New Bible Study: The Book of Ruth -- Ruth 1:1-5

Who was Ruth?  From gotquestions.org:

"Ruth was “of the women of Moab” but was genetically linked to Israel through Lot, the nephew of Abraham (Ruth 1:4; Genesis 11:31; 19:37). Ruth lived in the time of the judges. She had married the son of an Israelite family while they were living in Moab, but at some point her father-in-law, her husband, and her husband’s only brother died. So Ruth had to make a decision whether to stay in Moab, her home, or to go with her mother-in-law, Naomi, to a land she had never known—Judah."

Naomi’s Family in Moab

1 During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. 

2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the fields of Moab and settled there. 

3 Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. 

4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years, 

5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.

Commentary

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)

"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.

Earthly trials or enjoyments are of short continuance. Death continually removes those of every age and situation, and mars all our outward comforts: we cannot too strongly prefer those advantages which shall last for ever."