On this page you will find Bible Commentaries on Ruth 1: 1.
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Read this Verse in its Context
Loading ...Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 Bible Commentaries on Ruth 1: 1
The context is set, “in the days when the judges ruled”. The passage begins a book that is placed after the Exodus, after the invasion of Canaan, and before the time of the kings. This does not, however, say when it was written. Yet it does couch an event or series of events in a given account or narrative, “now it came to pass”, as something that really happened. The Hebrew hayah expression can be said ‘and it was’, which is not exactly “once upon a time.”
Famines have driven many people beyond their traditional borders or home lands. The United States was populated with an influx of people from Ireland when the notorious Irish “potato famine” took place. Pearl Buck wrote of a famine in China in her book The Good Earth and Americans have the Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath to remind of such bitter times. These were literary inventions based upon the real major events. In saying “it came to pass” the writer of Ruth is sometimes presumed to be presenting a literary fiction based on real circumstances.
The minimalist will make this a fiction, such as a historical fiction, so the setting of the story is real but the actual accounts are not. The maximalist sees the persons and events as real as well. The key in this case, is if we believe that there was indeed “a certain man” and that therefore “he, and his wife, and his two sons” were real or imaginary. The English expression, “certain” was chosen by translators as representative of the meaning. The Hebrew therefore conveys a sense of actuality.
As for the “Bethlehemjudah” we find the need to be specific, as in ‘certain’, of the starting place of the Ruth account. We will return to it when the ‘certain’ man’s wife and daughter-in-law return to the land later. In most places today, we have a centralized authority that limits the names of towns or communities so that there are no duplications, in this way avoiding confusion. For instance, in the United States there are 50 states and most of those states have a town or city named Springfield. The nearest divisions of Israel in the “days when the judges ruled” were the tribal allotments. This “Bethlehem” was in the land allotted to the tribe of Judah.
There was another Bethlehem in the allotment of Zebulun (see Joshua 19:10-16). The judges in Judges 12:8–12 were in Zebulun. The next two mentions of Bethlehem were this Bethlehem Judah in Judges 17 and 19. The Jeremiah 41:17 passage is not clear to its location yet appears to be elsewhere also for that Bethlehem was visited for someone who was on the way “to enter into Egypt” when Bethlehem Judah is such a short distance from Jerusalem it was hardly much of a head start on the journey. Elsewhere we find the Bethlehem Ephratha label (see Genesis 35:19, 48:7 and Micah 5:2). In that case the definer was a larger town nearby, Ephrath. Bethlehem was an insignificant place according to Micah, “though thou be little among the thousands of Judah” (5:2).
Commentary by Larry Swinford
Posted on:
5/20/2009 16:29 pm 
“..there was famine in the land.”
“Famine” in the Bible symbolizes the test of faith.
Famine drove Abraham to Egypt.As he went with Sarah to Egypt without seeking the counsel of God,he had to encounter problems in that country.
Gen.12:10-20.
There was a famine in the land where Isaac dwelt.Gen.26:1.God told Isaac not to go to Egypt and he dwelt in the Promised Land.Gen.26:2,3.”Isaac sowed in that land,and received in the same year in hundredfold:and the Lord blessed him.” Gen.26:12.God was able to provide Isaac even at the time of famine in the Promised Land.
Elisha foretold about the coming of seven years of famine &asked Shunammite woman to go with her family & dwell in a different place and she went and dwelt in the land of Philistine for seven years..2 Kings 8:1,2.
Here in the Book of Ruth,when famine struck the land,Elimelech went with his family to Moab without seeking the counsel of God.He made his own decision.
Please read Deut.23:3.”An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord;even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever.”.Read Nehemiah 13:1,2 also.
Elimelech left Bethlehem to settle down in Moab.It might have been a wrong decision because the Lord must have provided them if they lived within the place of the will of God.Even then God had a plan to bring Ruth from Moab.
“Bethlehem ” means “House of Bread.”.”Judah ” means “Praise”.Ephratah is the ancient name of Bethlehem.”Ephratah ” means “fruitfulness.”