Now on the surface verse 1 may seem very unassuming and in fact, very ordinary. But it is a beginning line that is incredibly significant.
When the writer begins, “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land…” the writer is not just establishing where this book fits into the historical timeline of Israel but the writer is telling us something significant about the spiritual condition of Israel.
The book of Ruth immediately follows the book of Judges and these are two books should be read together because when we read Judges it gives us context to what the author wants us to know and feel when we read this opening line.
Judges is a very difficult book to read. In fact it is a disturbing book to read. It is a book that describes what happens when people choose to do whatever they want to do. The heart of judges could be summed up by Judges 17:6 which says, ‘In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Israel had turned away from following the Lord and they lived according to their own desires, wants, and pleasures. And if we know anything about the nature of man, that is going to cause some problems. In fact, when we choose to do whatever seems right to us, it will ultimately lead to chaos and rampant evil.
And in the book of Judges we see disturbing acts of evil that take us back to the days of Sodom and Gomorra.
But even though Israel was disobedient and unfaithful (and doing whatever seemed right in their own eyes) the book of judges reminds us that God continued to remain faithful. This is always the amazing thing about God’s relationship with Israel is that when they were unfaithful He remained faithful.
And in his faithfulness and in His love, He raised up judges to help rescue Israel from their enemies. And some of these judges we are very familiar with like Deborah, Gideon and Samson.
And so when we come to Ruth and we read that this story takes place during the days of the judges, we know this is a time in the history of Israel that is a dark period.
And we also know that in the Old Testament when Israel was in a place of disobedience that it would lead to discipline. Part of God’s faithfulness and love is that he would discipline his people. And that discipline sometimes came in the form of a famine. And so when we see famine in the life of Israel in the Old Testament it is more than lack of rain, it is a recognizing that Israel has turned away from God.
And so when we come to verse 1, we are told that Israel is in a time of disobedience (the season judges ruled) and when we come to verse 1 we are told God is bringing discipline (there is a famine in the land).
That is an important backdrop for us to know in order to understand the significance of what happens next in verse 1.
Verse 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.
In verse 1 we are introduced to man and we are not given his name yet nor the names of his family because what is important in verse 1 isn’t his name but rather the origin of the man and the action of the man. We are first told of the city and region he comes from. And at first glance that may not be that significant. But in fact, it is very significant in light of what he chooses to do.
Verse 1 describes him as a man of Bethlehem in Judah. He is a Hebrew. He is an Israelite living in the land God promised to Israel. A land that is described in Deuteronomy as, “a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing…” (Deuteronomy 8:7-9).
That is the land that you would never want to leave. That is the land that you would want to always remain in. In fact, Bethlehem (the city this man comes from) means house of bread. Why would you ever leave a place known as a house of bread. Why would ever leave a land in which you lack nothing.
Unless of course, that house of bread was no longer producing bread. Unless of course the land that lacks nothing now lacked something. This is what verse 1 is telling us. This man is leaving the house of bread because there is no longer any bread. Verse 1 is telling us something is not right. What should be happening is not happening.
But not only is the man from Bethlehem but Bethlehem is in a territory known as Judah. And Judah means “Praise” or “Thanksgiving”. Judah is a word that represents where Israel was finding their hope and provision and protection which was from the Lord.
And whether Israel was in feast or famine, the nation of Israel was to be a nation of worship –lifting up the mighty and holy name of the Lord because He was their God and provider. The prophet Habakkuk was a great example of this when He wrote in Habakkuk 3: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.”
In other words, I will be a man of Judah, a man of praise.
And so the man of Bethlehem comes from a place that means “God provides bread to his people”, and Judah represents the response of His people—”we worship God as our provider.” Regardless of what is going on in our circumstances we will trust in God and God alone. And so when a man from the house of bread in the land of praise leaves this land, — this is a man that is rejecting His identity.
Which is why verse 1 is an intriguing way to begin the book of Ruth. Why does an Israelite leave the land given to them by God and go and live in a foreign land?
Something is not right here.
Now on the surface the explanation may seem simple. Their land was experiencing a famine as verse 1 tells us. There was no food. And so the man leaves to provide for his family. It doesn’t seem complicated. We might even say that is wise.
But in the book of Genesis there is an almost identical verse about another man who makes a similar decision.
Genesis 12:10 says, “Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.” Almost the exact situation.
God had led Abram to the led of Canaan (this was the land he was going to give to Abraham’s descendants. This land was connected to God promise to Abram). but when life got difficult Abram left. He left where God brought him. And Genesis 12 goes to tell us that Abram’s decision to depart God’s will led to great pain in his marriage and it brought great pain to the entire household of Pharoah.
