2Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
3And Judas begat Phares and Zara
of Thamar;
and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
4And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5And Salmon begat Booz
of Rachab;
and Booz begat Obed of
Ruth;
and Obed begat Jesse;
6And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;
7And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
8And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
9And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
10And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
11And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
12And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
13And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
14And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
15And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband
of Mary,
of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Ruths’ story begins in
Bethlehem!
House of Bread
Beit Lechem –
where Yeshua/Jesus,
the Bread from Heaven,
came into this earthly realm.
In Bethlehem of Judea,
(Land of tribe of Judah)
there was a man called
Elimelech
אלימלך
Strongs 458
There is only one Elimelech in the Bible,
and means:
My God is King.
El-imele-ch is pronounced as
iy-L IH MMeh-LehK
Elimeleck, Elimelek, Elymelech, Elymeleck,
and Elymelek are variant spellings.
אלאלה
The name Elimelech consists of two elements.
The first part is the word
אל El ,
In names אל – ‘el
usually refers to
אלהים –‘Elohim,
or God,
also known as
אלה –‘Eloah.
The name applied to the God of Israel.
In English, the words ‘God’ and ‘god’
exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words
אל -‘l and אלה -‘lh are far more common
and may express approach and negation,
acts of wailing and pointing,
and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The second part of the name comes from the noun
מלך – melek,
meaning king:
and a king is not merely a glorified tribal chief
but the alpha of a complex, stratified society,
implying a court and a complex government.
Elimelech was a member of the clan of Ephrath, a native of Bethlehem of tribe of Judah, a man of wealth and probably head of a family or clan (Ruth 1:2,3; 2:1,3).
He lived during the period of the Judges and had a hereditary possession near Bethlehem, and he is chiefly remembered as the husband of Naomi.
Ephrath: For those of the tribe of Ephraim are also called Ephrathites,
Judges 12:5,
Art thou an Ephrathite 1 Kings 11:26; 1 Samuel 1:1.
David is called the son of an Ephrathite,
that is, a Beth-lehemite.
(לְאֶפְרָיִם): Ephraimites
אֶפְרַיִם , ʾEfrayim pronounced like Ef•ra•yim) meaning: fruitful, fertile, productive.
Genesis 35:19; Micah 5:2; either from Caleb’s wife of that name, 1 Chronicles 2:19; 4:4, or from the fertility of the soil about it; which title may therefore be used here, to show the greatness of the famine, which affected even fertile parts.
Recall that Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife.
Genesis 41:52
Ephraim was the second son of Joseph and Asenath. Asenath was an Egyptian woman whom Pharaoh gave to Joseph as wife, and the daughter of Potipherah, a priest of On. These 2 were absorbed into the 12 Tribes of Israel/Jacob. Genesis 48:2
Later Ephraim became the name of:
The half-tribe Ephraim (Joshua 16:5).
The hill country in Palestine (1 Samuel 1:1).
The scripture records that 3000 years ago there was a famine in the land and because of the famine affecting nearby Israel.
Elimelech and his family had traveled from Bethlehem Ephrathah to escape its ravaging effects; moving to a pagan country bordering Canaan called
Moab מוֹאָב
located east of the dead sea in Israel.
Moab is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in modern-day Jordan running along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea.
Moab is the area shaded in pink is the territory known across from the wilderness of Judah.
A flat and arid plane extends east from the banks of the Dead Sea before ascending sharply some 4,000 feet to the plain above. The upper plain is a more fertile stretch of land that extends about 15 miles from the escarpment east to the Arabian Desert. Dibon, the capital city of Moab in the biblical era, is located in the northern region of the upper plane.
In ancient times, it was home to the kingdom of the Moabites, a people often in conflict with their Israelite neighbors to the west.
From a prolonged form of the prepositional prefix m-
and ‘ab; from (her (the mother’s)) father;
Moab, an incestuous son of Lot;
also his territory and descendants
Which is why the Israelites were forbidden by law to marry a Moabite.
This name is pronounced mo-ahv in Hebrew.
The base word is ahv meaning father.
The prefix mo means from.
Combined these mean: from father.
Mo’av was the son of Lot’s oldest daughter and Lot himself (Genesis 19:35), the product of an incest relationship; implying that the similarity in Hebrew between
Mo’abi /Moabite and me’abi – from my father
was no coincidence Gen 19:37.
According to the Torah, no descendent of Mo’av is allowed in the assembly of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3).
Moab, Moabites, pronounced:
Moh´ab, moh´uh-bits.
So reading the biblical narrative, it describes the Moabites’ origins in terms of both kinship and disdain. They are blood relatives of the Israelites, but their forefather was born as a result of incest. According to the Genesis 19:30-38 story, Moab was the son of Abraham’s nephew Lot, through his own eldest daughter, with whom he had a child after the destruction of Sodom.
The Bible clearly explains the etymology of Moab as meaning “of his father.” Nevertheless, there was considerable interchange between the two peoples, They were closely linked with their northern neighbors, the Ammonites (descended from Moab’s half brother, Ben-ammi), with whom they later shared a border.
So from this account, clearly, Israel and Moab shared kinship, history, language, institutions, and theology, and that this closeness often led to competition and strife between the two peoples. Being “just like us” made the Moabites dangerous to Israelite identity and assimilation was always a threat.
It shows that there was incest, disobedience and gentile heritage in the mix.
In Moab, a child was probably raised in a culture that worshipped an ungodly idol named Chemosh. This entity was worshipped by the Moabites sacrificing their children to it. This child knew no other way of life and may have witnessed family or friends being offered as sacrifices to this pagan god.
In this Biblical account this young woman was called Ruth and one day a new family came to her home town.
This family of four people were father Elimelech his wife Naomi and their 2 sons Mahlon and Chilion.
he was a complainer and it is spelled the same way as,
but pronounced slightly different from,
the noun כליון ( killayon ),
meaning failing or annihilation,
Also
כִּלְיוֹן Ḵilyōn
further meaning is:
Wasting Away
Pining
Coming To An End,
Man Of Finality
Used up, consumed, finite.
From the verb כלה – kala,
to come to an end.
Chilion is pronounced kil-yone’
Strong’s concordance H3630
And they came Judges. 5:30 into the country of Moab, and continued (Hebrew)were there.
[They continued there]
While the famine continued, they could remain, which was lawful: However, it was not lawful to abide for ever in a foreign land, both because of the danger of idolatry; and on account that they may become forgetful of the covenant and appointed times of the Law.
Remember, all the males were required to go up three times in a year to the Temple, Appointed Times/Feasts.
Ruth 1:3
tells us that Elimelech died in Moab leaving Naomi with her 2 sons
Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion /Kilion married Ruth’s sister Orpah.
Strong’s Hebrew: 6204. עָרְפָּה (Orpah)
Ruth Orpah עָרְפָה
Phonetic Spelling: or-paw’ ʿorpā,
meaning neck or fawn or
back of the neck; she turned her back on Naomi.
The name Orpah comes from the verb ערף ( arap ).
The added letter he is a common feminization form:
The verb ערף ( ‘arap) means to drip or drop.
Noun עריף ( ‘arip) means cloud and ערפל ( ‘arapel) describes a heavy cloud mass.
The noun ערף ( ‘orep) means neck.
Hebrew Strongs #06204: hpre `Orpah Orpah = “gazelle” 1) a Moabite woman, wife of Chilion, the son of Naomi, and sister-in-law of Ruth 6204 `Orpah or-paw’ feminine of 6203; mane; Orpah, a Moabites:-Orpah.
It is highly probable that during the 10 years of marriage Naomi would have recounted the stories of her homeland and of the God in whom she believed.
This God who created the universe and brought her people out of slavery performing mighty miracles while leading them for 40 years through the wilderness to the promised land where they had come from. She may have told them the history of Jerichos walls falling down the other side of the Dead Sea and of Rahabs courage to save her family with Joshuas men and the scarlet cord in her window. She may have shared how her God had provided guidelines that helped His people and stopped them from hurting one another opposite to the demands of their false god to sacrifice children as a form of worship.
Sadly, about ten years later, both of Naomis sons died.
It would be interesting to know why all three died; it’s unusual for all the men in a family to die at more or less the same time. However God had a plan and the timing was crucial had they not died the women would probably have remained in Moab.
So Mahlon and Chilions wives, Ruth and Orpah tragically became widows; they were alone and they faced certain poverty and a future of destitution as they had no one to support them. Their death leaves Naomi, Ruth and Orpah stranded, without protection, they had to find a refuge, or starve.
Not long after that, probably towards the end of the period of the Judges, in c.1060BC/1050BC, news came to Naomi that the famine in Israel was over and that God was blessing her people; this made her want to return to Bethlehem.
Ruth 1:6-18
Naomi decides to return alone; assuming that Ruth and Orpah would not want to return to Bethlehem with her, even though the women respected and loved each other.the main problem for Ruth and Orpah was that they were Moabite women, not Israelites.
The Moabite people were traditional enemies of the Israelites. There was frequent warfare between the two groups. As previously mentioned according to the Israelite belief, Moabites came from the act of incest between Lot and his older daughter (Genesis 19:30-38), and to them the whole nation was tainted and inferior.
At first both Ruth and Orpah wanted to go with her.
Naomi loved the women but she reminded them that if they did leave with her, they would become the foreigners and so she encouraged them to return to their mothers house.
