The book of Ruth in the Bible is a little unusual - no great battles, no pronouncements by wise men or prophets, no cataclysm to threaten the future of the nation. It's just about a despised woman who managed to shine in her terrible circumstances and find happiness. Joy. Fulfilment. What more could anyone ask?

Isaac Asimov once wrote that we don't really understand the epithet "Moabitess". We think it's on a level with "Scottish" or "Indonesian". But it was much more. Moab was Israel's hereditary enemy; they were goyim, Gentiles. Non-Jews. Unclean! Ugh! So Isaac Asimov said to understand that level of prejudice, we should replace Moabitess with "black" in the American South; "English" in Ireland; "Pakistani" in India. She was the epitome of the unwanted and unloved.

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab to live there.

The meanings of names:

Elimelech:	"God is King" / "My King is God".
Naomi:	"Pleasant".
Mahlon / Kilion:	"sickly" / "weak".
Orpah:	"Fawn or young deer".
Ruth:	"A friend".

It is interesting that in leaving Bethlehem, they left the "house of bread". They walked out of the place of God's provision for them. Instead of relying on God, they journeyed all the way across Judah to the east, into Ammon and then south into Moab. Moab the most vicious of the local civilisations: known for their widespread child sacrifice and casual abuse of those they conquered. It is not known how the family survived there; perhaps they farmed - but the sons married two Moabitesses, and the family managed to survive in this strange land.

It is thought that the time in question was when the Midianites (camel-raiders) were regularly descending on Judah, stripping everything edible and carrying it away, like human locusts. But anyway, in the course of time Elimelech, Mahlon and Kilion passed away, leaving their widows unprovided-for. Naomi was alone and vulnerable in a strange land, with customs she probably abhorred and people

The names of the sons's wives were Ruth ("a friend") and Orpah ("fawn"). Pretty names, and these were good women. But Naomi's sons died, and she was left, alone and friendless in a place where she didn't belong. Then she heard that there was a harvest in Judah! God's blessings always return if you're in the place of His rest. Naomi had to journey all the way back to Bethlehem ("the house of bread"), where she should have been in the first place,