Ruth 1:1-2:13

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Ruth 1:1-22

Ruth 1:4 We strain our eyes to know something of the long line of the purple hills of Moab, which form the background at once of the history and of the geography of Palestine. It is a satisfaction to feel that there is one tender association which unites them with the familiar history and scenery of Judaea that from their recesses, across the deep gulf which separates the two regions, came the gentle ancestress of David and the Messiah. Stanley. References. I. 6-22. S. Cox, The Book of Ruth,... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ruth 1:1-13

NAOMI’S BURDENRuth 1:1-13LEAVING the Book of Judges and opening the story of Ruth we pass from vehement outdoor life, from tempest and trouble into quiet domestic scenes. After an exhibition of the greater movements of a people we are brought, as it were, to a cottage interior in the soft light of an autumn evening, to obscure lives passing through the cycles of loss and comfort, affection and sorrow. We have seen the ebb and flow of a nation’s fidelity and fortune, a few leaders appearing... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Ruth 1:1-22

Analysis and Annotations CHAPTER 1 The Story of Naomi: Orpah and Ruth 1. Naomi and her sorrows (Ruth 1:1-5 ) 2. The return (Ruth 1:6-13 ) 3. Orpah turning back, Ruth cleaving (Ruth 1:14-18 ) 4. Naomi and Ruth in Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19-22 ) The story begins with a famine. Elimelech, “my God is king,” and Naomi, “pleasant,” leave Bethlehem, “the house of bread,” to go to the land of Moab, the heathen country. The story ends in Bethlehem with a marriage. Naomi far from the land, in... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Ruth 1:1

1:1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the {a} land. And a certain man of {b} Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.(a) In the land of Canaan.(b) In the tribe of Judah, which was also called Bethlehem Ephrathat, because there was another city so called in the tribe of Zebulun. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Ruth 1:1-22

DEPARTURE BECAUSE OF FAMINE (vv. 1-5) A famine was in the land of Israel. Why? Because the literal famine was to draw attention to the spiritual famine that came before it, a famine for hearing the words of God. Though Israel suffered from the spiritual famine, they did not feel it. So God sent them something they would feel! The famine was felt even in Bethlehem of Judah. Bethlehem means "the house of bread," where, of all places, there ought not to be a famine. But we too, though we are... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Ruth 1:1-22

BACK TO THE HOMELAND Ruth 1:0 This beautiful story is an event occurring during the Judges (Ruth 1:1 ), but separated from the former to give prominence to the genealogical record with which it concludes (Ruth 4:18-22 ), showing Ruth an ancestress of David and hence of Jesus Christ. The story is so simply told that it needs only the briefest comments. Elimelech and his family are called “Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah” (1:2) for the reason that Ephrath was originally the name of Bethlehem... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Ruth 1:1-18

Rth 1:1-18 Wordsworth. The Preacher's Homiletical Commentary thus describes the scene of action: At first Bethlehem, then Moab, then Bethlehem and the regions around once again. Bethlehem, two short hours' journey south of Jerusalem. The most attractive and significant of all the world's birthplaces (Schubert). Under ordinary circumstances a fruitful land. Remarkably well watered in comparison with other parts of Palestine (Benjamin of Tudela). Even in the present state of Palestine,... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - Ruth 1:1-22

The Character of Naomi Ruth 1:0 "IS this Naomi?" ( Rth 1:19 ) literally, is this the Naomi? the reference being to a person well known, and well known because of quality and station. The name was known to every one as the name of a lady of notable degree who had been obliged to give way to circumstances that were irresistible, and who had therefore become poor, dispossessed even of bread, and sent away in great distress to undergo what would seem to be the chief punishment which Heaven... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Ruth 1:1

CONTENTS The book of Ruth opens in this Chapter with the relation of a certain family leaving Bethlehem in consequence of a famine, and sojourning in the country of Moab. The distressing events which followed: the death of the husband and his two sons; and the return of the widow, with one of her daughters in law, from Moab to Bethlehem. These are the principal things related in this chapter. read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Ruth 1:1-2

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. (2) And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. It is not so very material at what period during the commonwealth of Israel the... read more

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