Orpah in the Book of Ruth
The Book of Ruth, set during the time of the judges, tells how a family of four from Bethlehem in Judah—Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion—migrates to Moab during a famine. Elimelech dies soon after their arrival in Moab and the two sons marry local Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth.
After ten years in Moab, both Mahlon and Chilion die, and Naomi decides to return home to Bethlehem. Her daughters-in-law decide to accompany her (1:7), but Naomi advises against it:
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The women persevere, insisting they will follow their mother-in-law to Judah, and Naomi urges them not to with greater force, saying that she no longer has anything to offer them and they are young and should move on with their lives.[2]
Naomi clearly loves both of her daughters-in-law equally and has their best interests at heart. She urges them both to stay in Moab, return to their families and seek new husbands. Why should they come to a foreign land, with a foreign god, to begin a new life in foreign surroundings where their chances to find husbands would be limited? This time, Naomi succeeds in convincing one of them to return home:
Naomi tells Ruth that she should follow Orpah’s example:
Ruth, however, responds with a speech of her own, emphasizing how she will now see Naomi’s people as her own.[3] Ruth exhibits great generosity of spirit and boundless love for her mother-in-law but the author of the story does not judge Orpah harshly. Orpah loves her mother-in-law, but she also sees the wisdom in her advice. Reluctantly and tearfully, she takes her leave and disappears from the story.[4]
Orpah in Post-Biblical Sources
In classical post-biblical literature, the treatment of Orpah is almost entirely negative.
Orpah’s Name
While not offering a negative judgment on her decision, some commentators, ancient and modern, see the name of the character as implying a play on the word ערף (ʿoref) which means “back of the neck.” As the rabbis put it (Ruth Rabbah 2:9): שֶׁהָפְכָה עֹרֶף לַחֲמוֹתָהּ, “for she turned her back on her mother-in-law.”
While this may reflect an intentional wordplay by the author, the rabbis offer another interpretation of her name which is much more negative, and which is certainly not part of the book’s design (Ruth Zuta 1:4):
This extremely harsh interpretation of her name fits much of rabbinic literature, which depicts Orpah in an exceedingly negative light.
The earliest source for the expanded life of Orpah is the pre-rabbinic Biblical Antiquities (1st-cent. C.E.).[6] In its retelling of the David and Goliath story, David taunts Goliath, mentioning that they are cousins, since David is a descendant of Ruth, and Goliath of her sister, Orpah:
BA 61 Hear this word before you die. Were not the two women from whom you and I were born sisters?[7] And your mother was Orpah and my mother Ruth. And Orpah chose for herself the gods of the Philistines and went after them, but Ruth chose for herself the ways of the most powerful and walked in them. And now there were born from Orpah you and your brothers. And because you have risen today and have come to destroy Israel, behold I who was born from your own blood have come to avenge my people. For after your death your three brothers too will fall into my hands. Then you will say to your mother, “he who was born from your sister has not spared us.”[8]
Why is Orpah, a Moabite woman, cast as the mother of Goliath, a Philistine giant, and his—here unnamed—three brothers? While Biblical Antiquities does not reference biblical verses to explain its expansions, Rabbinic literature does.
Mother of Giants
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The Babylonian Talmud (Sotah 42b) identifies Orpah as the mother of Goliath, based on a midrashic reading of a passage in the book of 2 Samuel (21:18-22) that describes four Philistine warriors as ילידי הרפה “sons of the giant (harafah).” The rabbis understand the word harafah not as “the giant” but as a personal name of a woman, Harafah, and note that it is similar to Orpah: כתיב הרפה וכתיב ערפה “her name appears as Harafah and as Orpah.” The names share three out of four consonants,[9] and this is enough for the rabbis to identify them as referring to the same person.
Each of the four sons of Harafah/Orpah is killed by David or one of his warriors.[10] The Talmud explains that the killing of Orpah’s sons by a descendant of Ruth is brought about because Orpah’s kiss to Naomi does not measure up to Ruth’s act of devotion and steadfastness:
Nevertheless, the birth of these four powerful warriors was a reward for the tears Orpah shed when leaving Naomi:
Similarly, a different midrash suggests that this reward, as well as a second reward, were the result of the steps Orpah took while accompanying Naomi (Ruth Rabbah 2:20):
Orpah the Witch
According to the Talmud (b. Sanhedrin 95a), in a fantastic tale with many folkloristic elements, Abishai ben Zeruiah, arrives in Philistia to save King David from the hands of Ishbi be-Nob, Orpah’s son, who had captured him and was trying to kill him, in revenge for David’s killing of his brother Goliath:[12]
Thus, Orpah here has becomes a witch-like character, who sits weaving and wields a spindle as a weapon. not Not only is she the mother of Israel’s enemies, but an enemy herself, and who dies an ignominious death.
Orpah as a Promiscuous Woman
The Orpah/Harafah connection explains how Orpah becomes identified as the mother [or ancestor] of Goliath and the other three warriors in 2 Samuel 21, but what still needs explaining is how a Moabite woman ends up as the mother of Philistines from Gath.[13] For the rabbis, Orpah was a Moabite princess, as she and Ruth are both daughters of King Eglon of Moab, whom Ehud assassinates in Judges 3 (Ruth Rabbah 1:9).[14]
Even so, several midrashim explain that, after leaving Naomi, Orpah turns to extreme promiscuous activity. For instance, in a gloss on the phrase about Orpah leaving, Midrash Ruth Zuta writes:
The comment may imply that Orpah was so promiscuous that she let many men have sex with her one after another, though it sounds more like a depiction of a gang rape. The point seems less about Orpah and more about impugning Goliath’s lineage. This is even clearer when we look at the series of midrashim about Orpah’s promiscuity in the Talmudic pericope noted above (b. Sotah 42b), which opens with an interpretation of why Goliath is referred to as ish ha-beinayim (1 Sam 17:4, 23), literally “an in-between man.”
