A Family Tragedy: Famine and Death
1:1 During the time of the judges there was a famine in the land of Judah. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live as a resident foreigner in the region of Moab, along with his wife and two sons.
Ruth is the third appendix to the Book of Judges. This time period of the Judges was unknown. There were many rabbinic theories, but none of them relied on internal Scripture for support. The famine may have been caused by the Midianite invasion of Israel. During the days of Gideon, the Midianites were plundering the land and destroying the natural resources of Israel. Judah was one of the more powerful tribes in Israel. If this man had to leave Judah during the famine and go outside of Israel to live, then the famine must have been great all over Israel. Otherwise, the man could have just relocated to another part of Israel. The famine must have lasted for several years in order to force this Jewish man to move to Moab, which was an idolatrous nation that did not worship Jehovah. In fact, Moab worshiped Moloch through infant sacrifice. Therefore, it seems that the best historical period of Ruth was during the time period of Gideon.
The Hebrew word for “resident foreigner” is גּוּר (gur), meaning one who lives temporarily in a foreign land. It means to live among people who are not blood relatives. Sometimes the גּוּר (gur) had certain resident rights, but sometimes they did not, depending upon the nation in which they sojourned. The resident alien in Israel was protected with certain rights by Jehovah’s Mosaic Law. This most likely was not the case in Moab.
The reason for the famine is not mentioned in Ruth, but since Israel was affected and Moab was not, it was most likely due to divine judgment. The Midianites were used by Jehovah to spank Israel for their disobedience of the Mosaic Law.
In Hebrew, “the region of Moab” is actually the “fields of Moab." The man from Bethlehem may have been a worker in the fields of Moab. Agricultural work was difficult work. Many resident aliens (especially Jews) may have been placed in this kind of agricultural occupation by the Moabite government.
1:2 (Now the man’s name was Elimelech, his wife was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were of the clan of Ephrath from Bethlehem in Judah.) They entered the region of Moab and settled there.
Elimelech means “My God is king." Naomi means “my pleasant one." Mahlon means “to be sick and weakly." Kilion means “wasting or pining." Ephratah was an earlier name of Bethlehem. There were two Bethlehem’s in Judah. Bethlehem Ephratah of Judah would later be prophesied by Micah to become the birthplace of the Messiah. This family came from Judah and lived temporarily in the fields of Moab. In Deuteronomy 23:5-6, the Moabites were barred from participating in the life of Israel. Therefore, this family traveled to Moab and violated the Mosaic Law. If God would have wanted them to move, He would have declared it through His prophets, just as He did during the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities.
1:3 Sometime later Naomi’s husband Elimelech died, so she and her two sons were left alone.
Naomi was left alone without a husband. However, she did have two sons to take care of her.
1:4 So her sons married Moabite women. (One was named Orpah and the other Ruth.) And they continued to live there about ten years.
The two sons married Moabite women. Deuteronomy 7:3 did not forbid marriage with the Moabites, but it did forbid marriage with the Canaanites. However, in Deuteronomy 23:3, the Law forbade the reception of the Moabites into the congregation of the Lord until the tenth generation. Therefore, marrying Moabites was also against the Mosaic Law.
The two Moabite daughters-in-law of Naomi were Orpah and Ruth. Orpah may mean “stiff-necked” or “firmness.” Ruth may mean “friendship” or “companion.” Orpah and Ruth were Moabite names, but they were not Jewish names. Many subsequent Jewish women were named after Ruth, even though the name was originally of Moabite origin.
Notice that the famine continued for ten more years in Israel, but it did not effect Moab. This was more evidence that this event most likely took place during the Midianite invasion during the days of Gideon in Judges 6.
1:5 Then Naomi’s two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, also died. So the woman was left all alone – bereaved of her two children as well as her husband!
In Jewish society, an early death was considered as a judgment from God. Naomi was now a widow in a foreign nation without a husband or son to take care of her. It was very difficult for widows to survive in ancient foreign cultures. Many foreign cultures buried the widow with her husband at the time of her husband’s death so that the tribe would not have to provide for the widow. The Mosaic Law was one of the few ancient cultures which protected and provided for widows.
1:6 So she decided to return home from the region of Moab, accompanied by her daughters-in-law, because while she was living in Moab she had heard that the Lord had shown concern for his people, reversing the famine by providing abundant crops.
Jehovah used Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites, so the famine in Israel was now over. Naomi could return to Israel and her status as a widow would be protected by the Mosaic Covenant.
