due to force but out of a desire to choose the ways of Israel and more importantly, the God of Israel. This was true to an extent for two other curious ancestors in David’s lineage, Rahab and Tamar. In God’s grace, he chose the weak to shame the strong and to bring about his great plan for a messiah. In fact, Ruth was herself a rebuke by God to Israel. What Israel was supposed to be and do, this Moabite girl ends up being and doing. She was humble and faithful, both in the face of loss and scandal.

So, within this fast-paced narrative, one of the shorter books of the Bible, we also find a few subtle, literary, and poetic messages embedded within the text.

Let's turn our attention to a few of these complex and illuminating messages in Ruth 1:20-21. While it may not be obvious in the English translation, the Hebrew brings out a few features that add color to an already vibrant story.

Naomi's Name & the Bitterness of Loss

One of these fun details that you may have heard before is the play on words Naomi uses regarding her name. The name "Naomi" (נָעֳמִי) comes from a Hebrew word meaning “sweet” (נָּעִים / na’im). An example of this is in the famous line from Ps 133:1, “Behold, how good and how sweet it is when brothers are together” (הִנֵּה מַה־טֹּוב וּמַה־נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אַחִים גַּם־יָחַד). So, Naomi tells the ladies of Bethlehem to call her "Mara," which means “bitter” (מָרָא). The word is normally spelled with the letter "heh" rather than an "aleph," which is unusual and may give it a more Aramaic flavor. This perhaps points the original audience to her time living outside of Israel and the influence it had on her.

There’s also the interesting use of God as “Shaddai” (שַׁדַּי). On one hand, this is a more generic term for the "Almighty," having a less personal and more remote tone. It also carries an older sense, pointing back to the times of the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen 17:1, 35:11). However, it may again be a subtle signal to the original audience regarding her time spent in Moab.

In Moab, a related term was used for the “gods” called the “shedim” (שֵׁדִים), meaning something like the mountain gods. This word was actually used in a few places in the Bible to refer to demons. For example, listen to Deut 32:16-17, “They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons (שֵׁדִים) that were no gods, to gods they had never known.” While we need not say Naomi was calling God a demon, it does at the least indicate her lack of intimacy and perhaps the influence from her time with the Moabites.

While all of these interpretive nuggets are intriguing, there are perhaps two even more important and applicable messages in these verses from Ruth.

Poetic Structure & Separation from God

A poetic structure emerges in Ruth 1:21, revealing a deeper insight into Naomi’s state of mind and heart,

“I went full but Yhwh returned me empty”

In the Hebrew, there is a strong emphasis on the separation between Naomi and Yhwh. You see, the first word of the verse is “I” and the last word is “Yhwh.” In Hebrew, there is more flexibility to move words around in the sentence than we can in English. It's also not necessary to use the pronoun “I” because of how their grammar works. So, the word “I” was intentionally added to create both the poetic feel and symmetry but also to position Naomi and Yhwh as complete opposites. Think about the other words in this poem. They are all opposites as well. “Went” is the opposite of “return” and “full” is the opposite of “empty.” Thus, in this Hebrew poem, it could not be any more clear that Naomi is not only deeply bitter but utterly separated from Yhwh. Though she was physically moving closer to the land of Yhwh, in her heart she could not be further away.

Self-Focus & the Path to Bitterness

Another striking feature of this short passage teaches a powerful lesson for us today. You may have noticed how much Naomi mentions herself. She uses the pronoun “I” or “me” in every line, multiple times in each verse. The high concentration of these words tells us that she has become deeply focused on herself.

Of course, she is grieving and clearly says that she is bitter. She has just lost her husband and her two sons. She was alone and destitute. Yet, in this brief narrative we are prompted to think and to ask, is this a proper perspective? Is this a proper orientation when we are in grief? Although we may understand her bitterness, the broader biblical witness says that there is a better way.

On one hand, the whole story is wrapped around Naomi and her husband leaving the land of Israel to go live abroad, seeking economic security and opportunity. In the ancient context, this was far more theologically significant than we may realize. If you remember, Naomi’s husband was named Elimelek, which means “God is my king.” Yet, he led his family away from God into a territory where other gods reigned. This might seem odd to us since we think of God as the creator and king of the whole world, which is true. But in the ancient context, gods and their authority were understood to be regional or land-based. This is why Naaman requests dirt to be brought back to Assyria with him (2 Kings 5:17). So, in reality, Naomi and her husband were really at fault for leaving the protection and providence of God.

But even in this, God was gracious and drew Naomi back to the land, to Bethlehem, in order to provide for her. He had a plan to bless her but it would come through the faithfulness of a foreign girl, who almost assuredly would have been a former idolater.

So, it’s interesting to notice that even in the midst of God graciously providing for her, Naomi was saturated in bitterness. I believe the story hints at the root of this through the focus on “I” which Naomi repeats over and over. While grief is universal, one indication or pathway for grief to turn into bitterness is by focusing on ourselves, by becoming so absorbed in our own sorrow that we lose touch with the world and even God. You see, the Bible is ok with anger and frustration at suffering. The Psalms are full of these kinds of laments (e.g., Ps 4, 27, 42). But the proper orientation is to turn to God for mercy and comfort rather than to condemn him and focus on ourselves. We see throughout the Psalms that David and the other writers consistently give their frustrations to God but they always at least end with a reminder that they trust in him or that they worship him for his faithfulness. This subtle shift is key for us in our grief.

Bitterness or Trust? The Choice in Trials

Trouble will come to all of us at some point. How we deal with it will expose where our hearts are planted. If our hope and desires are in ourselves and our plans, if we turn inward as we grieve, then we'll likely become bitter and perhaps even reject God. But if we, like the psalmist, begin with the simple truth that God is good and all-powerful, if we turn upward as we grieve, then even in the fiery ordeals we will not self-implode but actually draw closer to God and see the sweetness of his grace and compassion for us.

In God’s kindness, he provided for Naomi through Ruth, a picture of faithfulness even to those who are bitter. Perhaps, in our next trial, we will be more of a Ruth than a Naomi. Perhaps, we will be able to trust in the goodness of God even when it feels more like bitterness.

We will never know all the reasons sorrow may come to us in this life. But we can control how we respond.

May we turn our eyes and our hearts to the God who loves us enough to send his Son to die for us.

May we forever draw near to him.