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From: Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14b-16, 22

Elimelech and his family migrate from Israel

[1] In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a cer-
tain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and
his wife and his two sons.

[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 bereft of her two sons and her husband.

Ruth the Moabitess leaves her land and goes to Judah

[6] Then she started with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab,
for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and
given them food.

[14] Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mo-
ther-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. [15] And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has
gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” [16] But
Ruth said, “Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where
you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people,
and your God my God;

[22] So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess her daughter-in-law with her,
who returned from the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the be-
ginning of barley harvest.

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Commentary:

1-5. We are told why a family from Bethlehem in Judah had to leave their country
and migrate to Moab. The book of Judges reported on how the Moabites oppress-
sed the Benjaminites at the time of Eglon of Moab (Judg 3:12-14); however, there
is no sign here of Elimelech and his family being anyway wary of the Moabites.
They settle down in Moab peacefully and the two boys take Moabite wives. A
similar mutual respect is to he seen in David’s friendship with the king of Moab
which is recorded in some traditions (cf. 1 Sam 22:3-4).

The name Elimelech means “my God is king”, and that of Naomi, “my delight”;
Mahlon means “pain”; Chilion, “destruction”; Orpah, “she who turns her back”;
Ruth, “she who comforts”. All the names say something about the people who
bear them.

1:6-22. Naomi does not mislead her daughters-in-laws, to get them to go with
her. On the contrary, she spells out exactly what they find if they stay with her.
In the explanations she gives (vv. 11-13) one can see that she is thinking of the
law of levirate whereby if a man died without issue, his brother was supposed to
take his wife and the first born-son of that marriage would be the son of the first
husband in the eyes of the law (cf. Deut 25:5-10). This means that if Naomi were
to marry again and have another son, he would be a new brother-in-law to Ruth
and Orpah and, through the law of levirate, he would take them as wives. But
that law could be of no help in this particular situation.

Orpah makes a perfectly reasonable decision; she sorrowfully says goodbye
to Naomi and returns home. Maybe this makes Ruth’s decision all the more im-
pressive: she opts to leave her land and her family and accompany Naomi; back
to her dead husband’s country, where she (Ruth) had never been. Her determina-
tion says much for her fidelity to the God she came to know in her husband’s fa-
mily: “Where you go, I go, and where you lodge, I will lodge” (v. 16). Ruth did not
belong to Israel by birth; the text repeatedly mentions that she was a Moabitess
(1:4, 22; 2:2, 6, 21; 4:5, 10), a foreigner (2:10). But when she comes to know the
people of God, she decides to become a member of it and makes a binding oath
to this effect (v. 17). It was customary to spell out the penalties that would apply
if one failed to keep an oath. However, in the sacred text, those words, which
were usually rather chilling, are replaced by a general form of words such as
“May the Lord do so to me and more also” (v. 17; cf. 1 Sam 3:17; 2 Sam 3:9;
etc.).

Christian tradition has seen in Ruth the Church of the Gentiles — all those men
and women of every background who, coming to know the Lord through the wit-
ness borne by others, become part of the People of God: “In her [Ruth] we are
given a symbol of all of us who have been drawn from among all the peoples to
form part of the Church” (”Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, 3, 30)

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.