Ruth 1:19-22

Ruth's Arrival in Bethlehem Ruth 1:19-22

19 So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, Is this Naomi?
20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
21 I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty: why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me?
22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Beth-lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

15.

How did Naomi contrast her return with her departure? Ruth 1:20

The whole town of Bethlehem seemed to be excited at Naomi's return, but we suppose it was the women of the city in particular. They were not as surprised to see Naomi was still alive and had come back again as to see her returning in so mournful a condition. She was a solitary widow, without either husband or sons. Naomi replied, Call me not Naomi (i.e. gracious), but Mara (the bitter one; i.e., who has experienced bitterness). She said she went away full and Jehovah had made her come back again empty, She did not mean she had been full of riches, money and property but in the possession of a husband and two sons. She had been a rich mother. Now she was deprived of all that makes a mother's heart rich. She was bereft of both husband and sons. She felt Jehovah had testified against her by word and deed (see Exodus 20:16; 1 Samuel 1:6).

16.

In what season was the return to Bethlehem? Ruth 1:22

It was the harvest time. Barley was the first crop harvested by the people of the land. When the harvest began, the people of Israel were commanded to bring a sheaf of the firstfruits to the priest. He was to wave the sheaf before the Lord on the day after the sabbath, and the people were to offer a he-lamb without blemish for a burnt offering unto the Lord (Leviticus 23:10-12). Since so many of the events recorded in Ruth occurred during the time of the barley harvest, it was customary to read the little book as the people celebrated the feast of Pentecost, the feast which came fifty days after the passover. This statement in the closing verse of chapter one opens the way for telling of events which happened in the barley fields where Ruth worked after she came to Bethlehem-judah.