During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. The man's name was Elimelech, and his wife's name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion.

Ruth 1:1-2 CSB

The book of Ruth opens with a family of refugees. 

Economic refugees leaving a place of poverty seeking a better life. 

The author doesn't give us the luxury of not knowing their names. They're not a group of unnamed people in the back of a truck or in a small boat on the Mediterranean, or a family desperately trying to get into a land far away that they've heard flows with water and sheep and kind people.

They are Elimilech and Ruth, and their 2 boys, Mahlon and Chilion.

It's easy to forget that behind every news story about refugees, every statistic of poverty and deprivation from around the world, or in our own country, there are real people.

Behind every hospital admission, every Covid death, every car accident, every OT intervention, every Police callout, every harm statistic, every queue at Zilch (free foodbank), every family in emergency housing, there are real people.

It's easy to put labels on people. Blame. Shame. Ignore. Leave them to someone else.

This story tho invites us in;

Elimalech

Ruth

Mahlon

Chilion

Refugees, people on the move because they're hungry. 

#bookofRuth