SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:1
¶ Aconteció en los días que gobernaban los jueces, que hubo hambre en la tierra. Y un varón de Belén de Judá, fue a peregrinar en los campos de Moab, él y su mujer, y dos hijos suyos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Ruth 1:1
Verse 1. When the judges ruled] We know not under what judge this happened; some say under Ehud, others under Shamgar. See the preface. There was a famine] Probably occasioned by the depredations of the Philistines, Ammonites, &c., carrying off the corn as soon as it was ripe, or destroying it on the field.
The Targum says: "God has decreed ten grievous famines to take place in the world, to punish the inhabitants of the earth, before the coming of Messiah the king. The first in the days of Adam; the second in the days of Lamech; the third in the days of Abraham; the fourth in the days of Isaac; the fifth in the days of Jacob; the sixth in the days of Boaz, who is called Abstan, (Ibzan,) the just, of Beth-lehem-judah; the seventh in the days of David, king of Israel; the eighth in the days of Elijah the prophet; the ninth in the days of Elisha, in Samaria; the tenth is yet to come, and it is not a famine of bread or of water but of hearing the word of prophecy from the mouth of the Lord; and even now this famine is grievous in the land of Israel."
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. Now it came to pass, in the days when the judges ruled , etc.] So that it appears that this history is of time and things after the affair of Micah, and of the concubine of the Levite, and of the war between Israel and Benjamin; for in those times there was no king nor judge in Israel; but to what time of the judges, and which government of theirs it belongs to, is not agreed on. Josephus places it in the government of Eli, but that is too late for Boaz, the grandfather of Jesse, the father of David, to live. Some Jewish writers, as Jarchi, say it was in the times of Ibzan, who they say is the same with Boaz, but without proof, and which times are too late also for this history. The Jewish chronology comes nearer the truth, which carries it up as high as the times of Eglon, king of Moab, when Ehud was judge; and with which Dr. Lightfoot pretty much agrees, who puts this history between the third and fourth chapters of Judges, and so must belong to the times of Ehud or Shamgar. Junius refers it to the times of Deborah and Barak; and others f8 , on account of the famine, think it began in the times the Midianites oppressed Israel, and carried off the fruits of the earth, which caused it, when Gideon was raised up to be their judge; Alting places it in the time of Jephthah; such is the uncertainty about the time referred to: that there was a famine in the land ; the land of Canaan, that very fruitful country. The Targum says this was the sixth famine that had been in the world, and it was in the days of Boaz, who is called Ibzan the just, and who was of Bethlehemjudah; but it is more probable that it was in the days of Gideon, as before observed, than in the days of Ibzan and a certain man of Bethlehemjudah ; so called to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulun, ( Joshua 19:15) which had its name from the fruitfulness of the place, and the plenty of bread in it, and yet the famine was here; hence this man with his family removed from it: and went to sojourn in the country of Moab ; where there was plenty; not to dwell there, but to sojourn for a time, until the famine was over: he and his wife, and his two sons ; the names of each of them are next given.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 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 up Changing our place seldom is mending it. Those who bring young people into bad acquaintance, and take them out of the way of publi ordinances, thought they may think them well-principled, and arme against temptation, know not what will be the end. It does not appea that the women the sons of Elimelech married, were proselyted to the Jewish religion. Earthly trials or enjoyments are of short continuance Death continually removes those of every age and situation, and mar all our outward comforts: we cannot too strongly prefer thos advantages which shall last for ever.
Original Hebrew
ויהי 1961 בימי 3117 שׁפט 8199 השׁפטים 8199 ויהי 1961 רעב 7458 בארץ 776 וילך 1980 אישׁ 376 מבית לחם 1035 יהודה 3063 לגור 1481 בשׂדי 7704 מואב 4124 הוא 1931 ואשׁתו 802 ושׁני 8147 בניו׃ 1121
