Naomi
The Bethlehemite mother-in-law of Ruth who went out to Moab full and returned home empty calling herself 'Mara' — until God used Ruth's loyalty and Boaz's redemption to place baby Obed in her arms.
Driven from Bethlehem to Moab by famine with her husband Elimelech and two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Naomi suffered the death of all three men over ten years in a foreign land (Ruth 1:1–5). Returning to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest with only her devoted Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth beside her, she told the townswomen, 'Do not call me Naomi (Pleasant); call me Mara (Bitter), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty' (Ruth 1:20–21).
Yet Naomi's emptiness was not the end of her story. Recognizing Boaz as a near redeemer when Ruth came home with an ephah of barley, Naomi guided Ruth to the threshing floor and ended the book holding newborn Obed — David's grandfather — against her chest while the women of Bethlehem proclaimed, 'Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer' (Ruth 2:20; Ruth 4:14–17).
The Outsider's Harvest — Ruth in the Bethlehem Wheat Fields, Boaz's Favor & The Gentile Pentecost
Boaz welcomes Moabite outcast Ruth to his harvest table, foreshadowing the Holy Spirit falling on Gentile outsiders.
