Ruth 1:2
And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
The verse names Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion as Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah, who came into the country of Moab and settled there. They left Bethlehem in Judah for Moab during severe famine and hard times in order to find food. It opens the pastoral account of Israelite home life in the time of the judges and sets the story of Ruth in motion. It introduces the family through whom Ruth the Moabitess, by marrying into it, became part of the lineage of Israel's kings and an ancestor of Jesus. By leaving Bethlehem the family left their inheritance behind, and after Elimelech and both sons died childless in Moab, Naomi was left without a son to preserve the family name, leading to the duty of a near kinsman to redeem the inheritance and showing that the promised Redeemer would come as a human being. The move was disobedience in living among the heathen without the Lord's approval, yet the Lord overruled it for good in the conversion of Ruth and used Naomi's bitter sorrows in Moab, like the selling of Joseph, to accomplish His purpose.
Family, Home, and Journey
The verse names the head of the household as Elimelech, his wife as Naomi, and their two sons as Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah, who came into the country of Moab and continued or settled there. Bethlehem-judah is also called Ephrath or Ephratah. It was the city where Naomi later lived with Ruth the Moabitess, about four hundred years after Rachel died and roughly thirteen hundred years before Christ. Moab lay southeast of Judah.
The family left Bethlehem in Judah and Israel for Moab during severe famine and drought and hard times in order to find food. They were well-to-do and were not forced to leave but could have stayed like others. The move recorded in the verse began about ten years before Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem after hearing conditions there were prosperous.
The name Chilion means sickly, and Chilion was Ruth's husband. The two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, marrying into a people who did not know the true God.
Redemption, Lineage, and Providence
The verse opens the pastoral account of Israelite home life set in the time of the judges, giving the historical setting and setting in motion the story of Ruth. In leaving Bethlehem the family left their inheritance behind, and after Elimelech and both sons died in Moab, Naomi was left without a son to preserve the family name or hold the inheritance. That family history provides the context for the sons' marriages and deaths without children, which leads to the duty of a kinsman to preserve a deceased relative's family and inheritance. As part of the book of Ruth, the passage shows that the promised Redeemer would come as a human being and that redemption involved the law allowing a near kinsman to redeem an inheritance.
The verse introduces the family through whom Ruth the Moabitess became part of the lineage of Israel's kings and an ancestor of Jesus through her loyal love for Naomi. It provides the setting for Naomi's later widowhood and Ruth's loyalty. The move to live among the heathen was disobedience to God for mere mercenary purposes and did not have the Lord's approval, and the later marriages of the two sons to Moabite women were further disobedience. Yet the Lord overruled the wrong move for good in the conversion of Ruth. The verse thus places Naomi and her family in Moab where Naomi underwent bitter experiences, and those sorrows, like the selling of Joseph, were used by God to accomplish His purpose.