Rth 1:2-4:17.
Noemí (Heb. Noomî, “my pleasure” or “pleasant”). She is the wife of Elimelech and the mother of 2 children. During a severe famine the family moved from Bethlehem to Moab, where her children married and later her husband and her 2 children died. After their death, Naomi returned to Bethlehem, taking with her Ruth, one of her Moabite daughters-in-law. Through Ruth, who became famous, Naomi’s name had a place in the biblical narrative (Rth_1-4).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
pleasant. Wife of Elimelech, mother of Mahlon and Kilyon, mother-in-law of Ruth. She was born in Bethlehem of Judah, but lived in Moab together with her husband, as a result of the famine that plagued that city. At the death of him and his children, she returned to Bethlehem with Ruth and there propitiated the marriage of Ruth with the landowner Boaz. Obed, the son of Ruth and Boaz, was legitimately considered as the son of N. of her, for which she is also designated as David’s great-grandmother, keeping the descendants of Elimelek.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
Wife of Elimelech of Bethlehem. Being left without a husband and without children, she returned to her land after having stayed for a time with Ruth, her Moabite daughter-in-law.
In her depression, she said that now they should no longer call her Naomi, sweet, but more properly Mara, bitter. She counseled Ruth in the steps that led to her marriage to Boaz (Rth 3:1-6) and nursed Ruth’s son (Rth 4:16-17).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
(Pleasant). Woman from Bethlehem who emigrated with her husband † ¢ Elimelech to the land of Moab because of a great famine in Israel in the time of the judges. She was widowed there. Her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, also died, leaving the Moabites Orpah and Ruth widows. When he decided to return to her country, Ruth refused to leave her alone and went with her. In Bethlehem, N. arranged Ruth’s marriage to † ¢ Boaz through the † ¢ levirate system, thus recovering her husband’s lands and helping to establish a family from which David and the Lord Jesus would later come. . N.’s story appears mixed with Ruth’s (Rt. 1-4).
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, BIOG TYPE WOMAN MUAT
vet, = “my pleasant one”. Wife of Elimelech, who took her, along with her two sons, to the country of Moab, because of a great famine that reigned in Judah. The sons married Moabite girls. Elimelech and his sons died. Naomi, accompanied by Ruth, one of her daughters-in-law, returned to Bethlehem from Judah (Rt. 1-4). She asked not to be called Naomi anymore, but Mara, “bitter,” because the Almighty had treated her, she said, bitterly. She sought the good of Ruth, who married Boaz; she became a nurse to Ruth’s son, Obed. Typologically, she represents desolate Israel, just as Ruth represents the despised but pious remnant, who are ushered into full blessing at last, on the basis of sovereign grace, as Gentiles, but entrusting themselves to the kindness of the Near Kinsman-Redeemer ( see Isa 63:16).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Widow who figures centrally in the biblical book of Ruth and who emigrated to the country of Moab with her two sons. When she died they returned to Israel and in Bethlehem she managed to marry her daughter-in-law Ruth to a wealthy local landlord. From them was born Jesse, the father of King David, with which she was integrated as a foreigner in the messianic genealogy, a symbol of her saving universality.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
“And she said to them, ‘Do not call me Naomi, but call me Mara, for the Almighty has made me very bitter'” (Ruth 1:20).
Read: RUT 1. Naomi means “pleasant.” Compared to several of the women above, Naomi comes across as friendly and kind. She is related to the genealogy of Christ, indirectly, one of the women with noble traits. The nobility of her features immediately gives rise to our sincere sympathy, especially if we add the fact of her suffering.
Married to Elimelech, she fled with her husband from a famine in their land, Bethlehem, and they ended up in Moab. Through history we see that her heart continued to be attached to her family and to Bethlehem. Her husband died in Moab, in exile, and she was left with her two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. They both married Moabite women. But the Lord took her two children from her, already married, in addition to having been left a widow. She only had her two daughters-in-law left, and they were not from her people nor did they serve her God.
Reduced to extreme poverty, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem, all the more so since she had heard that in Bethlehem bread was now plentiful. She left Moab accompanied by her two daughters-in-law.
She was already practically an elderly woman.
