January 2 2025
"...thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods"
Ruth 1:15 KJV
In the account of the life of Ruth, there is another female who we don’t talk about much. This is Orpah, Ruth’s sister-in-law who returned to her Moabite nation after the men in their family died. Not a great deal is written about Orpah, but we can garner a great deal from what she represents. Orpah, as the one who opted to go back to the pagan nation she came from, exemplifies the unwise side of human nature. It is the side that chooses the flesh over the spirit, chooses to walk in fear instead of faith and rejects God’s way because it has uncertainty, selecting the way of familiarity, even if it is not good in the long run. The thing about our flesh (‘flesh’ = the side of our humanity that pushes against godliness) is that it loves familiarity. It is like the children of Israel walking away from Egypt, yet looking back and longing to be there again for the food (Numbers 11:5) -forgetting Egypt was where they were cruelly enslaved!
In reference to the security that is felt in familiarity, the world has a phrase, ‘Better the devil you know’. It is often used in situations where someone is hesitant to make a change because they fear the unknown consequences. In contrast, as Christians, our concern is knowing God and taking a leap of faith right into his arms when we approach a juncture of uncertainty in our journey. We have to adopt the spirit of a true son, secure and trusting in his father, and not the orphan spirit that operates from insecurity and mis-trust, clutching at any illusion of safety it can find. Elimelech, the husband of Naomi and father-in-law of Orpah already made the mistake of operating out of fleshly fear. He made his family leave their home in Bethlehem in a time of famine to dwell among the Moabites, with whom as Israelites, they were not supposed to mingle (Deuteronomy 23:3-6). Maybe if he had held out and trusted God to provide where he was (‘Bethlehem’ means ‘house of bread’ after all!), he and his sons may not have ended up dying in Moab.
Bluntly, Proverbs 26:11 tells us, ‘As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.’ So if we want to be wise, we have to make sure we do not go back to things that are not good for us. Even if it feels like they are offering us a feeling of familiarity that is hard to resist.
Bible in a year: Genesis 3–4
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