I. NAOMI'S PREDICAMENT ch. 1

As is often true in literature, the structure of the piece sometimes reveals the purpose of the writer. This is certainly the case in the Book of Ruth. The writer constructed the whole book with a chiastic (crossing) structure.¹³

The pivotal point at the center of the writer's emphasis is the plan laid by Naomi and Ruth to obtain rest (3:1-8).

ANaomi too old to conceive (ch. 1)

BThe possible redeemer introduced (2:1)

CRuth and Naomi's plan begins (2:2)

DRuth and Boaz's field (2:3)

EBoaz comes from Bethlehem (2:4)

FBoaz asks "Who's is that young woman?"(2:5-7)

GBoaz provides food for Ruth and Ruth brings one ephah of barley to Naomi (2:8-18)

HNaomi blesses Boaz (2:19)

IBoaz is the one in position to redeem (2:20)

JRuth joins Boaz's workers (2:21-23)

KNaomi and Ruth's plan to obtain rest (3:1-8)

J'Ruth requests Boaz's protection (3:9)

I'Ruth asks Boaz to act as redeemer (3:9)

H'Boaz blesses Ruth (3:10)

G'Boaz promises to marry Ruth and Ruth brings six measures of barley to Naomi (3:11-16)

F'Naomi asks, "Who are you?"(3:16-18)

E'Boaz goes to Bethlehem (4:1)

D'Ruth and a field (4:2-12)

C'Ruth and Naomi's plan ends (4:3)

B'The redeemer not denied (4:14-16)

A'Naomi receives a son (4:17)

"What benefit does the definition of plot structure afford the interpreter of the text? Once the reader discovers the type of structure(s) of the narrative, and the locus of the defining element(s) in those structures, then he can more accurately reflect on the dynamic movement (or development) of the narrative from one level to the next and then to its climax and denouement. This kind of literary analysis offers several practical benefits to the interpreter: (1) It reinforces and adds dimension to correct exegesis. (2) It highlights the artistry of the writer, and thereby the audience's appreciation for the aesthetic beauty of God's inspired text. (3) It prevents the interpreter's placing an improper emphasis on what may be only incidental to the development of the author's message. (4) It exalts the Lord by showing that He is the Master of history. (5) Once the structure is discovered and is shown to be theologically consonant with the rest of Scripture, that structure becomes a source of truth in and of itself. That is to say, the reader can discover truth not only through structure, but also in structure."¹⁴

The opening verse of the book reminds us of the leadership vacuum in Israel during the judges period (cf. Judg. 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). The closing verse reveals God's provision of the greatest leader that Israel had since that time. Therefore the book seems concerned with showing how God provided for His people, especially for their leadership need.

Chapter 1 itself contains a chiastic structure that reveals the main point of this part of the story.

AFamine (v. 1)

BEmigration from Bethlehem (v. 1)

CNaomi = pleasant (v. 2-5)

DLeaving Moab for Bethlehem (vv. 6-7)

ENaomi's speech (v. 8)

FNaomi kisses Orpah and Ruth good-bye (v. 9)

GAll weep loudly (v. 9)

HNaomi's inability to conceive (vv. 11-13)

G'All weep loudly (v. 14)

F'Orpah kisses Naomi good-bye (vv. 14-15)

E'Ruth's speech (vv. 16-18)

D'Entering Bethlehem from Moab (v. 19)

C'Naomi = pleasant (v. 2-5)

B'Immigration to Bethlehem (v. 22)

A' Barley harvest (v. 22)

The whole chapter centers on the fact that Naomi was too old to conceive.¹⁵

 A. The deaths of Naomi's husband and sons 1:1-5

God had promised the Israelites that if they departed from Him He would discipline them by sending famine on the Promised Land (Deut. 28:17, 23, 38-40, 42).¹⁶The famine on Israel at this time indicates God's judgment for unfaithfulness. As Abram had migrated to Egypt as a result of a famine in his day (Gen. 12:10), so Elimelech migrated to Moab to obtain food for his family.¹⁷

"The story is never delightful when a member of the chosen seed leaves the Land of Promise and goes into the far country. It makes no difference whether he is Abraham going into Egypt to escape the famine or the prodigal son going to the far country and into the face of a famine there; the results are negative and the ending tragic. Elimelech should not have gone into the land of Moab, regardless of the conditions in the Land of Promise."¹⁸

Famines, according to the biblical record, usually advanced God's plans for His people despite their tragic appearances (cf. Gen. 12:10; 26:1; 41-50; Exod. 1-20).¹⁹The chapter opens with famine but closes with harvest (v. 22). Likewise the book opens with a bad situation but ends with a good one. God was at working blessing His people in the times and events that this book recounts. The restoration of seed (food, husband, redeemer, and heir) is one of the main motifs in Ruth.²⁰

