Ruth 1, Widows and Famine

After the book of Judges, we have a story of survival, survival for two women during that time.

Ruth 1: 1-5, Disaster in Moab
In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.

With quick brevity we hear of a tragedy: of famine, then a retreat across the Jordan to Moab, followed by death.  No judgment is given regarding going to Moab or marrying Moabite women. We are given no explanations for the deaths or causes of death.  Just a concise statement of tragedy.

For women in the ancient Near East, these tragedies, involving loss of a husband-provider, was especially difficult, threatening one's very survival.

Elimelech means "God is King". There is irony in the name.

Ruth 1: 6-14, Return to Judah
When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 

Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." 

Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people."

But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me -- even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons -- would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!"

At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.

It is about 50 miles from the fields of Moab to Bethlehem. This is a significant walk with considerable danger.

Many tribes had tribal gods; these were assumed to have power only in that land or tribe. So a traveler might sacrifice to the Philistine gods as he enters Philistine, then make a sacrifice to the Moabite gods as he enters Moab.

We see here a unique characteristic of the book: the book will tell the story by dialogue.

The word rest in verse 9 means security, stability. It was often a euphemism for the Promised Land and is the same concept that appears in Hebrews 4 where the Hebrew Christians are challenged to make sure they enter God's Rest.

The Hebrew word for kindness in verse 8 is hesed. At least one commentator suggests this is the theme of Ruth and the Hebrew word appears throughout the book. The word might be best translated "loyal devotion".

The use of the word "womb" (me im) in verse 11 ("Do I have sons in my womb?") is unusual, as there is a more precise Hebrew word for womb. The word used here also appears in Song of Songs 5:4 where it represents desire and in Isaiah 16:11 and Jeremiah 31:20 where it represents pity. It carries emotion, it is not just the womb but the heart.

Ruth 1: 15-18, "Where you go, I will go"
"Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."

But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."

When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.

Again Naomi urges Ruth to go back, pointing at Orpah in the distance. Is Orpah in the wrong here?

Ruth gives a beautiful and elegant statement of commitment! Notice what she promises. What does Ruth mean by her statement? Does she know who Naomi's God is? How much does she know?

Why would Ruth promise to even die where Naomi dies?

Comment: This is the second place in the Old Testament where a foreigner lays claim to YHWH. (See Joshua 2: 8-11.)

Ruth 1: 19-21, "Can this be Naomi?"
So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"

"Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me (or testified against me); the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."

Naomi means “pleasant”; Mara means “bitter”. Notice that the whole town came out. Surely in the crowd were old friends and in the buildings were old memories, memories of Elimelech and two small boys.

Verses 20 and 21 are the only places where YHWH is not used for God in this book. In these two verses, the name for God is Shaddai.

Ruth 1: 22, Return
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

Hubbard argues that a more precise translation is "Naomi came home along with her daughter-in-law, Ruth the Moabitess, the one who returned from the fields of Moab." A problem for Old Testament scholars is that the phrase "one who returned (hassaba)" is apparently assigned to Ruth! How does Ruth "return" from Moab?

The title "the Moabitess" is given to Ruth here. The  book will continue to identify Ruth as "the Moabitess", emphasizing her alien status.

Notice the symmetry of the chapter. Naomi left with children in famine (verse 1) and returns with Ruth at barley harvest. Indeed, not only is our story-teller ending the chapter with an elegant summary, but raising expectations for the remainder of the story.

The author of the book clearly mentions YHWH and His work in places. But at other times he allows a hint of chance. That hint appears in this verse; you will see such hints more clearly later. These hints challenge the listener to decide if he or she believes in chance.

This book is intended to be told as a story.  In this case the medieval chapter divisions are accurate -- each chapter ends with a pregnant pause, with the audience getting a hint of things to come. The barley harvest was an important time in this agricultural society.