Ruth 1

Ruth 1:1

I. RESIDING IN MOAB (1:1-5)1:1, 2 As the book opens we meet a Jewish family which left Bethlehem (house of bread) of Judah (praise) because of famine, and settled in the land of Moab, southeast of the Dead Sea. The parents were Elimelech (my God is King) and Naomi (my pleasant one). The sons were Mahlon (sickly) and Chilion (pining). It would have been better to stay in the land and trust God than to emigrate to Moab. Ephrata (root of Ephrathites), the ancient name of Bethlehem, means fruitfulness. The time of the judges was characterized by moral decline. So it is not surprising to find the land undergoing famine, God’s promised chastisement for disobedience. Elimelech should not have left the Promised Land, least of all to settle in Moab. Had he never read Deu_23:3-6? Why not settle with his Jewish brethren east of the Jordan River? He led his family from the land of the living to the place of death and barrenness (neither Mahlon nor Chilion fathered children). 1:3-5 After Elimelech . . . died, his sons married Moabite wives. Mahlon married Ruth (Rth_4:10) and Chilion married Orpah. Although Moabites were not specifically named in Deu_7:1-3 as people whom Israelites should not marry, it is clear from later references that they were included by the law (Ezr_9:1-2; Neh_13:23-25). The law also specified that Moabites were not allowed to be received into the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation (Deu_23:3). Grace overruled in Ruth’s case, as we shall see, permitting her descendant, David, to become the king of Israel. After ten years, Mahlon and Chilion . . . died, leaving Naomi with two foreign daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth.

Ruth 1:6

II. RETURN TO BETHLEHEM (1:6-22)1:6-15 Naomi decided to move back to Judah when she heard that there was plenty of food there. Her two daughters-in-law started to accompany her. But when she urged them to return . . . to their homes in Moab, reminding them that she had no more sons to offer to them as husbands, Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and went back. Notice the different attitudes of the three widows: Naomi was a grieving widow, stripped of the earthly joys of husband and family by divine judgment. Orpah, having soberly considered the words of her mother-in-law, proved to be a leaving widow, choosing the easiest and most convenient course. But Ruth was a cleaving widow, clinging to Naomi in spite of the latter’s discouragements. When Ruth chose a new life with Naomi, she knew that it wouldn’t be easy. There was hard work and poverty ahead since they were without a male provider. There was separation from home and loved ones, too. 1:16, 17 Ruth, however, would not leave Naomi. In one of the noblest utterances by a Gentile in the OT, she showed that she was making a total commitment (to Naomi). She chose Naomi’s destination, her dwelling, her people, her God, and even her burial place. 1:18-22 By divine coincidence, it was the beginning of the barley harvest, the season of firstfruits (typifying Christ’s Resurrection), when Naomi and Ruth arrived back in Bethlehem. All the city was excited to see Naomi once again and greeted her cordially by name. She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi (Pleasant); call me Mara (Bitter), for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.” She had gone out full (i.e., with her husband and sons), but the Lord had brought her back empty (i.e., a widow and childless). So it is with uswe can go out by ourselves into paths of backsliding, but the Lord will bring us back empty, and usually through bitter chastening.