And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
The setting is near the close of the time of the judges, when Naomi and Ruth the Moabitess come to Bethlehem from Moab after famine had taken Naomi's family there. Naomi had gone to Moab with her husband Elimelech and two sons during that famine, the sons married Orpah and Ruth, and Elimelech and the sons died there after those marriages. Their deaths in that foreign land left Naomi old, poor, and without a son to preserve the family inheritance and name, while Ruth chose to accompany her back.
On their arrival at Bethlehem all the city was moved about them, and the women exclaimed and asked if this was Naomi. The verse is her reply to them upon that arrival with Ruth, made in answer to the exclamations of the inhabitants. She asks them not to call her Naomi but to call her Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with her and made her life bitter. Naomi means pleasant and Mara means bitter, so the new name truly expressed her condition.
Her words express grief and oppressive sorrow over her losses, returning in poverty and bereaved of husband and sons. Coming back amid the scenes of happier days sharpened her sense of loss. This expresses sorrow, not a lack of faith. Her statement that she went out full means her family was well-to-do and was not forced by drought or hard times to leave Bethlehem for Moab but could have remained like others.
In calling herself Mara she acknowledged that the Lord had not approved the move to live among the heathen for mercenary gain and for her sons to marry Moabite women. That disobedience was Elimelech's and his sons', yet He overruled it for good in the conversion of Ruth. Ruth's presence gave Naomi a last ray of hope because she still had kinsmen in Bethlehem. The verse belongs to the account of Ruth's choice that brings to view the private life of a devoted family in troublous times and shows the result of abiding faith in God and a consistent life. Mara, or Marah, thus becomes an image of sorrow and spiritual desolation that is turned toward hope as the weary soul receives pardon, comfort, and rest from Christ.
The setting is near the close of the time of the judges, when Naomi and Ruth the Moabitess come to Bethlehem from Moab after famine had taken Naomi's family there. Naomi had gone to Moab with her husband Elimelech and two sons during that famine, the sons married Orpah and Ruth, and Elimelech and the sons died there after those marriages. Their deaths in that foreign land left Naomi old, poor, and without a son to preserve the family inheritance and name, while Ruth chose to accompany her back.
On their arrival at Bethlehem all the city was moved about them, and the women exclaimed and asked if this was Naomi. The verse is her reply to them upon that arrival with Ruth, made in answer to the exclamations of the inhabitants. She asks them not to call her Naomi but to call her Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with her and made her life bitter. Naomi means pleasant and Mara means bitter, so the new name truly expressed her condition.
Her words express grief and oppressive sorrow over her losses, returning in poverty and bereaved of husband and sons. Coming back amid the scenes of happier days sharpened her sense of loss. This expresses sorrow, not a lack of faith. Her statement that she went out full means her family was well-to-do and was not forced by drought or hard times to leave Bethlehem for Moab but could have remained like others.
In calling herself Mara she acknowledged that the Lord had not approved the move to live among the heathen for mercenary gain and for her sons to marry Moabite women. That disobedience was Elimelech's and his sons', yet He overruled it for good in the conversion of Ruth. Ruth's presence gave Naomi a last ray of hope because she still had kinsmen in Bethlehem. The verse belongs to the account of Ruth's choice that brings to view the private life of a devoted family in troublous times and shows the result of abiding faith in God and a consistent life. Mara, or Marah, thus becomes an image of sorrow and spiritual desolation that is turned toward hope as the weary soul receives pardon, comfort, and rest from Christ.