The fact that Elimelech (lit. my God is king, a theme of the book) was from Bethlehem is also significant. Two stories make up the appendix to the Book of Judges. The first of these is the story of the grandson of Moses who left Bethlehem to lead the Danites into idolatry (Judg. 17-18). The second is the story of the concubine from Bethlehem who became the focus of discord in Israel that resulted in civil war and almost the obliteration of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 19-21). The Book of Ruth also features Bethlehem. God may have given us all three of these stories because David was from Bethlehem. In the two stories in Judges just referred to we can see that the Israelites would have looked down on Bethlehem after those incidents. However, Ruth reveals how God brought great blessing to Israel out of Bethlehem in the person of David. This is in harmony with God's choice to bring blessing out of those things that people do not value highly naturally. Bethlehem in Ruth's day did not have a good reputation. It was not the environment in which David grew up that made him great but his relationship with God. That relationship, we learn from Ruth, was a heritage passed down to him from his ancestors, godly Boaz and Ruth.²¹

The unusual association of Ephratah and Bethlehem here (v. 2) recalls the first use of both names describing the same town in Genesis 35:16-19. There Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.

"Does this incident in which Benjamin is the occasion of the death of the patronymic's favorite wife at Bethlehem anticipate in some way the Saul-David controversy in which the Benjaminite again proves antagonistic to one who has Bethlehem associations?"²²

". . . it is best to understand Ephrathiteas the name of a clan. If this clan descended from Caleb [which seems probable since Caleb settled near there], the author may have identified this family as Ephrathite to picture it as an aristocratic one--one of the first families of Bethlehem.'²³He thereby underscored the humiliating tragedy involved: the Vanderbilts have suddenly become poor sharecroppers. Worse yet, he cleverly disallowed any hope of a temporary visit."²⁴

Ephrathah was probably the name of an older settlement that became Bethlehem (cf. Gen. 48:10). Some scholars believe it was the name of the district in which Bethlehem stood, or the name may reflect that Ephraimites had settled there.²⁵This seems less likely to me.

 B. Naomi's inability to provide husbands for Ruth and Orpah 1:6-14

God eventually withdrew the famine from Judah (v. 6) probably in response to His people's calling out to Him for deliverance (cf. Judg. 3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:6; 10:10; 16:28). This verse sounds one of the major themes of the story: Yahweh's gracious intervention.²⁶

Naomi's words to her daughters-in-law are very important.²⁷She appealed to them to maintain their strongest earthly ties by returning to their mothers' families (v. 8).

". . . the phrase mother's house' occurs in contexts having to do with love and marriage. It seems likely, then, that Naomi here referred to some custom according to which the mother's house'--probably her bedroom, not a separate building--was the place where marriages were arranged."²⁸

Second, she prayed that Yahweh would pay back loyal love ("deal kindly,"Heb. hesed), to them since they had shown loyal love to their husbands and Naomi (v. 8).

"Here emerges a key theological assumption of the book: the intimate link between human action and divine action. In this case, human kindness has earned the possibility (even likelihood) of a God-given reward."²⁹

God had also promised blessing to those who would worship Him exclusively (Deut. 5:7-10). Third, she wished "rest"(Heb. menuhah) for them in the household of their next husbands (v. 9). Rest was one of the great blessings God had promised the Israelites as they anticipated entrance into the Promised Land (Exod. 33:14; Deut. 3:20; 12:9-10; 25:19; Josh. 1:13, 15; 21:44; 22:4; 23:1; cf. Gen. 49:15; Exod. 16:23; 31:15; 35:2; Lev. 16:31; 23:3, 32; 25:4-5; Ps. 95:11; Heb. 3:11, 18). It refers to security, which in this case marriage would give Naomi's daughters-in-law, rather than freedom from work.³⁰

After the two daughters-in-law refused to leave their mother-in-law (v. 10), which in Orpah's case was only a polite refusal but in Ruth's a genuine one, Naomi urged them again. Here the reason for her counsel comes out. She was too old to remarry, bear sons, have those sons marry their brothers' (Mahlon's and Chilion's) widows, and raise up seed. That seed would perpetuate the families begun by Mahlon and Chilion with Ruth and Orpah. Levirate marriage was the practice of a single brother marrying his deceased brother's widow to father children who would carry on the dead brother's name and perpetuate his descendents. It was common throughout the ancient Near East and in Israel (cf. Gen. 38:8-10; Deut. 25:5-10).³¹Naomi was too old to remarry and bear sons who could provide loyal love and rest for Ruth and Orpah. Consequently she urged her daughters-in-law to return home and start married life over with new Moabite husbands.

It was harder for Naomi than for Ruth and Orpah (v. 13) because while Ruth and Orpah had hope of marrying again and bearing children, Naomi did not in view of her advanced age. She regarded her situation as a judgment from God (v. 13; cf. Gen. 42:36). She did not realize that God would yet bless her with a descendent through Boaz. He would father a son who would carry on the name and lines of Ruth's dead husband and Naomi's dead husband.

"Ruth and Orpah demonstrate the two kinds of members in the church--the professors and the possessors. Orpah made only a profession of faith and failed at the climactic moment; Ruth possessed genuine faith, which produced fruit and works."³²

Ruth clung to Naomi. The Hebrew word for "clung to"is dabaq, which elsewhere refers to the ideal closeness that can be experienced in a marriage relationship.³³Ruth determined to stick to her mother-in-law as closely as a husband would cleave to his wife.

