מדרש על רות 1:22

Another matter, “and Yokim” (I Chronicles 4:22) – this is Elimelekh.⁸⁰Who got up [kam] and departed; alternatively, because he established [hekim] all his wealth (Etz Yosef). “And the people of Kozeva” (I Chronicles 4:22) – these are his sons, who were discontinued.⁸¹They died without children. “Yoash” (I Chronicles 4:22) – as they despaired [nitya’ashu] of the Land of Israel. “And Saraf” (I Chronicles 4:22) – as they burned [sarfu] the Torah. Rabbi Menaḥama in the name of Rabbi Aḥa: Did they [actually] burn it? Rather, it teaches you that anyone who nullifies even one matter from the Torah, it is as though he burned it. “Who had dominion over Moav” (I Chronicles 4:22), as they married Moavite women, and forsook Israel and cleaved to the fields of Moav. “And Yashuvi Laḥem” (I Chronicles 4:22), this is Naomi, as it is stated: “Naomi returned [vatashav], and Ruth the Moavite, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned [hashava] from the fields of Moav, and they came to Beit Leḥem” (Ruth 1:22). “And the matters are ancient [atikim]” (I Chronicles 4:22) – each and every one of these matters is already [mentioned] explicitly.⁸²Each of these matters is mentioned explicitly in Ruth, and alluded to in the verse in I Chronicles.

“She departed from the place where she had been, and her two daughters-in-law with her; they went on the way to return to the land of Judah” (Ruth 1:7).
“She departed from the place where she had been.” “She departed” – was it she alone who departed from there? Did not several camel drivers depart, several donkey drivers depart, and you say “she departed”? Rabbi Azarya in the name of Rabbi Yehuda ben Rabbi Simon [said]: The most prominent person in the city, he is its radiance, he is its splendor, he is its glory, and he is its praise. When he vacates it, its radiance vacates, its splendor vacates, its glory vacates, and its praise vacates. So you find with Jacob our patriarch when he departed from Beersheba. Was it he alone who departed from there? Did not several camel drivers depart, several donkey drivers depart, and [yet] you say “he departed”?¹⁰⁰See Genesis 28:10. When the righteous one is in the city, he is its radiance, he is its splendor, he is its glory, and he is its praise. When he departs from there, its radiance vacates, its splendor vacates, its glory vacates, and its praise vacates. There,¹⁰¹When Naomi left Moav. it works out well, because it was only that righteous woman who was there; however, here, wasn’t Isaac [still] there [in Beersheba]? Rabbi Azarya said in the name of Rabbi Azarya ben Rabbi Simon: The merit of one righteous person is not comparable to the merit of two righteous people.
“They went on the way to return to the land of Judah.” Rabbi Yehuda said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: They transgressed the letter of the law and they went on the festival.¹⁰²It says: “When they came to Bethlehem, the entire city was astir” (Ruth 1:19), and it says: “They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest” (Ruth 1:22). The midrash (Rut Rabba 3:6) interprets this as referring to the sixteenth of Nisan, when the barley for the Omer offering was cut. The city was astir because people from the surrounding villages would gather toward evening of the fifteenth of Nisan for this ceremony. Thus, in their hurry to arrive in the land of Israel, Naomi and Ruth traveled on the fifteenth of Nisan, which is Passover. Alternatively, “they went on the way”¹⁰³If it says that they went, it is obvious that they were on the way. – the way caused them distress, they went barefoot. “They went [on the way],”¹⁰⁴The way of the Torah. – they were engaged in the laws of converts.

“Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moavite, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the field of Moav, and they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest” (Ruth 1:22).
“Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moavite, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the field of Moav” – it was she who returned from the field of Moav.¹⁴⁷She was the first Moavite woman to marry into Israel. “And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: Wherever “barley harvest” is stated, the verse is referring to the cutting of the omer. “Wheat harvest” – the verse is referring to the offering of the two loaves.¹⁴⁸The omer offering, brought on the sixteenth of Nisan, was made from barley flour. The offering of the two loaves, brought on Shavuot, was made from wheat flour. [The term] harvest without specification can be used for this or for that.