A Study of Ruth 1:1
”In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.“
Ruth 1:1 ESV
*Note: If anyone is curious to know, I will be continuing my study of John’s gospel while alternating back and forth between John and Ruth, studying one chapter at a time. So, at the end of Ruth chapter 1, I will go back to John chapter 5. At the the end John 5, I will go back to Ruth 2, and so on.
Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:
-The Judges: “הַשֹּׁפְטִים”, “ha šō·p̄eṭîmʹ”; verb, Qal, participle, masculine, plural, absolute — judge, govern; act as law-giver, judge, governor (giving law, deciding controversies and executing law, civil, religious, political, social.
-Ruled (Governed): “שְׁפֹ֣ט”, “šep̄ōṭʹ”; verb, Qal, infinitive, construct — judge, rule, govern.
-A Famine: “רָעָ֖ב”, “rā·ʿāḇʹ”; noun, common, singular, absolute — hunger, famine.
-The Land: “אָ֑רֶץ”, “ʾāʹ·rěṣ”; noun, common, singular, absolute — ground, earth, territory, country.
-Bethlehem: “בֵּ֧ית לֶ֣חֶם”, “bêṯʹ lěʹ·ḥěm”; noun, proper, singular, absolute — Beth-lehem = ‘house of bread’; a city in Judah, the birthplace of king David and King Jesus.
-Judah: “יְהוּדָה”, “yᵊhûḏâ”; noun, proper, singular, absolute — Judah = ‘praised’, the territory occupied by the tribe of Judah.
-Sojourn: “גּוּר”, “gûr”; verb, Qal, infinitive, construct — dwell for a (definite or indefinite) time, dwell as a new-comer.
-Moab: “מוֹאָב”, “mô’āḇ”; noun, proper, singular, absolute — Moab = ‘of his father’, the territory of Moab. Moab was the son of Lot’s eldest daughter.
Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):
During the time when Judges ruled Israel, there was a famine. During this famine, an Israelite of the tribe of Judah, left Bethlehem with his wife and two sons, and went to Moab.
Implication (what does this mean to us):
The book of Ruth takes place during the time when the Judges ruled Israel. The roughly 400 year period of the Judges began after the death of Joshua and ended when the people demanded a king and God gave them king Saul. This was a period of generalized anarchy as the people of Israel failed to unify and to obey and submit to God as their King. For these reasons this was a time of cyclical oppression as different surrounding nations would invade and plunder the people. Periodically though, the people would repent and cry out to God for mercy, and He would answer by raising up Judges. These Judges were people empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead Israel in successful military campaigns against specific enemies. These were very dark days in Israel’s history and that is described by the often used phrase, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, and 21:25), as opposed to doing what was right in God’s eyes.
The book of Ruth tells the story of a young Moabite widow named Ruth, and her Jewish, widowed, mother in law named Naomi. After the death of Ruth’s and Naomi’s husbands, Ruth left her own culture and family behind in Moab, to journey with Naomi back to Bethlehem so she could take care of her, and because she desired to follow Naomi’s God (Ruth 1:16). This situation was incredibly difficult. Ruth could have had an easier life if she had stayed behind in Moab like Naomi urged her to do, and like the widowed wife of Naomi’s other son chose to do. But as Ruth stayed with Naomi in those hard times, her character was on display for all the people of Bethlehem to see and admire. As she worked hard to gather bits of grain so she and Naomi could eat, a wealthy landowner and noble man named Boaz noticed her. And as it turned out, Boaz had the rights of “Kinsman Redeemer” as a surviving member of the family of Naomi’s departed husband and sons. And Boaz would fulfill this role by marrying Ruth, buying back the land that belonged to Naomi’s husband, and carrying on their family line.
Ruth is a beautiful story of self sacrificing love, redemption, and God’s care for all peoples of the world. Ruth was an ancestor of Christ, and her inclusion in the family line of Jesus, as a non Jewish person, shows God’s love for all peoples of the world, whether Jewish or not.
To begin, we are told a “certain man” from Bethlehem in Judah, took his wife and two sons and moved to Moab because there was a famine in the land. There is a bit of irony here that we miss in our English translation because Beth-Lehem literally means “House of Bread,” and it was a rich agricultural area. So, these people from the “house of bread” were suffering a severe famine. Bethlehem is known for a lot more than bread of course. Bethlehem is where both King David, and the Lord Jesus would eventually be born. In fact, Ruth and Boaz were David’s great grandparents (Ruth 4:18–22), and Jesus Himself would eventually be born through this same family line, in Bethlehem, as was prophesied by Micah in Micah 5:2.