 C. Ruth's profession of faith in Yahweh 1:15-18

Ruth concluded that her prospects for loyal love and rest (vv. 8-9) were better if she identified with Israel than if she continued to identify with Moab. She had come to admire Israel's God. Elimelech and his family had fulfilled God's purpose for His people while living in Moab. They had so represented Yahweh that Ruth felt drawn to Him and now, faced with a decision of loyalty, she chose to trust and obey Him rather than the gods of Moab. Ruth was a descendent of Lot who chose to leave the Promised Land because he thought he could do better for himself elsewhere (Gen. 13:11-12).³⁴Ruth now reversed the decision of her ancestor and chose to identify with the promises of Yahweh that centered in the Promised Land.³⁵The ancients believed that a deity had power only in the locale occupied by its worshippers. Therefore to leave one's land (v. 15) meant to separate from one's god.³⁶

The place of a person's grave in ancient Near Eastern life was very significant (cf. Gen. 23; 25:9-10; 50:1-14, 24-25; Josh. 24:32). It identified the area he or she considered his or her true home. So when Ruth said she wanted to die and be buried where Naomi was (v. 17) she was voicing her strong commitment to the people, land, and God of Naomi. Naomi's godly life probably infuenced Ruth to trust in Naomi's God. The name for God in verse 20, "the Almighty"(Heb. sadday, transliterated "Shaddai"), was the one God had used to reveal Himself to the patriarchs in Genesis (Exod. 6:3).

"Significantly, though the oath formula normally has Elohim, Ruth invoked the personal, covenantal name Yahweh--the only time in the book in which she does so. Since one appeals to one's own deity to enforce an oath, she clearly implies that Yahweh, not Chemosh, is now her God, the guardian of her future. Hence, while the OT has no fully developed idea of conversion, vv. 16-17 suggest a commitment tantamount to such a change. As a result, one expects the story subsequently to reveal some reward from Yahweh for this remarkable devotion. . . .

". . . Ruth's leap of faith even outdid Abraham's. She acted with no promise in hand, with no divine blessing pronounced, without spouse, possessions, or supporting retinue. She gave up marriage to a man to devote herself to an old woman--and in a world dominated by men at that! Thematically, this allusion to Abraham sets this story in continuity with that one. Thus, a sense of similar destiny hangs over Ruth's story. The audience wonders, May some larger plan emerge from it, too?"³⁷

"There is no more radical decision in all the memories of Israel."³⁸

God had always welcomed non-Israelites into the covenant community of Abraham's believing seed. Even in Abraham's day his servants who believed underwent circumcision as a sign of their participation in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 17). At Sinai, God explained again that the Israelites, as priests, were to bring other people to God (Exod. 19:5-6). Ruth now confessed her commitment to Yahweh, Israel, and Naomi, a commitment based on her faith in Yahweh.³⁹

These verses are a key to the book because they give the reason God blessed Ruth as He did.

 D. Naomi's weak faith 1:19-21

Naomi had experienced both blessing and loss since she had left Bethlehem. When she returned home she chose to emphasize her hardships. She had forgotten God's faithfulness and His promises to bless all Israel (Gen. 12:1-3, 7), her tribe in particular (Gen. 49:8-12), and all the godly in Israel (Deut. 5:7-10). But her emptiness (v. 21) was only temporary. Her pessimism contrasts with Ruth's optimism (vv. 16-18).

"In Israel, names were not just labels of individuality but descriptions of inner character which in turn were presumed to influence the person's conduct. . . . Recall Jacob (schemer'; Gen. 27:36); Nabal (fool'; 1 Sam. 25:25); Jesus (savior'; Matt. 1:21). Similarly, to receive a new name signified a change in character and destiny (i.e., Abram to Abraham, Gen. 17:5-8; Jacob to Israel, Gen. 32:29 [Eng. 28]; Simon to Peter, Matt. 16:17-18; Saul to Paul, Acts 19:9)."⁴⁰

 E. Hope for the future 1:22

This summary sentence not only concludes chapter 1 but also prepares the reader for the remaining scenes of the story. Naomi had left Bethlehem pleasant (Heb. na'em) but returned bitter (v. 20). She had left with Elimelech, one source of blessing in her life, but returned with Ruth who would become another source of blessing for her. She had left during a famine, but she returned to Bethlehem (lit. house of bread, the place of blessing) at the beginning of harvest.

Throughout the book the writer frequently referred to Ruth as "Ruth the Moabitess"(1:22; 2:2, 6, 21; 4:5, 10). This is one way in which he drew attention to the fact that God used even a non-Israelite, from an enemy nation, to bring blessing to Israel. The key to her being this source of blessing emerges in the first chapter. It was her faith in Yahweh and her commitment to His people. Throughout human history this has always been the key to God's using people as His channels of blessing. It is not their origins or backgrounds but their faith in and commitment to Yahweh that make them usable.