The story of Ruth takes place during the tumultuous days of the judges, when“everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). As Ruth opens, the narrator sheds light on the state of things: “There was a famine in the land” (Ruth 1:1). Famine was a sign of God’s curse, brought about by the people’s disobedience, and this famine was likely a judgment due to covenantal unfaithfulness (cf. Deut. 28:15–19).
In the judges cycle, the Lord’s heavy hand upon his people provoked them to call out for deliverance (Judg. 2:16), but here we read instead that the famine prompted a certain man, his wife, and their two sons to leave Judah in order to sojourn in the land of Moab (Ruth 1:1). We’re also informed that Elimelech, Naomi, Mahlon and Chilion are Ephrathites from Bethlehem (Ruth 1:2).
The narrator includes all of these details—names and places—for good reason. Some names are ironic: Elimelech, whose name means “My God is King,” begins our story by packing up and leaving the Promised Land. Naomi, whose life is about to take a bitter turn, has a name that means “pleasant.” They’re from Ephrathah (which means “fruitfulness”), which surrounds Bethlehem (“house of bread”)—a land now plagued by famine. The sons’ names act to foreshadow what’s to come: Mahlon means “sickly”; Chilion means “failing.”
A Fatal Move
Another key word to observe in Ruth 1:1 is sojourn. A sojourner isn’t just a traveler who’s passing through but someone who has “abandoned their homeland for political or economic reasons” to seek refuge in another community.
Now, we don’t know how long the family sojourned in Moab before Elimelech died, leaving Naomi behind with her two sons (Ruth 1:3), but we do know that they remained in the land and that the sons married Moabite women (Ruth 1:4). Their names were Orpah (which means "mane") and Ruth ("friend"). And the family continued to live in Moab for another ten years before Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving Naomi bereft of both husband and sons (Ruth 1:5).
There’s really nothing positive being presented here. Leaving the perimeters of the Promised Land is rarely a good thing (cf. Gen. 12:10–20). Although we can sympathize with the need to move because of potentially life-threatening conditions, we also wonder if Elimelech might not have stayed and tried to work things out, rather than abandoning the Promised Land in order to seek refuge in another land—and the land of Moab at that! And even after Elimelech died, you would think that Naomi and her two sons would return to Judah, but instead they stayed and the sons married Moabite women.
The decision to marry foreign women and settle in Moab for ten more years seems to suggest that the family had no intention of ever returning home. But then both sons died, leaving Naomi a destitute widow. Women in the ancient world were dependent upon their husbands and sons to care and provide for them, so Naomi is left vulnerable and desperate.
The Decision to Return Home
What prompted Naomi to begin the journey home? Obviously, being destitute in a foreign land served as a strong motivation, but there was something more. A closer look reveals that Naomi’s decision to return home was grounded in her hearing—“in the land of Moab” no less—that the Lord had “visited his people in giving them food” (Ruth 1:6).
Now, a few things are of note here. For one, this is the first time that God is mentioned, and he’s called by his covenant name, “Yahweh.” In the Hebrew language, “Yahweh” is translated, “I will be who I will be,” meaning that God is the self-existent one, the God who will also “be with and for [his] people at all times and places.” Yahweh is the name by which he revealed himself to Moses when he chose him to deliver Israel out of the land of Egypt (cf. Exod. 3:14), and it’s the name by which he entered into covenant with them (cf. Exod. 20:1–24:8).
Another thing to note is the specific language of Ruth 1:6. When the narrator tells us that Naomi
heard that the Lord had “visited” his people in giving them food, this means that God had carefully examined his people’s need for food and acted to provide for them. The same verb is used in Exodus 3:16 and 4:31 to express the Lord’s careful observance of Israel’s abuse under Egyptian slavery: “The Lord had visited the people of Israel and . . . seen their affliction,” which led him to deliver them in the exodus (Exod. 4:31).
Naomi’s decision to begin the journey home is grounded in her faith in the faithfulness of her covenant-keeping God. He blesses his people with food, thereby ending the famine—and his judgment. God’s judgments are intended to serve as wake-up calls to the nation, prompting them to repent and get back on track for their own sake, as well as for the glory of his name.
The Glory of His Name
In Exodus, when Moses asked the Lord to show him his glory, God responded by proclaiming the meaning of his name, “Yahweh.” It means that he’s the self-existent God who’s covenanted to be with and for his people at all times and in all places. As he reveals his name, God reveals his character:
The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and [faithfulness]; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
—Exodus 34:6–7
God is holy and righteous in every way. We can always count on him to act in consistency with his character. Therefore, we may have full confidence that he’ll always make good on his promises (cf. 2 Cor. 1:20). In Exodus 34:6-7, we have the Lord’s own words regarding his character, and in the New Testament we see the fullness of his character revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ (cf. John 1:14, 18; Col. 1:15–23).
This is the God Naomi knows. And this is the reason she’s decided to return home (Ruth 1:7).
This is an excerpt from Core Christianity’s Bible Study, Ruth, by Rita F. Cefalu. The full study is available here: Ruth Bible Study
Footnotes
New International Dictionary of Theology and Exegesis, 1:837.
The Moabites were related to Abraham through his nephew, Lot. They were the offspring of Lot’s incestuous relationship with his daughters (Gen. 19:30–38).
Marriage to a Moabite woman was not forbidden under the Mosaic covenant, but the offspring of such a union would not be permitted to enter the assembly of the Lord (i.e., the house of worship) until the tenth generation, tenth perhaps signifying never at all, since the number ten is also symbolic of completeness (Deut. 23:3).
God’s covenantal name appears 15 times in the book of Ruth, beginning here (See also, Ruth 1:8–9, 13, 17, 21; 2:4, 12, 20; 3:10, 13; 4:11–14).
NIDOTTE, 4:1296.
NIDOTTE, 3:659.
