DRIVEN BY A SEVERE FAMINE ELIMELECH AND HIS FAMILY SEEK REFUGE IN MOAB ONLY TO SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF FORSAKING THE SPHERE OF THE COVENANT. HE AND HIS SONS DIE AND HIS WIFE NAOMI RETURNS TO THE LAND OF JUDAH EMPTY. As we know from the ending to the story Elimelech could trace his ancestry back t... [ Continue Reading ]
Ruth 1:1 ‘ And it came about in the days when the judges judged, 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 famine occurred in the days of ‘the Judges' (local rulers), each of whom at va... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.' Detailed names are now given of the family. The family consisted of Elimelech (‘my... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left, and her two sons.' We are not told how long they had been in Moab before Elimelech died, but his death must have been a cruel blow to the family. The impression given is that the sons were at the time in no position to provide the support th... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they took for themselves wives of the women of Moab, the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth, and they dwelt there about ten years.' But gradually the sons would grow up, and it was at that point that they took Midianite wives for themselves. These were named Orpah and Ru... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Mahlon and Chilion died both of them, and the woman was left by her two children and by her husband.' The two sons also died. This may have been as a result of some pestilence or illness, the effect of which was possibly exacerbated by their weakly condition, or it may have been at the hands... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, so that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how YHWH had visited his people in giving them bread.' News meanwhile reached her that the famine in Israel had come to an end, because ‘YHWH had visited his people... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.' The three of them left the place where they had been residing, and took the road to the land of Judah. For the description ‘the land of Judah' compar... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother's house YHWH deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me. May YHWH grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voi... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.' Both women felt a genuine duty and love towards Naomi. And recognising her loneliness they insisted that they should rather accompany her as she returned to her own people. It was not the kind of journey that an old woman sho... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Naomi said, “Turn again, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?” But Naomi recognised that she now had nothing to offer them. To women of those days almost nothing was more important than having a husband and producing children. And... [ Continue Reading ]
“ Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons, would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it gri... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they lifted up their voice, and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clove to her.' Then they all again wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law and returned to her home as Naomi had suggested. We must in this recognise the strong pressure that Naomi had put on bo... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Return you after your sister-in-law.' Naomi pointed out to Ruth that her sister-in-law had taken her advice and had gone back to her people ‘and to her god' (the Moabite god Chemosh). And she urges Ruth to do the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Ruth said, “Do not entreat me to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God my God, where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. YHWH do so to me, and more also (litera... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she ceased speaking to her.' When Naomi saw how determined Ruth was to go with her she refrained from urging her any further. Possibly she felt ashamed at having had so little regard for Orpah's spiritual status.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came about, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?” The impression given is that they now proceeded alone (they two went) as they made their way towards Bethlehem. It wou... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And she said to them, “Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for the Almighty (Shaddai) has dealt very bitterly with me.” But as Naomi heard her name being spoken it brought home to her the significance of her name, ‘sweetness' or ‘delight'. And it made her feel very bitter. She called on them not t... [ Continue Reading ]
“ I went out full, and YHWH has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, seeing that YHWH has testified against me, and Shaddai (the Almighty) has afflicted me?” And now God had made Himself know to Naomi as YHWH. While in the foreign land He had acted towards her as Shaddai, but He w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab, and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of the barley harvest.' Naomi had, with her husband, deserted from within the sphere of the covenant, because there had been famine in th... [ Continue Reading ]