Ruth 1:1-5
In the time of the Judges, Elimelech took his wife, Naomi, and his two sons,
Mahlon and Chilion, to live in Moab, about 40 or 50 miles from Bethlehem,
but on the other side of the Jordan River. There was a famine in Judah.
Elimelech died in Moab, and his two sons married Moabite women names Orpah
and Ruth. But in the course of the years, these two men also died, so that
Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were left to themselves.
When Naomi got word that the Lord had once brought the land in Judah back
into fruitfulness, she set out with Orpah and Ruth to return home. But on
the way she strongly urged them to turn back and remain with their own families.
Orpah did so, but Ruth declared that she would not leave her mother-in-law,
and went with her to Bethlehem.
RUTH 1:1
"Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there
was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem -Judah went to
sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons."
There is no need to establish the historical perspective of this book beyond
stating the general period. Therefore, there is no attempt in the text to
date the book.
The time of the famine is not certain, although it is natural to connect
it with the devastation caused by the Midianites (Judges 6). Any famine
that would have compelled Elimelech to emigrate to Moab would have been
severe and extending over the whole of Israel. It was not until ten years
later that Naomi felt safe to return to Bethlehem.
The Midianites oppressed Israel for seven years, and their invasions were
usually accompanied by the destruction of the produce of the soil (Judges
6:3,4), from which famine could easily result.
Some prophetical books are carefully dated to establish a time point of
view for prophecies. See Eze. 1:1-3; Isa. 1:1; Jer. 1:1ff. Some historical
books are dated to give chronological perspective.
Boaz was the son of Salmon and Rahab. Attempts to date this book rely on
this fact plus the fact of the famine. The best guess seems to be that Ruth
took place during the judgeship of Gideon, at the time of the Midianite
invasion. There are no Bible statements to back this up.
Given this rough time frame, the story of Ruth would have occurred at approximately
the time of the Trojan wars. It is interesting to make comparisons with
the Greek king and queen, Agamemnon and Clytemnaestra, and the Trojan princess,
Helen of Troy (the face that launched a thousand ships), with the characters
of the book of Ruth.
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Elimelech may have been a victim of the "grass is greener" syndrome,
in this case, both literally and figuratively. He was a landowner in Bethlehem
and could probably have weathered the hard times. Boaz, after all, did not
leave.
This is a personal story of plain people; no heroes here. The story is serene
and pleasant. It's about family, hard work, a community, friends, and the
plan of God at the working level.
Elimelech was probably from one of the older established families. In verse
2 his family are called Ephrathites. The Jewish Midrash has an interpretation
of Ephrath which means "aristocrats". And the fact that Naomi
drew so much attention when she came back indicates she was well known.
The word "to sojourn" is the usual Hebrew word for a being a resident
alien and indicates that there was no thought of their staying in Moab permanently.
Note: the family shares the fathers prosperity or his poverty, his blessing
or his suffering.
RUTH 1:2,3
"And the name of the man was Elimelech (God is King), and the name
of his wife was Naomi (pleasant; delightful), and the name of his two sons,
Mahlon (weak; sickly) and Chilion (failing; pining); Ephrahthites of Bethlehem-Judah,
and they came into the country of Moab and continued there. And Elimelech,
Naomi's husband, died; and Naomi was left, and her two sons."
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Topic: BETHLEHEM-JUDAH
We don't know how long they were in Moab or what they did up until Elimelech's
death. This is a devastating event. Women in those days were entirely dependent
on the men in their lives, because they had very few alternatives in the
supply of their daily needs.
But at this point, Naomi still has her two sons on whom to depend.
RUTH 1:4
"And they took themselves wives of the women of Moab; and the name
of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other, Ruth; and they dwelled
there ten years."
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[ Which man married Ruth? The answer is in this book.]
The family has settled in for a long stay. If they had planned to go back
to Judah within a couple of years, marriage probably would have been put
off.
There was no law against marrying Moabites. The prohibition was against
marrying Canaanites, Deut. 7:3, and Moab was not in Canaan.
There was a prohibition against allowing Moabites into the congregation,
Deut. 23:3, and it seems that the offspring of such a marriage would have
been prohibited from becoming a member of the congregation. Jewish theologians
suggest that this prohibition was limited to males, so that there was no
legal problem of a Jewish man marrying a Moabite woman. This seems reasonable
since there was no stigma placed on David because his great-grandmother
was a Moabitess.
There would often have been spiritual fallout, however, in such marriages,
because Moabites were idolaters, and the worship of Chemosh was particularly
perverted. Remember that one of Solomon's many wives was Moabite, and she
led him into idolatry.
Topic: THE MOABITES
RUTH 1:5
"And Mahlon and Chilion died also, both of them, and the woman was
left of her two sons and her husband."
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This is a very distressing situation. The death of her sons has left Naomi
destitute.
The Talmud regards this as punishment for leaving Judah in the first place,
but there is nothing specific in this book to indicate divine discipline
(chastisement).
For one thing, Elimelech may not have been moving his family out of a place
of spiritual blessing (Judah). If the example of the time of Gideon is any
indication, most Israelites worshipped Baal and other idols during much
of the period of the Judges. So there may have been no more spiritual life
available in Judah than in Moab.
Naomi now has no land, no money, and no prospects. She is totally indigent.
She cannot expect support from the Moabites; they are not of her people.
There is no employment for her outside of a family situation. Her only hope
is to make it back to Bethlehem where there is enough to eat and where she
can count on the charity of the people.
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