Orpah Succumbs

“Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.” V. 14.

The first time around Naomi kissed her daughters-in-law. That was a father’s kiss of love for his children. It was a kiss in a severe temptation, as if she wanted to say: Don’t give up; come with me to the land of Judah—even though she had asked them to turn back.

But now Orpah succumbed; she kissed her mother-in-law and returned to Moab, to her gods and to her people.

It is natural for fathers to kiss their children (spiritually speaking), but when children kiss their fathers, they, in the pride of their heart, put themselves on the same level as their fathers. Judas betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss.