Ruth 1:1-5 meaning

The setting for the book of Ruth takes place during the time when the judges governed. That means the events in Ruth occurred during the book of Judges (approximately 1000 years before Christ's incarnation), prior to Israel having kings. The passage notes that there was a famine in the land. This will be an important backdrop for the ensuing story. The famine is named as the cause for a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah deciding to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons.

Bethlehem is located in Israel west of the Dead Sea near Jerusalem. Moab was located to the east of the Dead Sea, roughly 60 miles from Bethlehem. Today, it is a part of modern Jordan. The Moabites were the descendants of the incestuous affair of Lot (see Genesis 19). Moses delivered Deuteronomy to Israel while on the Plains of Moab about 400 years prior to the time of the Judges.

In ancient times, and even today, famines cause people to migrate. The famine was so severe that they remained there in Moab for ten years. While in Moab, things did not go well for Naomi. While away from her homeland, her husband Elimelech and two sons die. Naomi is left with only two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Mahlon and Chilion had taken for themselves Moabite women as wives.

The name Naomi means "pleasant."