Ruth Returns with Naomi
1:7 Now as she and her two daughters-in-law began to leave the place where she had been living to return to the land of Judah,
The Hebrew word for “return” is שׁוּב (shuv), meaning a physical and a spiritual return. Naomi was preparing to return to Israel not only physically, but spiritually as well.
1:8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Listen to me! Each of you should return to your mother’s home! May the Lord show you the same kind of devotion that you have shown to your deceased husbands and to me!
Notice that Naomi suggested that her two daughters-in-law return to their “mother’s home” and not their father’s home. Naomi was given them permission to remarry.
Notice also that Naomi used the name of Jehovah in the land of Chemosh, so she was still a believer in Jehovah. Chemosh was the Moabite god who demanded human sacrifice.
1:9 May the Lord enable each of you to find security in the home of a new husband!” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept loudly.
Naomi believed that Jehovah was not only the God of Israel, but He was also the God of all nations. She asked Jehovah to bless her two daughters-in-law in the land of the pagan Chemosh.
1:10 But they said to her, “No! We will return with you to your people.”
Orpah and Ruth wanted to return to Israel with Naomi.
1:11 But Naomi replied, “Go back home, my daughters! There is no reason for you to return to Judah with me! I am no longer capable of giving birth to sons who might become your husbands!
Ruth informed her two daughters-in-law that it would not be wise to follow her into Israel. She was past the age of childbirth.
1:12 Go back home, my daughters! For I am too old to get married again. Even if I thought that there was hope that I could get married tonight and conceive sons,
Naomi was too old to find a husband.
1:13 surely you would not want to wait until they were old enough to marry! Surely you would not remain unmarried all that time! No, my daughters, you must not return with me. For my intense suffering is too much for you to bear. For the Lord is afflicting me!”
No man in Israel would want to marry two Moabite widows.
1:14 Again they wept loudly. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung tightly to her.
Orpah decided to stay in Moab and become a wife. Ruth decided to stay with Naomi and remain a daughter.
1:15 So Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law is returning to her people and to her god. Follow your sister-in-law back home!”
Orpah was returning back not only to her people, but back to the worship of Chemosh as well.
1:16 But Ruth replied, “Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God.
Ruth invoked the name of Jehovah, not the name of Chemosh, as her God. She had become a Jewish proselyte.
1:17 Wherever you die, I will die – and there I will be buried.
May the Lord punish me severely if I do not keep my promise! Only death will be able to separate me from you!”
Ruth used the name of Jehovah in her oath.
1:18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to dissuade her.
Naomi attempted three times to persuade Ruth not to come to Israel, but she failed. In rabbinic tradition, a possible Gentile proselyte to Judaism must be discouraged three times. This practice was based upon this passage.
1:19 So the two of them journeyed together until they arrived in Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole village was excited about their arrival. The women of the village said, “Can this be Naomi?”
This trip was a rough 75-mile journey over mountains and deserts. Bethlehem means “house of bread”. The citizens of Bethlehem were excited to see Naomi return.
1:20 But she replied to them, “Don’t call me ‘Naomi’! Call me ‘Mara’ because the Sovereign One has treated me very harshly.
Naomi means “pleasant." but Mara means “bitter." The Hebrew word for “the Sovereign One” was שַׁדַּ֛י (Shadai), meaning the all-powerful one who uses His mighty power however He sees fit. Naomi recognized the sovereignty of God. She recognized that God was in control of her life at all times, but He allowed these bitter things to happen to her. She most likely saw her tragedies in Moab as God’s judgment on her family for leaving the land and living among the pagan Chemosh. She did not believe in pure chance. She believed in God’s sovereignty.
1:21 I left here full, but the Lord has caused me to return empty-handed. Why do you call me ‘Naomi,’ seeing that the Lord has opposed me, and the Sovereign One has caused me to suffer?”
Naomi left Israel with a husband and two sons, but she returned with only a daughter. שַׁדַּ֛י (Shadai) opposed Naomi and caused her to suffer. שַׁדַּ֛י (Shadai) was just as sovereign in Moab as He was in Israel.
1:22 So Naomi returned, accompanied by her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, who came back with her from the region of Moab. (Now they arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.)
The beginning of the barley harvest was around the month of April. The rabbis taught that Boaz’s wife died on the day that Ruth entered Israel, but there is no biblical evidence for this type of speculative exegesis.