The road had to be very painful for him, but at last he saw his beloved Bethlehem again, the city of his childhood happiness. We can imagine the interest with which the townspeople watched Naomi and the company he had with him, one of the daughters-in-law. We are told that “the whole city was moved because of them; and they said, “Isn’t this Naomi?” With tears in her eyes, the old woman answered: “Do not call me Naomi, but call me Mara, because the Almighty has made me very bitter.”
But Noemi had not returned alone as we said. One of her daughters-in-law had decided to go with her, even though Naomi had tried to talk her out of it. Naomi we are told that she had sent them both away: “Return each of you to your mother’s house.” Naomi would assume that the two had continued to pray to the gods of Moab. Twice in a row she begged them to leave her. Finally, Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and returned to her own. Ruth, however, refused to abandon her. “Your people will be my people, and your God my God,” was Ruth’s determined response. Moab descended from Lot, and therefore from Abraham. It is possible that a remnant faithful to God had remained in Moab and that, unknown to Naomi, Ruth had been in contact with them. The Lord, in any case, approached his soul with his almighty grace. What we know for sure, then, is that Ruth decided to abandon the gods of Moab and be faithful to the God of Israel. Therefore, he made little sense for her to stay in Moab and preferred to go with her mother-in-law.
Naomi was poor and they supported the two of the ears of corn that Ruth gathered in the fields going after the reapers. Naomi’s plans for Ruth are different from the plans we are used to, but they followed the customs of those times in Bethlehem.
Naomi’s words show tenderness and consideration for her daughter-in-law. Naomi overcame her bitterness and went back to being kind and loving as she had been before. God honored this abandoned woman in an exceptional way. In addition to including it in the story of the Holy Scriptures, and providing it with the sympathy of the Church of all times. She allowed her blood to mingle with that of the Son of God over the generations.
Suggested Questions for Study and Discussion:
1. What does Naomi’s name mean?
2. Was Naomi a woman of faith?
3. How did God finally bless Naomi?
Source: Women of the Bible
(My Niceness).
Ruth’s mother-in-law, who was the ancestor of David and Jesus Christ. (Mt 1:5.)
She was the wife of Elimelech, an Ephraitean from Bethlehem in Judah at the time of the judges. Due to severe famine, she moved to Moab with her husband and her two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. There Elimelech died. The sons later married the Moabites Orpah and Ruth, and about ten years later they both died childless. (Ruth 1:1-5.)
Heartbroken, Naomi decided to return to Judah. The two widowed daughters-in-law began the journey back with her, but Naomi advised them to return and marry in their own land, for she herself had become “too old to belong to a husband” so she could not have more children whom they could marry. Orpah turned back, but Ruth stayed with Naomi for love of her and her God, Jehovah. (Ruth 1:6-17.)
When Naomi arrived in Bethlehem, she said to the women who greeted her: “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made the situation very bitter for me† . (Ruth 1: 18-21) Since it was the time of the barley harvest, Ruth kindly went to glean for his and Naomi’s own support, so that he went to work in Boaz’s field. (Ruth 2: 1-18.) When she told Naomi whose field she was working in, she perceived the hand of Jehovah, since Boaz was a close relative of Elimelech and, therefore, one of the rebuyers. Naomi encouraged Ruth to present this fact to Boaz. (Ruth 2:19–3:18) He responded promptly and followed the customary legal process to buy back Elimelech’s property from Naomi. So according to the law of levirate or brother-in-law marriage, Ruth became Boaz’s wife on Naomi’s behalf. When a son was born to them, her neighbors gave him the name of Obed, and said: † œA son has been born to Naomi †. Thus, Obed became the legal heir to the house of Elimelech of Judah. (Ruth 4:1-22.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
(heb. no˓°me, ‘My delight’). During the period of the judges there was a famine in Bethlehem of Judah, which caused Elimelech, a citizen of that place, to take his wife Naomi and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to Moab. There the woman became a widow, and her two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and *Ruth, who were also widowed.
Naomi decided to go back to her own people alone, and for her daughters-in-law to remarry, but Ruth insisted on accompanying her. Naomi told them that henceforth her name would be Mara (Heb. mārā˒, ‘bitter’) (Rt. 1.20s). In Bethlehem she planned a levirate marriage for Ruth with her close relative, Boaz. The first son they had, Obed, belonged to Naomi, and was David’s grandfather (Rt. 4.16s).
MB
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary