Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Ruth 1:17
17. The Lord do so to me Here is the first occurrence of that common formula of an oath by which the person swearing called down upon himself a stroke of Divine judgment in case he kept not his word, nor carried out his resolution. Compare marginal references. read more
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Ruth 1:6-22
NAOMI’S RETURN WITH RUTH TO BETHLEHEM, Ruth 1:6-22. Bereft of her husband and her sons, the desolate Naomi turns her heart towards the land of her people. To her Moab has been a land of sorrows, and though the graves of her beloved dead are there, they are so full of bitter recollections that she wishes not to linger near them. The ten years of her sojourn in these sunny, fertile fields of abundance have been to her worse than years of famine. read more