Ruth 1:1

Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled,.... So that it appears that this history is of time and things after the affair of Micah, and of the concubine of the Levite, and of the war

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.

RUTH CHAPTER 1 A famine in Canaan. Elimelech removes to Moab; with Naomi his wife, and his two sons, who marry Orpah and Ruth there; and die, Rth 1:1-5. Naomi returns to Judah; her daughters-in-law accompany her on her way, Rth 1:6-13. Orpah returns home to her people and gods; Ruth remains, being converted, Rth 1:14-18. They come to Beth-lehem, Rth 1:19-22. In the days when the judges ruled; which is noted as the cause of the following famine, because in much of that time they were guilty of great defection from God. But under which of the judges this happened, Scripture being silent, it seems presumptuous to determine; nor is it necessary to know. What is said about this matter from the genealogy, mentioned Rth 1:18, &c., it will be most proper to consider it there. In the land, or, in that land, to wit, of Canaan. The country of Moab; a fruitful land beyond Jordan, eastward.

Rth 1:1 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.The Book of Ruth.] So, "The Book of Esther": not because these thrice worthy women - in whom, besides their sex, there was nothing woman like or weak - were the authors of those books, but the subject matter of them. Whether Samuel wrote this history of Ruth, or some other prophet, it is not much material: but it fitly precedeth his book, as a preparative to the history of David, whose acts it recordeth. And it no less fitly followeth the Book of Judges, as being an appendix to it, and treating of things done in their days. A precious piece it is surely, though but short; καιπολληκαιελαχιστη, as St Bartholomew said of divinity; of special concernment, as pointing to Christ born of Boaz a Jew, and Ruth a Gentile, as a Saviour to both sorts; and of singular worth: whence Hugo compareth it to a little bee, great in fruitfulness, gathering wax and honey, for light and medicine; Lavater, to such precious stones as are small in bulk, but of egregious virtue. Ver. 1. Now it came to pass.] Not without the special hand and providence of God, which we are diligently to observe this whole story throughout; as likewise in reading the Book of Esther. In the days when the judges ruled.] But what judges ruled when Ruth was thus preferred to be grandmother to Messiah the Prince, is hard to say. Josephus and Zonaras are for Eli. The Rabbins say that these things began under Ehud, and that Ruth was the daughter of Eglon king of Moab. But neither of these is likely. Gallianus will have Abimelech and Tola to have been judges when these things were done. Lyra and some Jewish doctors hold Boaz to be the same with that judge Ibzan of Bethlehem. Tostatus, and after him Tremellius, think the history of Ruth fell out in the days of Deborah; others, in the beginning of Gideon: and these speak most probably, as may be gathered by comparing Matthew 1:5 with the end of this history. That there was a famine in the land.] In the promised land, that sumen totius terroe: and at Bethlehem also, that "house of bread," famous for its fertility. See Judges 6:4-6, with Psalms 107:34. There is food in Moab when famine in Israel. "Wicked men have their portion in this life"; but David neither coveteth their cates, nor envieth their happiness. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went.] So did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in like case, and for like cause. So the prophet Elisha counselled the Shunamite to do, &c. Some Jews tell us, - but who told them?

(1) When the judges ruled.—Literally, when the judges judged. This note of time is by no means definite. As we have seen, some have proposed to connect the famine with the ravages of the Midianites Judges 6:1); or, supposing the genealogy to be complete (which is more likely, however, to be abridged, if at all, in the earlier generations), then since Boaz was the son of Salmon (Salma, 1 Chronicles 2:11) and Rahab (Matthew 1:5), whom there can be no reasonable grounds for supposing to be other than the Rahab of Jericho, the events must be placed comparatively early in the period of the judges. Beth-lehem.—See note on Genesis 35:19. Judah is added by way of distinction from the Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun (Joshua 19:15). Moab.—See notes on Genesis 19:37 : Numbers 21:13; Deuteronomy 2:9. The land of Moab seems to have been of exceptional richness and fertility, as allusions in the threats of Isaiah 16 Jeremiah 38, indicate. It was divided from the land of Israel by the. Dead Sea, and on the north by the river Arnon, the old boundary between Moab and the Amorites (Numbers 21:13). The journey of the family from Bethlehem would probably first lead them near Jericho, and so across the fords of the Jordan into the territory of the tribe of Reuben. Through the hilly country of this tribe, another long journey would bring them to the Arnon, the frontier river. How far Elimelech was justified in fleeing, even under the pressure of the famine, from the land of Jehovah to a land where Chemosh was worshipped and the abominations practised of Baal-peor, may well be doubted, even though God overruled it all for good. It was disobeying the spirit of God’s law, and holding of little value the blessings of the land of promise.

