He is Still Nice even to the Dead!

Ruth 2:20
“The LORD bless him! ” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers. ”

Nice to the dead? How? Are the dead able to experience how nice we are to them? How can one be nice even to the dead? Is it consistent with other biblical teachings about the dead?

When we are told that he is still nice even to the dead, that means that he is also nice to the living. The niceness to the dead is additional to his niceness to the living. Being nice to the living is understandable since we interact with them on a daily basis. How can you be nice to the dead yet you can’t interact with them?

Before we delve deeper into how to be nice or kind to the dead, we need to emphasize the need to be nice to the living. It is a person born of God who is nice and kind to others. Particularly nice and kind to people who are below you in one way or the other. Nice and kind to you junior colleagues. Nice and kind to domestic workers. Nice and kind to students. Nice and kind to the less educated, the poor, the needy, and street beggars. If we are nice and kind to those less than us, we are born of God by faith.

The book of Ruth tells us that Boaz was a relative of Naomi’s husband, Ruth 2:1. Ruth was a wife to the late son of Naomi. Boaz loved his relatives, the husband to Naomi and the husband to Ruth. While those husbands were alive he related well with them. When the husbands died their culture required that he becomes a guardian to the widows.

When Boaz realized Ruth who was picking leftovers on his farm was a widow of his relative, he showed her excessive kindness. He showed kindness to Ruth because Ruth treated Naomi well, Ruth 2:11. Boaz treated Ruth well and that was kindness and niceness to the living. Ruth was a foreigner and a poor widow, yet Boaz was nice to her. He was nice to the living!

When Naomi heard of the kindness of Boaz, she remarked that he did this also because he loved the late husbands. He treated the widow nicely without taking advantage of her because she was a wife to his late relative. He was kind to the dead.

Ecclesiastes 9:5-6
(5) For the living know that they will die,
but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
and even their name is forgotten.
(6) Their love, their hate
and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
in anything that happens under the sun.

The dead know nothing. But when we treat the living well, we do it out of kindness for the dead we knew and loved. That is being nice to the dead. We are nice to the dead, not because they know it, but because their living relatives appreciate the concern and care. The dead know nothing but the living they left behind would appreciate some kindness and niceness!

When a parent dies, be nice and kind to the children. The dead parent will not see and know, but God the Father of the fatherless will bless you and favor you. When you are nice to children who lost their parent(s), you are nice to the living children and dead parent(s). Be nice to the living and the dead!

The dead know nothing. The dead won’t see your niceness. The dead won’t hear. But you are kind to their living relatives because if they were alive you would treat them well. Be nice to the living and the dead.

Are there people you really loved and you were close to and they died? Be kind and nice to their families. Show kindness to the living and the dead. The promises we made during funeral and burial should be kept as a kindness to the living left behind and memory of the dead we once loved. Be nice to the living and the dead!

Kindness to the dead is more of honoring their memory and not the actual dead person. The dead person knows nothing but we still honor their memory of how we related. That is being nice to the dead!

2 Samuel 9:1
David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

2 Samuel 9:3
The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”

2 Samuel 9:6-7
(6)When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.
David said, “Mephibosheth!”
“At your service,” he replied. (7)
“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table. ”

David honored his friendship with the dead Jonathan by showing kindness to his son Mephibosheth. That is showing kindness to the living and the dead.

We don’t honor the dead by visiting their graves every year, no! We honor the dead by treating nicely those they left behind. Visiting graves and making sacrifices is contrary to biblical teaching and a waste of resources.

You can’t neglect children to suffer all year round, then go annually to the parents’ grave to mourn and say nice things. Treat those they left behind well. Treat them well.

When you disinherit the children, it means you hated the parent. Show kindness to the living and the dead by treating those left behind nicely. Boaz treated widows of his relatives very well. He was nice even to the dead!

Remind us dear God of our bosom friends and relatives who are dead. Prompt us to be nice and kind to the loved ones they left behind. May we show kindness to the living and the dead by being kind to those who are left behind, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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