RUTH 1

This chapter is unified by the key word “went” (hlk) which appears at its beginning (v. 1) and 

conclusion (v. 19). It also takes the literary form shown below according to VanGemeren:

A. Background Information (1:7)

    B. Naomi and her daughters-in-law (1:8-9)

        C. Response from the daughters-in-law (1:10)

    B'. Naomi and her daughters-in-law (1:11-13)

        C'. Response from the daughters-in-law (1:14)

            D. Naomi to Ruth (1:15)

            D'. Ruth to Naomi (1:16-17)

A. Background Information (1:18-19)

Ruth 1:1 Elimelech and Naomi did not have to leave Bethlehem (“house of bread”) to survive as 

evidenced by the many people there who still recognized her when she returned. Deuteronomy 23:3-4 

teaches that Jews were not to have anything to do with Moabites since Moab would not give bread and

 water to the Jews coming out of Egypt and even hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. (George L.

 Miller)

 

Ruth 1:1-3 Phyllis Trible remarks that these verses begin with a man and his two sons but end with a 

woman and her two daughters, giving a pronounced feminist perspective to the rest of the book.

 

Ruth 1:2 The verb in verse 1 denotes a brief stay while “remain” in verse 2 denotes a settling there.

Implications? The names are significant: Elimelech means “my God is king” and this was a time when 

there was no earthly king in Israel. In Hebrew, Mahlon = sickly and Chilion = pining away.

 

Ruth 1:4 Oprah Winfrey was named Orpah from this biblical personage, but someone transposed two 

letters accidentally.

 

Ruth 1:6 Miller feels that the famine had been over for some time and it was only the deaths that

decided her to return.

 

Ruth 1:8 Miller's opinion is that the primary motive for Naomi's actions was to hide the fact that her 

sons had married Moabites. This may be an unduly harsh judgment on Naomi. However, Naomi 

certainly had something else to be criticized for. Ulrich says that “it is unthinkable that a daughter of 

Abraham would discourage willing Gentiles from being exposed to the means of grace in the covenant 

community.” I had always felt that was the case and criticized women's Bible study leaders who felt it 

was somehow an act of kindness for Naomi to send them back into a pagan environment no less!

 

Ruth 1:8-9 There is a close parallel to these events in the incident recorded in II Samuel 15:19-23.

Naomi acknowledged the kindness (hesed) of her daughters-in-law to her but not God's kindness. 

(Freedman)

 

Ruth 1:13 Note that Naomi's perceptions are so warped that she, in Ulrich's words, “measured God's 

goodness by what was happening to her and by how many of her desires were being met.” Not that any 

of us would do that today.

 

Ruth 1:14 Legend says that Orpah went on to become the ancestress of Goliath while Ruth, of course, 

was the ancestress of his enemy David.

 

Ruth 1:16-17 Miller points out the proper order of events in v. 16. First a person must become a Jew 

(your people) and then they can partake of all religious ceremonies (Your God). He says that in S. 

Korean culture these verses are used during the wedding ceremony as part of the vows so as to control 

the bride by her mother-in-law.

 

Ruth 1:21 She blames God for her misfortunes rather than her own sinful actions. This is similar to the 

Parable of the Prodigal Son. Miller: “How long would that prodigal son have stayed away from home 

if he had kept on winning at the slot machines and the lottery, and his stocks kept going up?”

 

Ruth 1:22 There is a marked reversal in situation here compared to the opening verse. We go from 

famine to harvest, presaging the happy events that will transpire in the remaining chapters.