Naomi

The widow of Elimelech, left bereft in Moab, who made the portentous decision to return to Bethlehem with only her daughter-in-law Ruth (Ruth 1). Burdened with her own suffering ("the Lord's hand has gone out against me," v13), her journey home became a powerful story of redemption and divine choreography. Ruth 'happened' to land in Boaz's field to glean (Ruth 2) and Boaz turned out to be a covenant-keeping man of honour, who took upon himself the responsibility of redeeming all that Elimelech had lost by marrying Ruth, and fathering the royal line of Israel and of the Messiah. The only book of Scriptures in which she appears is called Ruth; it might as well had been called Naomi. In it she appears 27x; Ruth only 20x. In fact the narrative focus at the book's conclusion is on Naomi, not Ruth or Boaz: "The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David."

Open Family Tree ☰ (Generation 8)

Resources:

Robert L. Hubbard, "Theological Reflections on Naomi's Shrewdness," Tyndale Bulletin 40.2 (1989): 283-292.☰