Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Ruth · About this commentary
Yahweh's Hand Has Gone Out Against Me
Ruth 1:10-13
10 They said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.” · WEB
Naomi argues them away with the levirate law, and ends by blaming God to their faces.
Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? The argument is the law of levirate marriage Deuteronomy 25:5, under which a dead man's brother raises up his name. Naomi runs it to its limit and shows there is nothing there — she is too old, and even if she married tonight and bore sons, no one could wait that long.
The reasoning is legally exact and emotionally generous. She is dismantling any obligation they might feel, so that going home carries no guilt.
Then verse 13 turns from argument to accusation. It grieves me seriously for your sakes, for Yahweh's hand has gone out against me. She does not say her husband died or that misfortune struck. She names an agent, and the agent is God.
The book records the charge without correcting it, which is its consistent method — the same freedom Job is given, and Habakkuk after him Habakkuk 1:2. Naomi's theology is not wrong about who governs; her complaint is that the governing has been against her, and four chapters will pass before anything answers it.
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