And so when we come to Ruth chapter 1 and we see this man making a similar decision our first reaction should be, “oh no. This is not good.” Which is why this makes for a good opening line, because we are now drawn in asking the question, “what’s going to happen?’
I believe one of the reasons we do not immediately get this man’s name in verse 1 is because the writer wants us to first sit with what this man has just done. That is the focus. He has left the provision of the promised land to seek provision outside of God.
The writer could have opened this book this way: Here is the story of a man that rejected the provision of God when life got hard.
The reason this opening verse is so intriguing is that it is essentially asking the question: How difficult does life need to get for us to abandon the provision and protection of God?
What is intriguing about the famine is this is God’s way of drawing Israel back to Israel. This is an act of God’s provision. When God brought famine it was both discipline to Israel but it was also a means to allow Israel to come back to a place of dependence on God.
When we read the words, “there was a famine”, we should also read those words as God drawing Israel to a place of repentance. He is drawing Israel back into a right relationship with Him. Verse 1 is telling us God is desiring restoration.
Deuteronomy chapter 8 says that when God was leading Israel through the wilderness after he delivered them from Egypt it says he allowed them to hunger so that they would know “that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
God allowed a physical need not to be met in order for them to recognize where their true hunger is satisfied, where their true needs are met.
1n 2 Corinthians, Paul talks about all the trials that he was going through, trials that caused him to believe that maybe he was going to die. In 2 Corinthians 1:8 Paul writes, “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.”
God often either through discipline or through testing, allows our physical needs to go unmet, or allows trials to enter into our life to create a dependency on God. Because we all know that our hope and joy is too easily tide to the temporal things of this world.
And so when we go through trials, when we go through seasons where it feels like our physical needs are not met. Our response is to recognize that we are people who need God. We are a people who were created to be dependent on God.
And so our health need, our emotional needs, our financial needs are all opportunities for us to say, ‘God, I need you.”
But the other thing that trials do is they allow us to acknowledge that God is at work. ‘Ok, God, you are doing things here. Let me not be quick to run from what you are doing simply because I want to have my physical needs met or my emotional needs met.
Too many times we miss the joy of God maturing us because we simply want our in-the-moment needs met.
For the man we are introduced to in Ruth 1:1, God is at work in his life. He is a man living in the house of bread and he is hungry. He is being giving an opportunity along with everyone else to recognize that man does not live by bread alone but through the word of God. And yet all this man could see is, “my physical needs are not met.” And he makes a decision (that based on the surface might have seemed wise but was unwise) and turned away from the very one who He is dependent on God to seeking rescue from someone or something other than God.
Now does it mean every time I have a physical need God is disciplining me? No, we were created to have physical needs. But our physical needs should remind us to seek first the Kingdom of God. I think this is why God created us to be people with needs. That we were created to be people who are to trust in the Lord with all of our heart and learn not on our own understandings.
This is why when we pray for people have who physical or emotional or financial needs we certain pray that God meets those needs but we should first and foremost be praying that God would be accomplishing His kingdom purposes in that person’s life.
When you think about the needs in your life right (whatever that may be where you look at your life and say, “I am lacking in this area) – how are you praying for that need? Are you simply looking for a resolution or are you looking for spiritual transformation?
Our needs in our life are often God’s greatest tool helping us recognizing our need for God. Our physical needs and our spiritual life are not disconnected. Sometimes we can even find ourselves thinking, “God, if you would meet this physical need I could get back to serving you?” When it is that very need that God is using for us to trust Him.
In verse 2 this man’s name is revealed but something else even more significant is revealed.
Verse 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.
Verse 2 ends with this words: And he remained there. This is not just a momentary searching but a full rejection of his identity.
This is what seasons of trying to meet our needs outside of God can lead to, that we can eventually find ourselves satisfied with the things outside of God. And we remain there. Not knowing we were made for so much more.
How shocking would it be if a short story began, “A follower of Jesus sought life outside of Jesus and then remained there.”
Elimelech left the house of bread and the land of praise and settled in a land he never should have been in. That is not where he belongs.
Two verses that might seem unassuming and uneventful now become very intriguing. And as this family goes where they should not have gone, they are going to experience great pain and suffering.
But this family that could have been dismissed as prodigals will in fact be used by God to accomplish His plan of redemption and salvation. And that is what makes the book of Ruth so extraordinary.