Ruth 1 - CSB Study Bible vs Calvin John vs Concise Bible

Ruth 1

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.

Menuchah, from nuach (rest), denotes rest (Jr 45:3). Often menuchah signifies resting place as a dwelling place: a homestead (Is 32:18), campsite (Nm 10:33), temple (1Ch 28:2), tribal inheritance (Gn 49:15), or nation (Mc 2:10). Menuchah connotes resting place (Is 66:1). Menuchah indicates rest from enemies (1Ch 22:9), relief from anxiety (2Sm 14:17), or rest (Ru 1:9). It functions adjectivally as quiet (Ps 23:2) or adverbially as easily (Jdg 20:43). A quartermaster is a “master of rest,” supplying troops with physical necessities (Jr 51:59). Menuchah describes Canaan as a restful home for Israel (Dt 12:9).

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?

Ruth 1

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Ruth 1

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Ruth 1

This beautiful story is an event occurring during the Judges (Rth 1:1), but separated from the former to give prominence to the genealogical record with which it concludes (Rth 4:18-22), showing Ruth an ancestress of David and hence of Jesus Christ.

The story is so simply told that it needs only the briefest comments. Elimelech and his family are called “Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah” (1:2) for the reason that Ephrath was originally the name of Bethlehem (Gen 35:19; Gen 48:7; Mic 5:2), and also because there was a Bethlehem in Zebulun as well as Judah (Jos 19:15).

The marrying of Moabite women by the sons of Elimelech was contrary to the Mosaic law (Deu 7:3; Deu 23:3), but such disobedience was common in those times, as we have seen.

Why Naomi should not have encouraged her daughters-in-law to return with her (Rth 1:8) is explained by the thought that they would fare better in material things in their own land and among their own people. Her piety was not of the depth to make her feel that the spiritual benefits of Israel would offset these advantages.

The utterances of Naomi in Rth 1:11-13 are explained by the ancient custom (Gen 38:11), sanctioned by the law of Moses (Deu 25:5), requiring a younger son to marry the widow of a deceased brother.

Naomi seems not to have been a cheerful person (Rth 1:13; Rth 1:20-21), but were we in her circumstances perhaps we would not have felt differently. And then she may have had reason to believe her affliction a divine chastisement upon her household.

Rth 2:1-17

Rth 2:2 reminds us of Lev 19:9-10 and Deu 24:19-21, giving the right to the poor and to strangers to glean after the reapers; but we are not to suppose that Ruth purposely selected the field of Boaz, or that she had knowledge at this time of her relationship to him.

Reaping was done by women (Rth 2:8), but the gathering and threshing was the work of men. How beautifully the character of Boaz shows in these verses! His greeting to the reapers, his interest in his relatives, his attention and generosity toward them, and his confidence in Jehovah. What poetry of faith in the expression, “The Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou are come to trust!” (Rth 2:12.)

Rth 2:18-23

Naomi recognizes the relationship of Boaz, and the phrase, “one of our next kinsmen,” might be rendered, “one of them that hath the right to redeem for us” (Lev 25:25). This “right to redeem” carried with it the duty to protect them, to purchase their tribal lands, and in this case to marry Ruth and maintain the family name. Naomi’s advice to Ruth, therefore, can readily be understood and appreciated (Rth 2:22).

QUESTIONS

1. During what period did the history of Boaz and Ruth occur?

2. What gives special prominence to the Book of Ruth?

3. What was the original name of Bethlehem, and how many towns of that name were in Israel?

4. What law was violated by the sons of Elimelech?

5. What was involved in the kinsman’s right of redemption?