Judah’s Famine and Elimelech’s Death: The story of Ruth has a specific historical context, the days when the judges ruled (lit. when the judges judged). The act of repeating a seminal Hebrew root twice (shepot hashopetim), however, immediately implies that Ruth’s opening line attempts to do more than just situate the book historically. Hebrew, like English, repeats words for emphasis (GKC 117p). Ruth, in other words, is very much a story about mishpat (“justice,” from shapat, “to judge, rule”).

1:1 The crisis pressuring Elimelech is famine in the land, a terrifyingly common reality in the ancient Near East. Not only does it drive people from their land (Gen. 12:10; 26:1; 46:1; Exod. 16:3), but also it forces them to mortgage it away (Neh. 5:3). Precisely how long one can retain ownership wh…