Fields Of Moab, Part 1
Ruth 1:1- 22
Set like a pearl in the biblical time of the Judges, Ruth the Moabitess brings beauty and hope to a family marked by tragedy. Ruth comes on the scene when a Hebrew named Elimelech moves his wife Naomi and their two sons from Bethlehem, Judah to the ungodly region of Moab in search of relief from severe famine in Israel. It is in Moab that Ruth and Orpah are joined by marriage into the displaced Jewish family.
Ruth’s identity as a Moabitess was marred in the eyes of the Jews by the history of an incestuous relationship between Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and his two daughters who, seeking to carry on the family name, got their father drunk and had sex with him. When both women became pregnant, the son of the oldest daughter was named Moab, father of the Moabites, and the younger Ben-ammi, was called father of the Ammonites.
Ruth and Orpah were raised in a world without faith in the true and living God. Chemosh was the God of the Moabites and history proves they offered human sacrifices to him.
We are told that both father and sons die in Moab though we are not told why. Our only clue is found in the meanings of the young men’s names Mahalon, meaning “unhealthy,” and Chilion, which translates, “puny.”
Naomi’s grief is unbearable. Her husband and sons are dead, and she is brokenhearted. When Naomi begins her return to Bethlehem, her daughter’s in-law weep at the thought of losing her. In the end, Orpah returns to her former life in Moab, while Ruth clings to Naomi and the Living God.