After mentioning the time in which Ruth takes place and the fact that there was a famine in the land, the story describes the family it concerns: a Jewish family who, because of the famine, emigrate abroad.
Ruth 1
1 … A man from Bethlehem in Judah went to the country of Moab to sojourn there, he and his wife and his two sons.
Bethlehem
When David enters the story with Goliath, we find a description very similar to what we find in the opening verses of Ruth: Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah (1 Samuel 17:12). David was also from Bethlehem in Judah. Ruth 1:2 also mentions that Naomi and her family were Ephrathites.
Humiliation and Glory
David was born in Bethlehem; later, the Son of David would be born in Bethlehem. If David were not yet king, the city of David would not be Jerusalem, but Bethlehem. Only later would Jerusalem become the city of King David, which, in type, points to the future, when Jerusalem would be the city of the great King (Matt. 5:35), the Son of David. Bethlehem speaks of His coming in humiliation, Jerusalem of His coming in glory.
House of Bread
Bethlehem means: house of bread. Beth = house and lehem = bread. Bread is a symbol of life and of the word of God (Matt. 4:4; John 6:35). When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He was the living bread that had come down from heaven (John 6:51). Ephrathah means: fertility.
Among the Nations
In this story, we meet a Jewish family from the house of bread, but there was a famine. There should have been bread there, but there wasn’t. Israel was entrusted with God’s words (Rom. 3:2), but the Jewish people were unbelieving (barren) and were scattered among the nations because of their unbelief.
The family leaves the promised land for Moab across the Jordan. Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons, who disappear abroad, represent Israel, which failed to keep the promises and ended up among the nations.