Today’s passage: Ruth 1:1-5
Helpful thoughts:
- The events of the book of Ruth occurred during the time of the Judges in Israel.
- In a time when everyone in Israel was doing what seemed right in their own eyes, this Israelite man led his family to leave the Promised Land.
- Israel did not like Moab! It would have been a grueling decision to go there, but that seemed better than staying.
- The sons married women who were not followers of Yahweh.
- In that day, there would have been a cultural understanding that Israel was not being blessed by the gods (Or by their God) with rains and harvest, but the Moabites were.
- This family left Israel in an effort to save their lives. They found food…and died anyway.
- There was a physical famine in Israel, a spiritual famine in the hearts of Israel, and now a famine of men in this family! This opening paragraph heaps sorrow upon sorrow.
- Ruth’s name means, a refreshing.
Questions to consider:
- According to Deuteronomy 28, why was there famine in Israel?
- What then would have been the proper response for Israel? Was leaving the Promised Land the right thing to do?
- When times of trouble come, should we run away from the Lord or to Him? (Psalm 18:1-2)