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 Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. 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 Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
The verse places its story in the time when judges ruled Israel, when severe famine and hard times struck Judah and Bethlehem and Elimelech left home with his wife Naomi and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion to live for a time in the country of Moab to the southeast. Bethlehem-Judah is the ancient name for Bethlehem, also called Ephrath, the city with its surrounding plains later associated with Jesus' birth. In leaving his inheritance he went to live among a heathen and idolatrous people who did not know the true God, a move made for mere temporal advantage when he could have remained, and therefore without the Lord's approval. The stay ended in desolation when Elimelech and both sons died without children, leaving Naomi poor, widowed and childless with only her two widowed daughters-in-law, a loss that set up the need for a kinsman to redeem the inheritance and preserve the family name, pointing to Christ as the human Redeemer through whom salvation comes. The Lord overruled even that wrong move for good, using Naomi's sorrow and bitter experience to bring renewed hope on her return with Ruth, whose loyal love, faith and obedience led to her conversion and to her becoming an ancestress of David and of Christ in the line from Abraham to Jesus.
Time, Place, and Family
The opening words fix the story in the days when judges ruled Israel, after Gideon and Samson and before the child Samuel and the taking of the ark by the Philistines and its return. It was amid the strife and bloodshed belonging to the closing chapters of Judges, yet the story itself is peaceful in contrast to that violence. Bethlehem-judah is the ancient name for Bethlehem, also called Ephrath, the city afterward linked with the birth of Jesus. Its surrounding plains form the setting of the events of Ruth. The family lived there about four hundred years after the death of Rachel and roughly thirteen hundred years before the birth of Christ.
At that time a famine, a severe drought and hard times, struck the land, Judah, and Bethlehem. Moab lay to the southeast of Judah, and its plain was then fair and fertile with vintage and grain, offering food. About ten years before Naomi's return to Bethlehem, Elimelech of Bethlehem left home because of the famine to sojourn and live for a time in the country of Moab. He went with his wife Naomi and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion.
Loss, Redemption, and Providence
In leaving Bethlehem Elimelech left his inheritance to sojourn and live for a time among a heathen and idolatrous nation whose people did not know the true God, taking his wife Naomi and his two sons with him, and there his sons married women of Moab. The family went out full and well-to-do and was not obliged to move, for they could have remained in Bethlehem like others, so that leaving for mere mercenary purposes to live among the heathen was disobedience to God and did not have the Lord's approval. The stay in Moab began a chain of bereavements ending in desolation, for Elimelech died there and then both sons died without children, leaving Naomi poor and widowed and childless without a son to preserve the family name and inheritance, alone in Moab with her two widowed daughters-in-law as she prepared to return to Judah.
That desolation set up the need for a kinsman to preserve the deceased family's name and to redeem the inheritance left without an heir. The nearest kinsman could redeem such an inheritance, and this provision points to Christ as the human Redeemer through whom salvation comes.
The Lord overruled even the wrong move for good, for He had the family in His sight in that darkness and used Naomi's bitter experiences, sorrow, and apparent disappointment to accomplish His purpose. He turned their shadows to sunlight and counted their tears, bringing renewed hope on Naomi's return to Bethlehem with Ruth because kinsmen there could redeem the inheritance. Through Ruth's faith and obedience and loyal love, together with God's providence, the sojourn led to her conversion and to her becoming an ancestress of David and of Israel's kings and of Christ in the line of descent from Abraham to Jesus.