Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ruth 1:1
Ruth 1:1. There was a famine in the land This makes it probable that the things here recorded came to pass in the days of Gideon, for that is the only time when we read of a famine in the days of the judges; namely, when the Midianites, Amalekites, &c., came and destroyed the increase of the earth, and left no sustenance for Israel, nor for their cattle, Judges 6:3-4. read more
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ruth 1:1
In the days when the Judges ruled - “Judged.” This note of time, like that in Ruth 4:7; Judges 18:1; Judges 17:6, indicates that this Book was written after the rule of the judges had ceased. The genealogy Ruth 4:17-22 points to the time of David as the earliest when the Book of Ruth could have been written.A famine - Caused probably by one of the hostile invasions recorded in the Book of Judges. Most of the Jewish commentators, from the mention of Bethlehem, and the resemblance of the names... read more