Ruth 1:9b – “Bacah”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁹...Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and they wept.”

The word translated “wept” catches my attention. It is the Hebrew verb bacah. The word shows up in Psalm 84 where it says in vv5-7: “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Bacah, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”  “Valley of Bacah” could actually be translated “valley of weeping” or “valley of tears.” I believe this is where the old folks got the name for this world, this “vale of tears.”

Once again, I love studying the book of Ruth as it is such a simple book. The book presents to us real people living real lives. Today we find this older woman of faith standing with two Gentile girls and all of them crying their eyes out.

Life hurts.

It hurts for people of faith. It hurts for people without faith.

But what does the book of Ruth teach us? It teaches us that our God is the Great Cause. It teaches us that, even as people live their simple everyday lives, as they face this or that and make decisions, our God is sweeping it all to His ends. And His ends are good ends.

If only these ladies could have read the book! Naomi and Ruth would know they don’t need to cry at all. The world looks hopeless for Naomi, but unbeknownst to her, this Ruth is an enormous gift to her, and there is a Boaz just ahead who will be her kinsman-redeemer to restore her property and her family line. For Ruth, as she stands there crying, she’s faced with this decision. She can stay in Moab with her family, her people, her language, all that is familiar – but I believe that, in Naomi and her family, Ruth has caught a glimpse of life under the God of Israel. She deeply wants that. But it means going to Israel as a Moabite widow – destitute, a foreigner, perhaps a hated foreigner. It’s all an ugly black hole of uncertainty and fear for her where all choices are painful and ugly. But, if she could read the book, she’d know the Lord plans to wed her to a man of kindness and love like she could only dream of. If only she could read about David, her great grandson. If only she could know that, through Boaz, she will actually join the line of the very Messiah Himself! If only Orpah could have read the book, if she could have seen the kindness the Lord had planned for Naomi and Ruth, perhaps she could have had the faith to go with them, to see what story the Lord would write for her.

If only they all could have read the book. They would know they don’t need to cry. Instead they could have actually run ahead in joyful anticipation of all the Lord’s blessings! If only we could read our book. We would know we don’t need to cry. We could actually run ahead in joyful anticipation of the Lord’s blessings!

But is that not faith itself? “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is believing that our God is the Great Cause. This book teaches us to live our simple lives, be about our simple duties, doing the things we should do, and believe our great God is weaving it into His wise and good and glorious plan, that all His thoughts toward us are kindness.

Yes, life hurts. The pain hurts. Go ahead and cry, girls, but oh may it somehow lighten the load for you to believe that in fact God is planning to give you a future and a hope!

Yes, life hurts. The pain hurts. Go ahead and cry, all of us, but oh may it somehow lighten the load for us to believe that in fact God is planning to give us a future and a hope!

This little snip of a verse, Ruth 1:9b, is us. The whole story is us. ^“Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and they wept.” This world is a Valley of Bacah, a Vale of Tears. But God grant us the faith to find our strength in You, to set our hearts on pilgrimage; that, as we pass through our own Valley of Bacah, that we might make it a place of springs; that the autumn rains might also cover it with pools. May we go from strength to strength, till each of us appears before You in Zion.”