“In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man’s name was Elimelek (strength of the king), his wife’s name was Naomi (beautiful grace of God), and the names of his two sons were Mahlon (sickly) and Kilion (failing). They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.” Ruth 1:1-2
This story takes place “when the judges ruled”. It was a time of chaos and evil. This is significant because this story shows God’s love and protection for His children in difficult times. All generations have been evil. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Moses called his generation “warped and crooked”:
“They are corrupt and not his children; to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation…” Deuteronomy 32:5
As did the Apostle Paul:
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation…” Philippians 3:14-15
God was the ruler in Israel – it was a theocracy. Under this system of government each person would recognize God as the authority and would be free to choose to follow Him.
However, most of the Israelites chose what was wrong – even thinking they were right:
“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Judges 17:6, 21:25
In other words, most people did not know God personally. They were not willing to listen to His authority. They even twisted His law (what they bothered to learn) to fit their own desires. There are many people like that today!
During the suffering caused by their disobedience, God would raise up a judge to deliver His people when they called out to Him. Then there would be peace while the judge ruled.
God let them have what their stubborn hearts desired when the Israelites rejected God’s rule, wanting to be like their neighbors:
“So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have
“But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” 1 Samuel 8:4-7
They wanted a king even though God, through Samuel, warned them of the consequences (1 Samuel 8:10-18).
“There was a famine in the land”. A famine at that time meant there was no food or very little food – not enough to live on. There was no government welfare, no churches to take care of the needy, no neighbors who could help (at least not for long) and not even people with food from which the unscrupulous could steal. It was a fearful and confusing time.
But God could have taken care of His children. We know that Naomi knew God, and probably Elimelek, Mahlon and Kilion did, also. Their decision showed a lack of faith. They left the land where God was ruler and protector as Boaz pointed out when he spoke to Ruth in Chapter 2:
“…May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” Ruth 2:12
They went to live in the country of Moab where Chemosh was god. Chemosh was an idol, and the people knew that their idol had power. The Bible says that behind every idol is a demon:
“Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.” 1 Corinthians 10:19-20
Idols and demons are put together as something evil that is worshipped:
“They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons which are not God–gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear.” Deuteronomy 32:16-17
“They worshiped their idols which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.” Psalm 106:36-37
The consequences of worshipping idols/demons is to become like them:
"…Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them." Psalm 115:2-8, 135:15-18
Idols are said to speak – who is really speaking?
“The idols speak deceit…” Zechariah 10:2
Demons and idols are put together as what is still being worshipped in the very last days.
“…they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk.” Revelation 9:20
“He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.” Revelation 13:15
“Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah (stubbornness) and the other Ruth (friendship). After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.” Ruth 1:3-5
When Elimelek’s family left, they put themselves in the territory of Satan. Sometimes, people are called to do this, for instance, someone called to witness in bars, but otherwise it is a dangerous.
First of all, Elimelek died. To what degree this was a result of moving to Moab, we are not told.
Then, from what we are told (“…Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow…” Ruth 4:10) Kilion married Orpah and Mahlon married Ruth. Then Kilion and Mahlon died. They lived in Moab ten years. We do not know how long they were married, but neither Orpah nor Ruth had children which might mean that they were not married long.
“When Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.” Ruth 1:6-7
When Naomi decided to return to Israel, she was deciding to return to God. God had never left her, of course, and she had not completely left God because she told her daughters-in-law about Him, but she had taken herself outside of His special protection.
This could represent someone being backslidden – he/she is a child of God, but is not serving Him. He/she decides to return to God, often because of the hardship of living without Him. Now Naomi is returning to Israel, and bringing her daughters-in-law with her. She obviously had formed a strong bond with them – they were willingly to move to a foreign land at this dark stressful time.
“Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband…” Ruth 1:8-9
Naomi loved her daughter-in-law and wanted the best for them. She wanted them to have a full life with marriage and children. But she was so misguided. It is like someone saying, “You don’t want to follow Jesus, it is of no advantage to you.”
“Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”
But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons—would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!” Ruth 1:9-13
They still wanted to come with her, so Naomi kept trying to convince them to return.
At that time, if a man died his brother was to marry the widow. Any children they had would carry on the name of the dead brother. That man was called a kinsman redeemer.
“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.” Deuteronomy 25:5-6
“That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.” Matthew 22:24 Mark 12:19 Luke 20:28
Naomi said that she didn’t have any other children, and even if she had a husband and was giving birth to a son that very night, would they wait for the son to grow up to marry them? Of course not!
It was "more bitter" for Naomi than for them – without their kindness and help she would be a widow alone in a cruel world. To makes matters worse, she thought that the Lord had turned against her. She did not know that because she was returning to Him. He was planning to bless her more than she could imagine.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” Ephesians 3:20
“At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.
“Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” Ruth 1:14
To go back was to go back to her gods—and Naomi encouraged this! How bitter towards God (she calls herself bitter later) she must have been! Orpah did the logical thing.
“But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.” Ruth 1:15-18
This is one of the most beautiful statements of commitment and love that is made in the Bible. Ruth was not only saying it to Naomi, she was saying it to God!
"So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
It had been quite a while since she had been there, but could the ravishes of sorrow and bitterness have aged her more than was natural?
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara (bitter), because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full (with husband and sons), but the LORD has brought me back empty (all of Naomi’s family and future family, as far as she was concerned, were gone). Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.” Ruth 19-22
Naomi was so bitter, thinking it was God who had afflicted her, that she did not recognize the blessing in the person of Ruth, she had brought back with her.
Was God afflicting her? He was discipling her in love, to bring her to Himself:
“Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” Job 5:17
“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” Proverbs 2:11-12
“…“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:5-11
Perhaps it took this much discipline to make Naomi turn back to God. If even one of her sons had lived, she might have stayed in Moab with him and his family all her life.
Her hardships had been her own doing – she had taken herself out from under God’s protection.
“Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.” Proverbs 26:2
Only when we disobey God, can the devil harm us. God has said we will have suffering and persecution (Matthew 5:10, 12, John 15:20 1 Thessalonians 3:4 2 Timothy 3:12), but these are for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28).
“Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent?…” Job 34:33
If we want God’s blessing, we have to obey.
“A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord.” Proverbs 19:3
How many people blame God when they should be asking forgiveness for their own foolishness!
“Naomi and her family made a choice ten years before and it was a choice made in a hard time – a time of famine. But they didn’t have to make the wrong choice they did. The people of Bethlehem had not perished from hunger. They were still there. And they were blessed more than Naomi’s family.” Enduringword.com
Even though her heart was not quite right as yet (we all have growing to do), she was returning to God. And as always, God had everything planned – they arrived just “when the barley harvest was beginning”.