Verse 8.
Naomi did not want a bad future for them and said to them; the lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
Her genuine desire was for them to remarry into their own people and to be at peace.
They lifted up their voices and wept v.9
Then in verse 10 they insisted on accompanying her because they didn’t want to leave her. Naomi told them she had no more sons for them to marry. Obviously she loved them v13 and crying with loud sobbing Orpah kissed Naomi goodbye; however Ruth clung onto her and what Ruth says at this moment is recorded in verses 16-17 and are without doubt some of the most touching and beautiful words in the Bible.
But Ruth said: “Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.
This is a prophetic reference to the heathen, goyim, gentile nations being grafted in as they believe in the God of Israel.
Orpah, decided to return to her people and the Moabite way of life, but Ruth could not be budged.
She had shared loneliness, anxiety and grief with Naomi, and now that the older woman was completely alone, Ruth stood by her and out of love and loyalty to her mother-in-law, accompanied Naomi back to Bethlehem, while Orpah stayed in Moab.
This revealed that not only is she is devoted to Naomi but that she was also willing to totally submit her life and future to Naomis’ God, the God of Israel. Ruth abandoned her lifelong home and her pagan gods and she became a Jew by choice.
The scriptures show that she had some understanding of what she was doing and that she had a relationship with Him, as she uses the proper name of the God of Israel saying; the existing one/ Yahweh /Lord.
The last part of verse 17 was her promise to Naomi. This was more than Naomi could resist and they headed towards Bethlehem together along the dusty road.
This young womans decision 3000+ years ago was more than a step towards Bethlehem it was a momentous decision to both follow Naomi and Naomi’s God who had also become her God.
The extraordinary modern painting (below) of Ruth and Naomi captures the essence of the story: the mutual dependence of people within a family. It shows the younger woman, Naomi, sheltering and protecting the elderly woman (billowing cape as shield against harsh weather, supportive arm around the shoulder) and the older woman leading the way (staff in her hand, grey hair signifying both wisdom and experience).
Together, the figures form a single unit, stronger together than they would be if they had gone their separate ways.
Ruth 1:19-22
The two women arrive in Bethlehem
meaning ‘house of bread’
at the start of the barley harvest in April.
Barley was used to make bread.
Jewish holiday of Shavuot – Weeks.
The Book of Ruth also functions liturgically, as it is read during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot – Weeks.
The book is divided into four chapters;
and takes place at the beginning of
barley harvest
which is Passover Pescah
and the story goes through to
wheat harvest
which is Pentecost Shavuot
and covers the
counting of the Omer
over 49 days = 7 weeks.
Barley was used to make bread….
and Who is the Bread of Life?
Feasts of the Lord in Hebrew is
סעודות האל
Chag means feast or festival,
and has its root in the word chah-gog,
that, in the Hebrew mindset, means:
to circle, as in to circle dance or feast.
By definition, these three feasts
are to be celebrated before the Lord
in a joyous, party atmosphere with singing, dancing,
Passover: The Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach.
Passover is the 1st feast commanded by the LORD for Israel to observe. In Old Testament Israel, it commemorated Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
Feast of Unleavened Bread: The Burial of Our Lord Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
Hag HaMatzah
in modern Israel
is the 2nd of the 7 feasts
that the LORD commanded Israel to celebrate.
Feast of Firstfruits: The Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach.
The Feast of Firstfruits
called Bikkurim
in modern Israel
is the 3rd of the 7 Feasts of Israel
commanded by the LORD to be celebrated by Israel.
NOTE: When Ruth appealed to his kinship, he redeemed the property in Ruth 3:9.
In consequence of this he had to marry Ruth, in order
to raise up the name of the dead!!
Pentecost: The Giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church and the First “Come Up Hither”.
The feast of outpouring called
Shavuot
in modern Israel
4th of the 7 Feasts of Israel.
Gleaning was a common practice in ancient Israel.
It was a form of charity for the disadvantaged
(see Leviticus 23:22 and Deuteronomy 24:19).
Recognized groups of the poor, such as widows, orphans and foreigners, could walk behind the harvesters, picking up what was left. This is what Ruth did.
They knew that women took an active part in all stages of food production – and Ruth decided she would help to glean the barley in the fields, to feed herself and Naomi and to get a store of grain for winter.
So to keep them from starving to death, Ruth gleans grain in the field of Naomi’s relative, Boaz.
For Ruth, this course of action behind her words led to her salvation…
Don’t leave this page until you are certain of your salvation.
Conclusion coming in next post….
Shalom, shalom, mishpachah!
You are loved and appreciated and prayed for daily.
Please don’t leave this page without the knowing in your heart you are totally His.
You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.
Its all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.
NOT SURE? YOU CAN BE..
SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen.