The simple explanation is that Goliath is an intermediary, acting as a champion for the Philistine side who goes into the no-man’s land between the two battlelines challenging the other side to send an opponent to fight him. The rabbis, however, after offering several creative interpretations, make use of the connotation of in-betweenness to call the integrity of Goliath’s lineage into question:
Having begun travelling down this path, the Talmud piles on further insults against Goliath and his mother:
At this point, the Talmud moves to wordplay insults about Orpah directly:
This piling on of coarse insults seems gratuitous, verging on the pornographic But it graphically makes the point that Orpah, Goliath’s mother, was a dissolute, lecherous woman.
Why is Orpah Portrayed So Negatively?
The rabbis loved creating oppositional pairs of virtuous and wicked characters. Examples are Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Esther and Vashti, and of course David and Goliath.
- Just as Goliath is a foil for David, so Orpah, Goliath’s mother or ancestor, is a foil for Ruth. If Goliath was a wicked person, his parents and ancestors must have been likewise.
- If Ruth is a model of virtue, kindness, steadfastness, and loyalty, Orpah must be a model of dissoluteness, promiscuity, unbridled passion, and depravity.
- While Ruth rejected her idolatrous homeland and clung to Naomi, Orpah returned to a life of idolatry and lewdness. Orpah’s decision to remain in Moab is not just a personal choice, an innocent act devoid of any negative implications; it is seen as a betrayal of Naomi, her people, and her God, and led to her offspring becoming Israel’s mortal enemies.[17]
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And yet, there is an unfortunate irony in the rabbis’ extremely derogatory portrayal of Orpah’s character. The major theme of the book of Ruth is chesed, lovingkindness, and the rabbis have nothing but praise for the chesed Ruth shows to Naomi. And yet, the rabbis seem unable to muster any sympathy for Orpah. They were focused on what they saw as her rejection of Naomi and her people. But now, looking back, perhaps a bit of compassion and understanding for Orpah in her situation would not be uncalled for.
Addendum
Orpah in Medieval Exegesis
In the Middle Ages, the peshat commentary tradition on the Book of Ruth had little to say about Orpah.[18] We may find here and there a hint of disapproval, but the attitudes are for the most part neutral. One exception is the typological commentary by Isaac ben Joseph ha-Kohen (15th cent) in which each character in the book plays a role in the drama of Jewish history in the biblical period. While Ruth is a figure for the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who cleaved to God and his anointed one, called Mahlon, Orpah is a figure for the other tribes who turned their backs (‘oref) to the kingdom of Judah and committed idolatry.[19]
Modern Poetic Readings of Orpah’s Life
When we turn to the modern period, we find several Hebrew and Yiddish poems that show much more sympathy for Orpah’s situation and justify her decision to stay in her ancestral home. These poets are addressing the figure of Orpah as portrayed in the Book of Ruth, unencumbered by rabbinic baggage.
Avraham Huss: “Orpah”
Hebrew University Professor of Meteorology, Avraham Huss’s (1924-2015) “Orpah” is written in the first person, in the voice of Orpah, who speaks to Naomi and Ruth and tells them that she has fulfilled all her obligations and duties, she owes no one anything, and she just wants to return home to live with her memories. Moving to another place means, for her, forgetting the past and her deceased husband, and making a fresh start. For this she is not ready:
For this Orpah, life is over. She just wants to live with her memories and is not ready to face an uncertain future.
Samuel Bass: “Orpah”
In “Orpah” by poet and educator, Samuel Bass (1899-1949), Orpah longs to return to Moab, without sadness or regret. She looks forward to renewal, to beginning life anew in her beloved homeland.
Itzik Manger: “Orpah Can’t Sleep”
Itzik Manger, the great Yiddish poet, who created biblically based ballads set in 19th-century Eastern Europe, in a poem called “Orpah Can’t Sleep” (Orpe ken nisht shlofn = ערפה קען נישט שלאפן) imagines Orpah receiving a letter from her father, imploring her to come home:
The father relates that Antek, the court recorder, had stopped him recently to say that he had heard that Orpah’s husband had passed away and that he asked her father to tell her that even though she had lived with a Jew he was willing to take her back just as she was.
Manger too, imagines Orpah returning to her hometown, to familiar surroundings, where she can start over again and build a new life.
Tamar Biala: “Orpah’s Letter to Her Parents”
Finally, contemporary author and midrashist, Tamar Biala, offers this meditation on Orpah and her fate in the form of a letter Orpah wrote to her parents:[25]
מכתב של ערפה להוריה – נמצא על ידי נכדתה, חיה, לאחר מותה
Orpah’s Letter to her Parents – Found by her Granddaughter, Chayah, after her Death
As Biala portrays her, Orpah has internalized the lesson she learnt from her parents not to dwell in the past but to make the best of present circumstances and move forward with life. As Biala writes elsewhere, “Orpah represents the ability to separate, the healthy ability to kiss the past goodbye and to arrange for herself a new life. … Orpah is not a rebel. She leaves in order to live in the most proper way that she is able.”[26] In a reversal of sorts, it is Orpah who feels betrayed by Ruth, who chooses Naomi over her and never properly says goodbye.
Orpah and Ruth choose different ways to respond to the traumas that they suffered. While Ruth has been greatly honored and praised by our tradition, deservedly so, for the choice she made, the choice of Orpah also deserves our understanding and compassion.
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