Ruth 1

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

1:1 The judges ruled from the death of Joshua (about 1376 or 1200 BC) to the beginning of Saul’s reign as king (about 1050 BC). The events in Ruth occurred around 1100 BC. • Famine in Israel’s hill country was usually caused by drought. • Bethlehem was a small town in the hill country of northern Judah. • Moab, the land southeast of Judah, sometimes received sufficient rain when Judah did not.

Verse 2

1:2 Ephrathites were from the clan of Ephrathah, centered in Bethlehem of Judah (see Gen 35:19; 1 Chr 4:4).

Verse 4

1:4 Kilion married . . . Orpah; Mahlon married Ruth (see 4:10).

Verse 5

1:5 This left Naomi alone (literally the woman was bereft): Naomi suffered devastating emotional losses. She was also without economic support, and with the loss of heirs, she had no hope for the future of her family.

Verse 6

1:6 giving: This same Hebrew verb is used in 4:13 (“enabled”). These two notices of God’s acts enclose the story between similar phrases (an inclusio, literary “bookends”). God gives good things, such as food and children, and he works providentially behind the scenes in the ordinary course of things.

Verse 8

1:8 But on the way: They had probably gone only a short distance when Naomi released Ruth and Orpah to return to their mothers’ homes.

Verse 9

1:9 Naomi here speaks the first of the book’s several blessings.

Verse 14

1:14 Ruth clung tightly to Naomi: The Hebrew verb used here emphasizes the strength of Ruth’s love for her mother-in-law; it is the same word used to describe a man being “joined to” his wife (Gen 2:24) and to describe a person staying faithful to the Lord (Deut 4:4; 10:20; Josh 22:5).

Verse 15

1:15 to her gods: Every nation believed in its own territorial god. Naomi assumed that Ruth would continue to worship Moabite gods.

Verse 16

1:16-17 Ruth swore an oath in the name of the Lord to seal her firm commitment to Israel’s God (cp. 2:11-12) and to Naomi.

Verse 20

1:20 Almighty translates the Hebrew word shadday, which pictures God’s strength and provision. Naomi’s complaint was real, but God provided exactly what she needed (see 4:14-17).

Verse 22

1:22 The beginning of the barley harvest was between late March and mid-April by our calendar.