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A family of economic refugees comes into Moab. After the head of the family dies, a local woman called Orpah marries one of the widow's two sons (Ruth 1:4-14). She lives uneventfully with her husband and in-laws until both her husband and his brother die. Then her mother-in-law Naomi decides to go back to her native land, Bethlehem.
This is foreign territory to Orpah, but she and her sister-in-law dutifully go along with Naomi. But on the way, Naomi tells them there's no future for them in Bethlehem, and they should go back home to their mothers and marry again. They weep and refuse to leave her, but when she insists -- either she's forgotten that she has kinsmen who might marry them, or considers the link too tenuous -- Orpah decides that she's right. She kisses her mother-in-law good-bye and goes back home "to her people and her gods".
The book is not named after her. (Oprah Winfrey, on the other hand, is.)
This is foreign territory to Orpah, but she and her sister-in-law dutifully go along with Naomi. But on the way, Naomi tells them there's no future for them in Bethlehem, and they should go back home to their mothers and marry again. They weep and refuse to leave her, but when she insists -- either she's forgotten that she has kinsmen who might marry them, or considers the link too tenuous -- Orpah decides that she's right. She kisses her mother-in-law good-bye and goes back home "to her people and her gods".
The book is not named after her. (Oprah Winfrey, on the other hand, is.)
