Lesson 1
Naomi’s Choices
By Patsy Norwood ©
2026. All rights reserved. Any and all commercial use of this study is
prohibited. Permission is given for use
in ladies Bible classes as long as there are no changes made in the study and
no monetary gain involved.
In our brief introduction of this study, we made the statement that God never deserts His
children. In lesson 1 and before we
start talking about Naomi, we’re going to look at some Scriptures that assure
us that God never forsakes His children.
Joshua 1:9
(NKJV) … Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not
be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with
you wherever you go.”
In your Bible,
underline: ‘for the Lord your God
is with you wherever you go.’
Isaiah 41:10
(NKJV) Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for
I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will
uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
In your Bible,
underline: ‘for I am with you’
Let’s look at a
couple more, this time from the New Testament …
Hebrews 13:5
(NKJV) … Let your conduct be without
covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself
has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
In your Bible,
underline: ‘I will never leave you
nor forsake you.’
Matthew 28:20
(NKJV) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
In your Bible,
underline: ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’
Each of these four
verses have different contexts, but it doesn’t take away from the central
message: God is with His children
wherever they go!
Can you think of other
passages of Scripture that carry this same message?
Now that we’ve
established that God doesn’t desert His children, let’s get started in our
study of Naomi beginning with the first two verses in chapter 1 of the book of
Ruth.
Ruth 1:1-2 … Now it came to pass, in the
days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land.
And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to dwell in the country
of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of
the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and
the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion—Ephrathites of
Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to the country of Moab and remained there.
Naomi was the wife
of Elimelech, they both were Ephrathites (a clan) from the tribe of Judah,
living in Bethlehem near Jerusalem. There is some thinking among
scholars that Elimelech and Naomi might have been of some prominence and
affluence in Bethlehem. Naomi’s statement in chapter 1, verse 21
that she went out ‘full’ could support this idea. “I went out
full, but the Lord has brought me back empty …” (Ruth 1:21a)
Elimelech and
Noami lived in the day when judges governed apparently during one of the more
peaceful times since we know that the period of judges was all about
cycles. The children of Israel would sin and fall away from
God. God would allow their enemies to attack them, and the people
would come under servitude to their captors. The children of Israel
would repent and cry out to God for help, God would send a judge to lead them
out of the captivity and after a time the cycle would start all over
again. It seems that the children of Israel were turning to God
during times of need and oppression but forgetting about Him during the good
times.
There was a famine
in the land, a pretty severe famine from all indications and since Elimelech,
Naomi and their two sons, like everyone else, depended on the land for their
food; something needed to be done.
Elimelech, being the head of the household, made the decision to move
his family to the land of Moab some 70 miles away, where he apparently thought
things would be better. Moab’s lush,
fertile land could be seen from high points in and around Bethlehem; this sight
could have been what gave Elimelech the idea to move his family to Moab since
the area appeared unaffected by the famine.
The journey involved mountainous terrain and included crossing the
Jordan River as well as the Arnon River.
Even though it wasn’t that long of a journey by today’s standards, it
would have taken Elimelech and his family several days to reach their
destination.
Moab though, was
steeped in the worship of false Gods and idols; in short, the Moabites did not
follow the one true God. In addition,
the children of Israel and the Moabites had a long-standing conflict with each
other reaching back to when the children of Israel were journeying to the
Promised Land. The children of Israel
asked permission to cross through the territory of Moab but were refused (Judges
11:17). Moab was a constant ‘thorn’ in
Israel’s side after that resulting in them often being in conflict with each
other. This was the place Elimelech
chose to move his family. (You can read
about the origins of Moab and the Moabites in Genesis 19:30-38.)
The events of this
portion of Naomi’s journey cover a minimum of 11 years. In this study we’re going to see what a
difference a decade of being away from God, His people and His promises made. We're also going to see God quietly working
behind the scenes.
Questions:
1.
Who
are the people mentioned in this family and what are their roles?
2.
What
are the two places mentioned that this family lived? One they’re moving from, the other they’re
moving to.
3.
Naomi’s
husband made a pretty significant decision for his family; what was it and why
did he make it?
4.
What
thoughts come to your mind when you think of experiencing famine?
5.
The
Bible doesn’t tell us what Naomi thought, but let’s try to get inside her
head. How do you think she felt about
the move? What might have been some
things she ‘pondered’ in her heart?
6.
Now,
let’s look at the land they are moving to, what do we learn about Moab from
this lesson?
7.
Elimelech
moved his family from a place where God was worshipped to a place where He was
not. In fact, false gods and idols were
worshipped instead. Elimelech, in trying
to provide for his family seems to have neglected their spiritual needs or
maybe he thought they were spiritually strong enough that they wouldn’t be
affected. When making decisions for our
families, do we consider the spiritual implications? Matthew 6:33 (NKJV) tells us ‘But seek
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added to you.’ How can we apply this
Scripture to our decision-making process today?
This concludes
lesson 1 of our study on Naomi. I hope
you’ll choose at least one of the questions above and answer it in the comments
below. If you choose to comment but
don’t want it published, please include that request in your comment. I will acknowledge your comment without
identifying your name and do my best to respond to it in the next lesson.
In lesson 2,
tragedy strikes for Naomi … one of the worst kinds of tragedies!
Until the next time!
patsy @ From This Heart of Mine
~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~
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