Ruth 1:1-5--Naomi Widowed

Ruth 1:1-5
English Standard Version
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Naomi Widowed
1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. 2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. 3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, 5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.

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We just finished our study of the book of Judges, and before we start diving into the other books of history that are 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, we are going to take a very important look back to a series of events that happened among the tribe of Judah during the time of the judges.

In those days, there was a famine in the land so severe that a man of Bethlehem (which means "House of Bread," for it was a place the LORD usually blessed with an abundant supply of food) decided to leave not just Bethlehem, but all of Canaan, along with his family, to seek food from a neighboring country.  This however is no normal country.  The land of Moab is one of the descendants of Lot, and they have been a menace to Israel most of the time since the Exodus.  In fact, it was Moab that got involved with Balaam to try to get the nation of Israel cursed while they were wandering through the wilderness, so that the LORD cursed Moab and commanded His people to never marry a Moabite and to never let a descendant of Moab into the congregation (they were kept from becoming Jews and they were definitely never allowed to enter the Temple--not even the court of the Gentiles).

The name of the man from Bethlehem was Elimelech, his wife's name was Naomi and the names of their two sons (unmarried at this point) were Mahlon and Chilion.  At some point after arriving in Moab, Elimelech dies there and leaves Naomi with her two sons.  The sons decided to marry two Moabite women.  The names of their wives were Orpah and Ruth.  This book is the story of Ruth (as you probably guessed by the name)--a Moabite woman who was an important part of the LORD's plan for Israel and the whole world.  Despite the curse, God brought her into His family and allowed her to be great-grandmother to King David and an ancestor to Jesus of Nazareth (see the genealogy in Matthew 1).

During the 10 years that Naomi spent in Moab (presumably because the famine lasted a long time), both of her sons died as well, so she no longer had any family to take care of her.  It would be the responsibility of her extended family and the tribe of Judah to care for her now, but since she lived outside the land (especially in Moab) the first step for her would be to return to the land and get the deed to the property that belonged to Elimelech transferred to his closes relative since the property had to stay in the family.  This person would be known as a kinsman redeemer (I recommend if you don't know about the idea of kinsman redeemer that you read up on it, as it is an important concept in the book of Ruth and it is one of the things in the book of Ruth that looks forward to Jesus).

So we see Naomi and her family--a family of cursed and ostracized people that no longer even live in the Land of God or the people of God hitting "rock bottom" and now having to deal with the bitterness that she has towards the LORD for the famine, the death of her husband, and the death of her sons (and letting her live) because to be without children was seen as a curse.  We'll see next time that she is ready to take this shameful, bitter journey to Judah alone and encourages her daughters-in-law to stay behind (for there is not love or acceptance for Moabite women like them in any part of Israel), and while Orpah will return home to her family and her gods, Ruth will make a different choice that will be one of our key texts for the entire book.