There was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab,
he and his wife and his two sons. – Ruth 1:1
There was a famine… in the Promised Land! This was the land God gave to His people—a land flowing with milk and honey. And the famine was in Bethlehem, which means “house of bread.” The fields in the area were especially fertile, so why was there a famine? The first thing that comes to mind is that God must have held back the rain.
But there could be another explanation. The book of Judges tells us that when the Israelites planted their crops, their enemies “would come up against them. They would…devour the produce of the land… and leave no sustenance in Israel” (6:3-4). One reason for thinking this was the cause of the famine was that there was food in Moab, less than 50 miles away.
During the famine, one family left their fields in Bethlehem, journeyed around the north edge of the Dead Sea, and went south to Moab. What follows is a story of two weddings and three funerals.
First, we are told that Elimelech died, and Naomi was left alone with her two sons in Moab. Then we are told that Mahlon and Chilion married Moabite wives named Orpah and Ruth. Next, we are told that Mahlon and Chilion died, so that Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband (1:3-5).
Naomi endured great sadness and loss in a triple bereavement. The lights in her life went out one by one. But this is more than a story about the lives, loves, and losses of ordinary people. It is a story about our extraordinary God.
In what ways do your own loves and losses compare to those of this ordinary family? Have you seen evidence of our extraordinary God in the midst of it all?
