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. This Bible
study is written for women.
In our last lesson
we set the stage for what’s about to happen next! Let’s see what that is …
Time-out! Before embarking on this lesson, I want you to be mindful of what is missing ... what we have no record of ...
Let's get started ...
Ruth 1:3 (NKJV) … Then
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.
We don’t know how
long Elimelech and Naomi had been in Moab when tragedy struck, Elimelech died
leaving Naomi and her two sons (age unknown) in this foreign land alone. Naomi, however, did not choose to go back to
Bethlehem after her husband’s death but chose rather to remain in Moab. Could it be that they hadn’t been in Moab
very long and the famine in Bethlehem was still raging?
Could it be that
the family had become entrenched in Moabite life and considered it home? We are not told the reason why, but now
Elimelech’s choice became Naomi’s choice, and she chose to remain in the land
of Moab with her sons where foreign worship was all around them influencing
their every choice.
Verse
4 … Now they took wives of the women
of Moab: the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth. And
they dwelt there about ten years.
Mahlon and Chilion
chose Moabite wives entrenching the family even more in the Moabite
lifestyle. Mahlon married Ruth and
Chilion married Orpah. It certainly
seems that they planned to stay in Moab long term.
We need to take
note here of who is making the choice to stay in Moab. Who is it?
Verse 5 … Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died; so the
woman survived her two sons and her husband.
Some scholars
suggest that the death of all three of these men, Elimelech, Mahlon and
Chilion, was due to their leaving Israel and the young men marrying foreign
women. God had warned Israel about
intermarriage with unbelievers in Exodus 34:12-16 and in Deuteronomy 7:1-4
because of the potential negative spiritual effects. Could this be the reason? This
is a good discussion question.
Exodus
34:12-16 (NASB) … 12 Watch yourself
that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are
going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13 But rather, you are to tear
down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 —for
you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a
jealous God— 15 otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the
land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their
gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you might
take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might play the
harlot with their gods and cause your sons also to play the harlot with their
gods.
Deuteronomy 7:1-4 (NASB) … 7 “When the Lord
your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and
clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the
Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the
Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you, 2 and when the Lord
your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly
destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them. 3
Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your
daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. 4
For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then
the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy
you.
Naomi, Ruth and
Orpah are now all three widows in Moab with no visible means of support and
Naomi, in the midst of her grief, is once again faced with a dilemma and must
decide what to do.
Questions:
1.
After
Naomi’s husband died, she has a choice before her, what is it?
2.
What
are some spiritual implications of Naomi’s choice?
3.
The
next big events in Naomi’s life that we read about are weddings, who got
married and who did each marry?
4.
It
seems that Naomi and her sons intended to stay in Moab long term, verse 4 gives
us two indications that this might be the case, what are they?
5.
Why should
staying in an area where one is spiritually in danger be a concern?
6.
Tragedy
strikes again, this time with Naomi’s sons, what happened?
7. This lesson ends with Naomi facing the same choice she faced when we began this lesson, what is it?
Spiritual Choices Matter!
Before we close out this lesson, did you figure out what was missing, what we have no record of ... we have no record of anyone consulting God on the choices at hand! Hmmm ... are we ever guilty of not praying/consulting God in our decision making?
This concludes lesson 2 of our study on Naomi. I hope you’ll choose at least one of the questions above and answer it in the comments below.
In lesson 3, Naomi is faced with two choices.
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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