Ruth 1:4
And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
Famine in Israel drove Elimelech with Naomi and their two sons from Bethlehem to sojourn in Moab, where the sons took Moabite wives, Orpah and Ruth, and the family dwelled there about ten years. Mahlon was joined to Ruth and Chilion to Orpah, and the marriages were childless before Elimelech and both sons died, leaving Naomi and Ruth widowed without a son or heir to preserve the family name and inheritance. The sojourn itself was disobedience undertaken when the family could have remained, and the taking of wives from an idolatrous heathen nation was an unholy alliance the Lord did not approve. God overruled that wrong course for good, using Naomi's sorrows to bring about Ruth's conversion to the true religion and to bring a Moabite woman into the family line of David and of Jesus as the mother of Obed, showing that God is no respecter of persons. The book thus introduced sets forth the nearest kinsman redeeming the inheritance, pointing to Christ who by becoming human became humanity's kinsman to redeem it.
Setting and Events
Famine in Israel drove the Bethlehemite Elimelech with his wife Naomi and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion to live in Moab. While the family sojourned there, the two sons took wives of the women of Moab, Orpah and Ruth, and the family dwelled there about ten years. The particular pairings were Mahlon with Ruth and Chilion with Orpah.
The marriages produced no children before Elimelech and both sons died in Moab. Their deaths left Naomi without a son, and left Naomi and Ruth widowed without an heir to preserve the deceased family's name and inheritance.
After those deaths Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem when she heard conditions there were prosperous. Ruth went with her back to Bethlehem, where Ruth later married Naomi's kinsman and became the mother of Obed. The verse thus connects Bethlehem and its surrounding plain with the story of Boaz and Ruth and makes them places of particular biblical interest. The verse gives no indication that Ruth was grieving for children.
Meaning and Significance
The sojourn in Moab was itself disobedience, undertaken for mere money when a well-to-do family could have remained in Bethlehem through the drought, and the Lord did not approve it. The sons' taking wives from among the Moabites, an idolatrous and heathen people, was further disobedience and an unholy alliance, and after dwelling there about ten years Elimelech and both sons died in that foreign land, leaving Naomi without a son to preserve the family name and inheritance. God overruled that wrong course for good, using Naomi's bitter experiences and sorrows in Moab to accomplish His purpose, notably in the conversion of Ruth to the true religion.
Ruth, with Orpah, thus entered the household as a Moabite wife of one of Naomi and Elimelech's sons during the ten years in Moab, and her place in that family made her an ancestress of Jesus. After the deaths of father and sons she went with Naomi back to Bethlehem, where she married Naomi's kinsman and became the mother of Obed, standing in the family line of David and Jesus. Her introduction as a Moabite woman who becomes part of the family line from which Christ comes shows that God is no respecter of persons and works through people beyond Israel.
The book so introduced sets forth the law by which the nearest kinsman could redeem an inheritance, and that provision points to Christ, who by becoming human became humanity's kinsman and could redeem it.