Ruth 1 Study Notes

1:1 During the time of the judges identifies the events of this story as taking place during a time when “everyone did whatever seemed right to him” (lit “what was right in his own eyes”), when “there was no king in Israel” (Jdg 21:25). During the time of the judges, a famine in the land probably would have been part of God’s judgment on his people for their apostasy from him, in pursuing the Baals and Ashtoreths (Jdg 2:11-15). This famine even affected Bethlehem, whose Hebrew name means “house of bread.” As a result, one family from that city did what seemed right to them and left the promised land, going to live in the pagan territory of Moab, where economic prospects seemed brighter. Somewhere along the way, that temporary move turned into a permanent stay.

1:2 Elimelech means “my God is king,” which heightens the irony of his behavior in doing “whatever seemed right to him” because in those days “there was no king in Israel” (Jdg 21:25). His wife’s name, Naomi, means “pleasant,” which evokes Ps 16:6: “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” In contrast, she and her husband were dissatisfied with the boundary lines assigned them by God. The names of their sons, Mahlon and Chilion, seem related to words for sickness and mortality.

1:3-5 In the land of Moab, Naomi’s husband died and she was left with her two sons. The Hebrew word for “left” is related to the word for “remnant” and often describes those who survive an outpouring of God’s wrath. Her sons then took Moabite women as their wives, contrary to the law that forbade marrying women from nations that served other gods (Dt 7:3-4). Moabite women in particular had a reputation for leading Israelites astray after other gods (Nm 25). It must have seemed evident that the hand of the Lord was against Naomi in judgment.

1:6-9 Naomi had little choice but to leave Moab and return home, a move encouraged by the news that the Lord was providing . . . food there. This points to repentance on the part of the Hebrews and their restoration. Naomi asked the Lord’s blessing upon her daughters-in-law in the form of his kindness (Hb chesed). This is a covenantal term that combines love and faithfulness, mercy and grace—all the positive aspects of committed relationship. It is a remarkable request that the Lord’s favor should be shown in this way to covenant outsiders like these foreign women. The women were sad to part. They wept loudly as they embraced.

1:10-14 Orpah and Ruth repeated their desire to return to Israel with Naomi. Once again, however, Naomi pressed them both to return, on the grounds that the best prospect of remarriage lay among their own people. Naomi assumed that no other family in Bethlehem would be interested in marrying Moabite women, and she emphasized the certainty of there being no other sons from her own line who could fulfill the role of levirate marriage (Dt 25:5-10). She was probably at least fifty years old at this time. Even if she were to have more children at once, by the time they grew up Orpah and Ruth would be too old to have children. Besides, Naomi argued, she was herself under a curse: the Lord’s hand had turned against her. There is no hint of Naomi taking any personal responsibility or expressing repentance for her own actions in leaving the promised land. Convinced by Naomi’s arguments, Orpah took her leave of Naomi, but Ruth clung to her—the same Hebrew word used in Gn 2:24 to describe the marriage bond.

1:15-18 The intensity of Naomi’s attempts to dissuade her Moabite daughters-in-law from accompanying her back to Bethlehem suggests that she was not completely motivated by concern for their well-being. Their presence would have been a constant and embarrassing reminder of her tragic sojourn in Moab. Yet Ruth was not so easily dissuaded. In a crescendo of commitment, she bound herself to go with Naomi and to live with her. In fact, she would even die and be buried where Naomi was—the greatest possible commitment in the ancient world. She sealed her commitment with a self-imprecatory oath, taken in the personal name of Naomi’s God, the Lord, i.e., Yahweh. Naomi’s response to this moving speech was remarkably curt: She stopped talking to her.

1:19-22 The townswomen’s question, Can this be Naomi? pointedly and deliberately ignored Ruth’s presence. In response, Naomi urged them to rename her Mara since the Lord had made her bitter rather than “pleasant,” which is the meaning of “Naomi.” It was at Marah that the Israelites found only bitter water to drink on their way out of Egypt, and so they grumbled against the Lord (Ex 15:23-24). Naomi’s heart was similarly turned against the Lord, yet the connection also raised hope that the Lord would heal her bitterness and bring her to a place of rest, just as he did for Israel. Naomi had returned physically to Bethlehem from Moab, but would she similarly return to the Lord in repentance?