Famines were common in the ancient world, but God had promised the people of Israel there would always be plenty of food if they followed His commands. But of course, they failed to do so. From Judges 2:16 we read that the Lord raised up many Judges to free the people from oppression of various kinds, but after they were delivered, they would go back to worshiping other gods. So, the period of the Judges is a cycle of rebellion, judgment, repentance, deliverance, and then rebellion again. In the middle of all this, we open our Bibles to Ruth 1:1 and find this certain man and his family in the middle of one such cycle. And for one reason or another, there was famine in the land.
This certain man took his wife and two sons to “sojourn” in Moab. The fact that he went to ‘sojourn’ means he intended to come back one day, likely after the famine ended. The people of Moab were descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot, and the conception of Lot’s son Moab came about under some pretty horrifying circumstances (Gen 19:30–38). Moab was one of Judah’s closest neighbors to the east, and Israel and Moab experienced a lot of conflict over the years. During the Exodus, Balak, king of Moab, tried to hire Balaam to curse Israel. And during the time of the Judges, Moab experienced periods of dominance over Israel. They also fought against each other during the reigns of Saul and David. Interestingly though, at one point, while fleeing from Saul, David’s family went to Moab for safety, and it is likely they did so because David had family connections there via his great grandmother Ruth the Moabitess. All of this makes both the man’s intention to go there, and Ruth’s declaration of loyalty to Naomi all the more surprising.
An ancient person would have more than raised an eyebrow or two in shock as they read this opening verse. But there is more to be shocked by. In his desperation, this man is taking his family out of the promised land and into pagan territory. To get from Bethlehem in Judah, to Moab, they would have had to travel back the way the people of Israel came to the promised land in the first place. This man was going backwards towards the lands and peoples God had delivered Israel from generations earlier. We will find out in verse 2 that this man’s name is ‘Elimelech,’ which means ‘God is King,’ but sadly, he was not living like it. He was in a difficult circumstance to be sure, but Israelites at this time were not supposed to leave the promised land for pagan lands, just as they were not supposed to intermarry with and worship the gods of pagan peoples. “God is King” was his name, but sadly, he was not living up to that name. And in the following verses we will read of how what was intended to be a short sojourn to escape famine, or to help us apply this to our context, ‘a small compromise to avoid hardship’, turned into 10 miserable years of barrenness and death.
As we consider Elimelech’s failure to abide or in other words, remain in the land, we should consider the command for us to abide in Christ. There will be many circumstances that arise in our lives where it becomes difficult, even deadly, to remain in Christ and obey Him. But we must remember that to fail to abide in Christ, meaning, to fail to trust Him and obey His commands, is to separate ourselves from the very source of life itself. Jesus is like a Vine and we are the branches of that vine. If we separate from Him through sinful compromises, we will wither and die just like any branch that is separated from its vine and cast on the ground would.
Application (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):
From the opening verse of Ruth we learn that God allows hardships to come upon His people when they rebel against Him and go after other gods, or in other words, when they seek satisfaction in anything or anyone other than Him. What husband would cheerfully continue to supply the needs of a wife living in an adulterous relationship? So it is with God. When His people Israel rebelled and were unfaithful to Him, He would remove His protection and blessing from them. He would essentially say, “Fine. You want these other gods? Then let them protect you. See how you like their oppressive rule in comparison to my love and justice.” Hard times do not always mean we have sinned or God is punishing us. But it is undeniable that God does use hard times to get our attention and correct our dangerous behaviors.
The hard times experienced by the people in Bethlehem should have caused them to turn to God in repentance, not to flee deeper into rebellion by moving to a pagan land. The land and where the people lived was very important at this time because God had commanded the people to live and prosper in a specific place, as a specific nation. We have no such commands today in regards to earthly geography. But as Christians we are now citizens of God’s Kingdom. And no matter the hardships we may experience, we must, by the power of the Holy Spirit, remain firmly planted in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must never look to other gods, sins or anything else that violates God’s commands for satisfaction or relief from pain and sorrow. The lie of sin is that it will provide relief. But as we will see in the example of Elimelech, sinning for relief is like drinking salt water to quench our thirst. There may be a brief moment of refreshment, but it is an illusion. In the end sin will leave us worse off than we ever were before, and it will gleefully dance on our graves and on the graves of our loved ones.
”But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.“
Hebrews 10:39 ESV
Self Reflection:
Are there any places in my life right now where I am having a really hard time abiding in Christ, and obeying Him?
Have I confessed this struggle to Jesus in prayer, and asked Him to deliver me and give me the strength to resist sin and choose obedience?
Have I truly internalized and believed the truth that obedience to God and love for God are inseparable? (God’s commands are for my good, and He gives them to me because He loves me. And if I love God, then out of the overflow of His love in me, and my love for Him, I will endeavor by the power of His Spirit to obey and abide in Him).
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