Ruth 1

The book of Ruth starts off setting the scene. It is during the time of the Judges, and specifically while a famine was afflicting Judah. A man decides to take his family - a wife and two sons - to live in a nearby country... presumably one where there is more opportunity. We don't know how long they are gone in total, but it was a substantial amount of time as they settled, then the husband died and his sons married. We know they were there for about a decade from that point (Ruth 1:4), and since they were married for ten years without having children I want to know what sort of birth-control they had ;)

Anyways, the sons then die too - and Naomi (the wife/mother) decides to return to her own people. The devotion that Ruth shows by insisting to return with her is touching, especially her speech recorded in verses 16 and 17. I know the story already, of course, but even if I didn't I could see from this that Ruth is going to play a special part: her faith and commitment are amazing, especially considering her background.

Another interesting thing is that even after being gone so long (over a decade - maybe a lot longer) the people back in her hometown - Bethlehem - still remember her. They wouldn't have had telephones or the internet to keep in contact with her easily, and I don't think they even had a primitive version of the post office (especially not across country borders)... yet the people, or more specifically the women, still recognized her and remembered her name. I guess that isn't that hard to imagine, and from Naomi's point of view must have been encouraging despite her downtrodden spirit.