SECURITY, REST, HOME

SECURITY:
1: the quality or state of being secure: as a: freedom from danger : safety b: freedom from fear or anxiety

REST:
4: peace of mind or spirit

HOME:
1 a: one's place of residence : domicile b: house
3 a: a familiar or usual setting : congenial environment ; also : the focus of one's domestic attention <home is where the heart is> b: habitat

Ruth 3:1-9

Ruth and Naomi have been through a lot: they've each lost a husband, traveled together across many miles and survived by gleaning left-over grain. At this point in their story, Naomi suggests a completely new thing: rest, security, a home. The Hebrew word actually used is manowach, which is translated in various versions of the Bible as security, rest or home. Any translation is imperfect because not all words have an exact correlation in another language. When I come across a word that is translated in three different ways, I think the way to get the best definition for myself is to look at all of them together.

Ruth was in need of rest, security and a home. Physically, she had been working very hard over the last seven weeks to glean enough grain to feed herself and Naomi. For the poor, then as now, rest was in short supply. A day of rest meant a day without food. Ruth had been blessed to find herself in the fields of a generous and honorable man, so perhaps she had managed to observe Sabbath during the barley harvest. Regardless, rest must have been an appealing concept, as was security.

Security was in short supply for a widow in Ruth's time and Ruth was especially lacking in this since she was a foreigner in Israel. She willingly left her own family to stay with and support her mother-in-law, Naomi. Even the reasons outlined above that led her to long for rest show the lack of security in her life. Ruth had been blessed to find favor in Boaz's field, but even that favor could not ensure the continued security of food.

We are told that Ruth lived with Naomi during the barley harvest, so while she technically had a "place of residence," it may not have been "a familiar or usual setting" or a "congenial environment."

What Naomi is pointing Ruth to is a home of her own, a place of true rest and lasting security. Naomi proposes that Ruth find manowach by marrying Boaz, a relative of Naomi's and owner of the field Ruth has been gleaning in. Naomi instructs Ruth in how to approach Boaz and Ruth obeys without question. While we don't see it in this passage, Naomi's instructions work. Ruth not only weds Boaz, but gives birth to the grandfather of David, a man after God's own heart.

In thinking about how to apply the lessons from this passage of Ruth to my own life, I have thought a lot about what I think manowach truly is. Where in my life do I find security, rest and a home? How do I define these three things and where do they meet, since manowach encompasses them all? At the start of the week, I spent a lot of time thinking about my home and whether it is a peaceful place where my children not only make their home, but feel at home. I want them to feel rested and secure here.

That led me to think about what security really is. I've decided one personal definition of security is to be truly known and loved anyway. This is why our ultimate security is with God, why we can find our rest in Him and why our home is not of this earth. I want to know my children for who they are, love them as they are and see them with God's eyes. One of my prayers is that God would extend that desire so that I would seek to truly know others (friends, family, neighbors) and love them as God does. The only way I will ever be able to do this is by resting in the security of the truth that God knows me even better than I know myself and loves me anyway.