A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

LOVE’S RESOLVE
(Ruth 1:1-22)
The book begins with the record of a lot of decisions, but two stand as primary to the
entire plot of the book. First there was the bad decision of Elimelech to leave Bethlehem and
move to Moab. In contrast, there is the good decision of Ruth to leave Moab and move to
Bethlehem. In understanding the decision-making process involved, we can learn much about
how to make decisions and live with their consequences.
The setting of the beginning and much of this book is in the village of Bethlehem in
Judah. Bethlehem is located on a narrow ridge about six miles south of Jerusalem. The area is
surrounded by terraced slopes suitable for the cultivation of vineyards and orchards of olives and
figs. In the fields beyond the terraces, wheat and barley have always been the principal crops
grown. On the hillsides beyond the fields, flocks and herds were kept. Though the village was
originally known as Ephrathah, it was not long before people began calling it Bethlehem which
literally means “house of bread.”
The first decision made in this book was a bad decision with tragic consequences. A man
named Elimelech which means “my God is King” decided to leave his home in Bethlehem to
travel to Moab. The Bible describes this family as “Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah” (Ruth 1:2)
suggesting they were an old and established family in the village. By today’s terminology, they
were “blue bloods.” Their decision to leave was probably not an easy decision to make, but that
did not prevent them from making the wrong decision. There are several hints as to how
Elimelech made his bad decision.
First though it was Elimelech’s decision to go to Moab, it was probably made with his
wife’s consent. Some commentators have even suggested she may have been the driving force
behind the decision (cf. w. 20-21). If this is an accurate conclusion, the opening verses of Ruth
portray a man being constantly nagged by his wife to take a course of action he knows to be
wrong.
But the fault in making this bad decision was not exclusively that of Naomi. As
Elimelech considered the situation, he soon began developing his own little compromises by
which he could justify his decision to go to Moab. First, he would only go “to sojourn” (v. 1).
The Hebrew word gur refers to a status as resident aliens. In his original decision to move to
Moab, it was never his determination to remain.
Second, he would only go to “the country of Moab” (v. 1) literally “the fields of Moab.”
The Hebrew word used in this context seeks to draw a distinction between the fields belonging to
the nation Moab and the actual land of Moab which I would have included the cities. Perhaps he
thought he could avoid the contamination of Moab by avoiding; the cities. It was the same kind
of erroneous logic Lot, the father of Moab, had once used to justify moving toward Sodom.
But if Elimelech was going to leave Bethlehem, why would he choose to go to Moab?
The Moabites were descendants of an incestuous relationship between Lot and his oldest
daughter (Gen. 19:29-38). As a people, they had often opposed Israel by refusing them water and