Tafsiran Rut 1:1: Rashi, Malbim, Tze'enah Ure'enah & Ibn Ezra

And it happened in the days when judges judged. [During the period] before King Shaul reigned, when the generations were administered by judges;¹There was no individual judge who could exercise control over all of Yisroel, rather there were many judges. (Malbim) Alternatively, this was a period when God judged the judges. (Gra) and this occurred in the days of Ivtzan, as our sages said, “Ivtzan is Bo’az.”²Maseches Bava Basra 91a; and Bo’az is a central figure in Megillas Rus.

Questions: 1. Why does the verse tell us it was "In the days of "Shofet Hashoftim", it should've made known to us the identity of the Judge (Shofet)? [2.] Why is "And a man went from "Bais Lechem Yehuda", "Ephradites from Bais Lechem Yehuda" repeated [3.] Why does the verse add "And they reached the fields of Moab, and they were there"? [4.] Why does it say "the husband of No'omi"? [5] and what is the novelty that she (No'omi) and her sons were left ''over'' there?

“It was in the days that the Judges judged” [1:1]. It was in the days that the Judges were judged and there was a famine in the land and a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the plains of Moab, he, his wife and his two sons. Scripture informs us of two things. The first was the story of Ruth and Boaz that occurred in the days when a king did not yet rule, but Israel had Judges who led and judged all Israel. However, everywhere that Scripture has an extra word, “when the Judges judged,” when it should have only said, “It was in the days of the Judges,” it wants to show that the Judges were judged. When the Judges became evil and they were to be judged, or one can say the people were so evil that when the Judge wanted to punish them, they would denigrate the Judge and say to him, you want to punish me, punish yourself. This is the meaning of the verse “the Judges judged.” This means that they judged the Judges.¹B. Baba Bathra, 15b. Since the generation did not want to follow its leaders, therefore all of Israel cried woe. That is why the verse begins with “And it was in the days” and wherever the phrase “And it was in the days” is found, it indicates that there was trouble and suffering in those times.²Genesis Rabbah, 42.3. That is why “and it was” is mentioned two times, to show that there were two types of hunger and suffering. There was famine and they had no bread. The second was that there was no Torah in the land.³Yalkut Shimoni, Ruth, Remez 597. This teaches me that when there is famine of Torah, there also comes, heaven forbid, famine of bread and the result of this famine was that Elimelech and his household died and that his sons intermarried with the nations of the world.

And a man went. He was very wealthy,³איש denotes an important person, as Targum renders, גברא רבא, “a great man.” and the leader of the generation. He left Eretz Yisroel for regions out of the land because of stinginess, for he was miserly toward the poor who came to press him;⁴He was the only man to leave Eretz Yisroel because of the famine. Because of his stature and greatness he was severely punished for leaving Eretz Yisroel and remaining in Mo’av. (Malbim) therefore he was punished.⁵He was afraid that the poor would unite and confiscate all of his possessions. (Malbim)