Ruth 1:4-5
These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
English Standard Version (ESV)
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The verse doesn't explicitly condemn the marriages, but the fact that the sons married "women of Moab" highlights the precariousness of their situation. By marrying foreigners and settling in a land facing famine, they were already venturing far from the protective covenant of God's people.
After Elimelech's family settled in Moab due to famine, his sons married local Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. The family lived in Moab for about ten years, a period during which they experienced significant loss.
Elimelech left Bethlehem due to famine, but what started as a temporary move into Moab turned into a decade-long settlement for his sons.
The narrative begins with a family facing hardship. Elimelech, seeking to provide for his household, relocates from Bethlehem in Judah to the land of Moab.
Initially, this move might have seemed like a practical response to a difficult situation.
However, the text notes they "lived there about ten years." This significant span suggests their sojourn became a more permanent settlement, deepening their entanglement with Moabite culture and people.
The sons of Elimelech married Moabite women, a decision that sparked debate among ancient interpreters and has implications for the story's unfolding.
The verse explicitly states that the sons took "Moabite wives." This act is significant because the Mosaic Law had specific regulations concerning marriage with foreigners, particularly those from nations like Moab who had not shown hospitality to Israel.
While the Law forbad intermarriage with Canaanites (Deuteronomy 7:1-3), the prohibition for Moabites was nuanced. Later interpretations, like those seen in Nehemiah, strongly discouraged such unions, viewing them as a breach of covenant purity.
Some ancient commentators believed this marriage was a sin, leading to punishment, while others suggest it might have been permissible under certain circumstances, especially if the women converted to the Israelite faith, as Ruth later did. Regardless of the precise legal standing at the time, these marriages undeniably intertwined the family with Moabite identity.
Understand the original words
'ishshah · Hebrew Noun
A term referring to the legal union between a man and a woman, which in Old Testament theology is a covenantal commitment mirroring the relationship between God and His people.
The marriages in Ruth 1:4 occurred within a complex legal and cultural context, where marrying foreigners, especially Moabites, was viewed with suspicion and potentially forbidden, highlighting the precariousness of Israel's spiritual and national identity during the time of the Judges.
c. 1170 BC
Period of the Judges Begins
The Book of Ruth is set during the tumultuous era of the Judges, a period marked by cycles of Israelite apostasy, oppression, and deliverance.
c. 1160 BC
Famine in Judah
A severe famine grips the land of Judah, prompting Elimelech and his family to leave Bethlehem and sojourn in Moab.
c. 1150 BC
Elimelech's Family Settles in Moab
Elimelech's family settles in the territory of Moab, a foreign and often antagonistic nation to Israel.
c. 1140 BC— this verse
Sons Marry Moabite Women
Elimelech's sons, Mahlon and Chilion, marry Orpah and Ruth, women of Moab. This act was viewed by some as a transgression of God's law concerning foreign marriages.
This passage records God's command to Israel to not intermarry with the surrounding nations, highlighting the potential spiritual dangers of such unions that are central to the tension in Ruth's story.
Nehemiah 13:23-27This later passage shows the consequences of intermarriage with foreign women in post-exilic Israel, reflecting a concern for maintaining religious and cultural distinctiveness that was also relevant to the marriages in Ruth.
Ezra 9:1-2Here, Ezra expresses deep distress over the people of Israel taking foreign wives, indicating that intermarriage was a recurring issue and a source of spiritual compromise for the people of God.
Jeremiah 48:1-47This prophetic oracle against Moab underscores the nation's idolatry and arrogance, providing background on the people from whom Ruth and Orpah hailed and the spiritual context of their homeland.
henryRuth 1:1-5: "Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons."
1:1-5 Elimelech's care to provide for his family, was not to be blamed; but his removal into the country of Moab could not be justified. And the removal ended in the wasting of his family. It is folly to think of escaping that cross, which, being laid in our way, we ought to take…
clarkeRuth 1:4: "And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years."
And they took them wives - The Targum very properly observes, that they transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord, and took to themselves strange women.
The verse doesn't explicitly condemn the marriages, but the fact that the sons married "women of Moab" highlights the precariousness of their situation. By marrying foreigners and settling in a land facing famine, they were already venturing far from the protective covenant of God's people.
After Elimelech's family settled in Moab due to famine, his sons married local Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. The family lived in Moab for about ten years, a period during which they experienced significant loss.
After Elimelech's family settled in Moab due to famine, his sons married local Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. The family lived in Moab for about ten years, a period during which they experienced significant loss.
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c. 1130 BC
Deaths of Elimelech and Sons
Elimelech, his sons Mahlon and Chilion, die in Moab, leaving Naomi widowed and childless in a foreign land.
"These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband." — The verse doesn't explicitly condemn the marriages, but the fact that the sons married "women of Moab" highlights the precariousness of their situation. By marrying foreigners and settling in a land…
