Ruth 1:1-5 - There was a famine in the land

1:1

The opening verse states that the events we are going to read about occurred during the time of the judges, we are also told that there was a famine in the land, and this provides the backdrop to the events that will be recounted. Bethlehem has a number of references in the Bible, its being the birthplace of Jesus is, of course, the most famous. Bethlehem means “house of bread”. We are then told that a man, his wife, and two sons decided to move to Moab because of the famine. There is no indication that the famine was a divine judgement upon Israel, though it may have been, given the appalling state of the nation. Moab was an enemy of Israel, and the move to Moab could be viewed as disobedience, but we should note that the text passes no comment on the move.

1:2-5

The husband, the two sons and the wife are then named. This is perhaps a little surprising given that the man and his two sons are soon to die and play no further part in the proceedings. The two sons marry Moabite women. There is actually no direct law against them marrying Moabite women (Deut 7:1-4), though one could infer from the Law that marrying non-Israelites was not a good idea, with warnings that this would lead to them being pulled away to worship idols. As we know, in this case things worked the opposite way around. Ruth would become a godly woman. Thi happened not because of the man she married, but because of Naomi. Naomi’s husband died apparently quite soon after they arrived in Moab, and after they had been there ten years the two sons died as well.