Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. In the use of this formula the sacred writer has respect to the unwritten history of the transactions with which this episode is connected; whereas in Joshua it refers to the previous record of Moses. The beautiful and interesting story which this book relates belongs to the early times of the judges. The precise date cannot be ascertained.