Ruth 1:3

_AND ELIMELECH NAOMI'S HUSBAND DIED; AND SHE WAS LEFT, AND HER TWO SONS._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-5 Elimelech's care to provide for his family, was not to be blamed; but his removal into the country of Moab could not be justified. And the removal ended in the wasting of his family. It is folly to think of escaping that cross, which, being laid in our way, we ought to take up. Changing our place seldom is mending it. Those who bring young people into bad acquaintance, and take them out of the way of public ordinances, thought they may think them well-principled, and armed against temptation, know not what will be the end. It does not appear that the women the sons of Elimelech married, were proselyted to the Jewish religion. Earthly trials or enjoyments are of short continuance. Death continually removes those of every age and situation, and mars all our outward comforts: we cannot too strongly prefer those advantages which shall last for ever....

Verse Ruth 1:3. _ELIMELECH - DIED_] Probably a short time after his arrival in Moab....

EXPOSITION RUTH 1:1 NOW IT CAME TO PASS. Or, more literally, "And it came to pass." The "And" is somewhat remarkable, standing at the commencement of the Book. But as it is also found at the commencement of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Ezekiel, Esther, and Ezra, its use, though inartistic, must be amenable to some literary law. The Books specified, even including Ezekiel, are historical They are parcels of history, each narrating events that had their genesis in more or less significant antecedent occurrences. This historical genesis, so very different from an "absolute commencement" of things, is indicated, though probably in unreflective spontaneity, by the copulative "And." IN THE DAYS WHEN THE JUDGES RULED. Or, more literally, "when the judges judged." In primitive ti

AND ELIMELECH, NAOMI'S HUSBAND, DIED,.... According to Josephus x, after he had dwelt in the land ten years, and had married his two sons to Moabitish women; but, as Alshech observes, the text shows that while he was living they were not married to them, but after his death; and it is said of them only that they dwelt there about ten years; so that it is most probable that their father died quickly after he came into the land of Moab: and she was left, and her two sons; in a strange land, she without a husband, and they without a father. x Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 1.)...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS CHAPTER 1 The Story of Naomi: Orpah and Ruth _ 1. Naomi and her sorrows (Ruth 1:1)_ 2. The return (Ruth 1:6) 3. Orpah turning back, Ruth cleaving (Ruth 1:14) 4. Naomi and Ruth in Bethlehem (Ruth 1:19) 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 unbelief and bitterness, bereft of Elimelech, her two sons also dead, Mahlon, which means “sick,” and Chilion “pining,” pictures Israel's condition, away from

RUTH AND NAOMI. Bethlehem ceased for a time to be what its name signified a house of bread. Under stress of famine Elimelech, with his wife Naomi, left his Judæ an home, and went to sojourn in the land of Moab, where he died. His two sons married women of Moab, Orpah and Ruth, but died childless, so that Naomi and her daughters-in-law were left together in lonely widowhood. Ruth 1:1. Seen from the uplands of Judea, the mountains of Moab are like an immense wall rising beyond the mysterious gulf of the Dead Sea. Ruth 1:2. Elimelech, meaning my God is king, is an ancient Palestinian name, which occurs in the Amarna tablets. Naomi means my sweet one, a mother's fond name for her child. Ephrath was a district round about Bethlehem (_cf._...

Ruth Comes to Bethlehem Ruth 1:1-22 _Introduction to the Life and Times of Ruth 1:1-7_ 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 Beth-lehem-judah 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 Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. 3 And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. 4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten years. 5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was lef

THE EXILE AND THE RETURN OF NAOMI 1. Beth-lehem-judah] two hours' journey S. of Jerusalem, is to be distinguished from Bethlehem in Zebulun (Joshua 19:15). It was but a short distance from Moab, which, in the days here referred to, was a fertile, highly cultivated country. Travellers still speak of it as a land of streams. Nothing short of the compulsion of famine could have induced a Hebrew to migrate into this foreign country where he would have no right of citizenship, this unclean land where Jehovah could not be worshipped. 2. The name ELIMELECH means 'my God is King.' NAOMI, or, as it ought to be written, 'Noomi,' means 'pleasant.' The two sons, MAHLON ('sickly') and CHILION ('wasting away'), evidently owe their names to the fate which overtook them. It is not quite certain how we should understand the names of their wives. ORPAH was

THERE IS A *REDEEMER BOOK OF RUTH _GORDON CHURCHYARD_ Words in boxes are notes on the Bible text. JESUS SAID, ‘THE SON OF MAN CAME TO GIVE HIS LIFE TO *REDEEM MANY PEOPLE’ (MATTHEW 20:28). (‘SON OF MAN’ IS A NAME THAT JESUS GAVE TO HIMSELF.) This book is in the *Old Testament. The *Old Testament tells us some of the things that happened before the life of Jesus on earth. There is a lot in it about the kings of Israel. The most famous one may be David. His grandfather was Obed. The story of Ruth is a true story, and it tells us about the birth of Obed. WHAT HAPPENS IN THE STORY RUTH CHAPTER 1 A family from