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.