THE BOOK OF RUTH -Year before the common year of Christ, 1186. -Year from the Flood, 1162. -Year before the first Olympiad, 410. -Creation from Tisri, or September, 2818. -This chronology is upon the supposition that Obed was forty years of age at the birth of Jesse; and Jesse, fifty at the birth of David. CHAPTER I Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, flee from a famine in the land of Israel, and go to sojourn tn Moab, 1, 2. Here his two sons marry; and, in the space of ten years, both their father and they die, 3-6. Naomi sets out on her return to her own country, accompanied by her daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth; whom she endeavours to persuade to return to their own people, 7-13. Orpah returns, but Ruth accompanies her mother-in-law, 14-18. They arrive at Beth-lehem in the time of the barley harvest, 19-22. NOTES ON CHAP. I Verse 1. When the judges ruled] We know not under what judge this happened; some say under Ehud, others under Shamgar. See the preface. There was a famine] Probably occasioned by the depredations of the Philistines, Ammonites, c., carrying off the corn as soon as it was ripe, or destroying it on the field. The Targum says: "God has decreed ten grievous famines to take place in the world, to punish the inhabitants of the earth, before the coming of Messiah the king. The first in the days of Adam the second in the days of Lamech; the third in the days of Abraham; the fourth in the days of Isaac; the fifth in the days of Jacob; the sixth in the days of Boaz, who is called Abstan, (Ibzan,) the just, of Beth-lehem-judah; the seventh in the days of David, king of Israel; the eighth in the days of Elijah the prophet; the ninth in the days of Elisha, in Samaria; the tenth is yet to come, and it is not a famine of bread or of water but of hearing the word of prophecy from the mouth of the Lord; and even now this famine is grievous in the land of Israel."

Ch. 1. Ruth’s Devotion: She Leaves Her Home and Follows Naomi to Judah 1. in the days when the judges judged] The scene of the following story is thus placed in a distant age, which the writer pictures as a time of idyllic peace. Evidently the Book of Judges was known to him: the opening phrase is based upon the Dtc. editor’s theory set forth in Judges 2:16 ff. For judges as a title see Introd. to Judges, p. xi. a famine in the land] Targ. the land of Israel; more probably, the land in which Beth-lehem was situated. In ancient times it was only strong necessity which induced people to leave their homes, cf. 2 Kings 8:1; for a foreign country meant a foreign religion (Rth 1:16), ‘How shall we sing Jehovah’s song in a strange land?’ See Amos 7:17, Hosea 9:3. to sojourn] as a protected alien; cf. Judges 17:7 n. the country of Moab] lit. the field of M., similarly in Rth 1:2; Rth 1:6; Rth 1:22, Rth 2:6, Rth 4:3; cf. the field of the Philistines 1 Samuel 27:5; 1 Samuel 27:7. Moab lay on the E. of the Jordan.

In the days when the Judges ruled - “Judged.” This note of time, like that in Rth 4:7; Judges 18:1; Judges 17:6, indicates that this Book was written after the rule of the judges had ceased.

SOJOURN OF ’S FAMILY IN MOAB, Rth 1:1-5. 1. When the judges ruled — The age of the Judges extended from the death of Joshua’s generation unto the time of Samuel’s public resignation of his office at