1:19 So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was {h} moved about them, and they said, [Is] this Naomi?
(h) By which it appears that she was of a great family of good reputation.
1:19 Is this - Is this she that formerly lived in so much plenty and honour? How marvelously is her condition changed?
1:19-22 Naomi and Ruth came to Bethlehem. Afflictions will make great and surprising changes in a little time. May God, by his grace, fit us for all such changes, especially the great change!, Naomi signifies pleasant, or amiable; Mara, bitter, or bitterness. She was now a woman of a sorrowful spirit. She had come home empty, poor, a widow and childless. But there is a fulness for believers of which they never can be emptied; a good part which shall not be taken from those who have it. The cup of affliction is a bitter cup, but she owns that the affliction came from God. It well becomes us to have our hearts humbled under humbling providences. It is not affliction itself, but affliction rightly borne, that does us good.
