Elimelech and Naomi's Decision to Move to Moab
Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, left Bethlehem-Judah and migrated to Moab due to a famine in their homeland [1, 7, 8]. This event is recorded in the opening verses of the Book of Ruth. Elimelech's name means "God his king," while Naomi's name signifies "pleasant" or "my delight" [4, 10]. The family belonged to the tribe of Judah and were Ephrathites, a term associated with Bethlehem's ancient name, Ephrath [5, 10].
The move to Moab was a significant decision, driven by the severe famine in Judah [3, 7]. Josephus notes that Elimelech was "not able to support his family under so sore a distress" [3]. They settled in the "uplands of Moab" [1]. While the exact duration of their stay before Elimelech's death is debated, some interpretations suggest he died relatively soon after their arrival [12, 14]. Others, like Josephus, indicate he lived there for ten years before his death [14]. After Elimelech's death, Naomi was left with her two sons in a foreign land [14].
During their time in Moab, Mahlon and Chilion married Moabitish women, Orpah and Ruth [8]. This detail is significant because Moabites were not Israelites. After approximately ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion also died, leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law as widows [1, 7, 8]. Naomi, having lost her husband and both sons, was left "empty" in Moab, a stark contrast to when she "went out full" from Bethlehem [9].
Naomi eventually decided to return to her homeland after hearing that the famine in Judah had ended and the Lord had "blessed the land of Israel with bread" [8]. She set out for Bethlehem, initially accompanied by both Orpah and Ruth [11]. However, Orpah eventually returned to her own people, while Ruth famously committed to staying with Naomi, declaring, "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God" (Ruth 1:16) [6, 11].
Upon their return to Bethlehem, Naomi expressed her bitterness over her losses, asking the townspeople to call her "Mara" (meaning "bitterness") instead of Naomi, because "the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me" (Ruth 1:20-21) [4]. The land that had belonged to Elimelech was later offered for sale by Naomi, as mentioned by Boaz to a kinsman in Ruth 4:3 [2, 13]. This highlights the family's original property in Bethlehem and the economic hardship Naomi faced.
The narrative of Elimelech and Naomi's migration to Moab sets the stage for the entire Book of Ruth, leading to Ruth's eventual marriage to Boaz and their lineage, which includes King David and ultimately Jesus Christ [6, 7].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Naomi — The lovable; my delight, the wife of Elimelech, and mother of Mahlon and Chilion, and mother-in-law of Ruth (1:2, 20, 21; 2:1). Elimelech and his wife left the district of Bethlehem-Judah, and found a new home in the uplands of Moab. In course of time he died, as also his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, who had married women of Moab, and three widows were left mourning the loss of their husbands. Naomi longs to return now to her own land, to Bethlehem. One of her widowed daughters-in-law, Ruth, accompanies her, and is at length married to Boaz (q.v.).”
- Ruth “He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi, who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s. -- Ruth 4:3”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 9, section 1: . How Under Eli's Government Of The Israelites Booz Married Ruth, From Whom Came Obed The Grandfather Of David. 1. Now after the death of Samson, Eli the high priest was governor of the Israelites. Under him, when the country was afflicted with a famine, Elimelech of Bethlehem, which is a city of the tribe of Judah, being not able to support his family under so sore a distress, took with him Naomi his wife, and the children that were born to him by her, Chillon and Mahlon, and removed his habitation into the land of Moab; and upo”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Naomi — or Nao'mi (my delight), the wife of Elimelech and mother-in-law of Ruth. (Ruth 1:2) etc.; Ruth 2:1 etc.; Ruth 3:1; 4:3 etc. (B.C. 1363.) The name is derived from a root signifying sweetness or pleasantness. Naomi left Judea with her husband and two sons, in a time of famine and went to the land of Moab. Here her husband and sons died; and on her return to Bethlehem she wished to be known as Mara, bitterness, instead of Naomi, sweetness.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Elimelech — God his king, a man of the tribe of Judah, of the family of the Hezronites, and kinsman of Boaz, who dwelt in Bethlehem in the days of the judges. In consequence of a great dearth he, with his wife Naomi and his two sons, went to dwell in the land of Moab. There he and his sons died (Ruth 1:2, 3; 2:1, 3; 4:3, 9). Naomi afterwards returned to Palestine with her daughter Ruth.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Ruth — A friend, a Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, whose father, Elimelech, had settled in the land of Moab. On the death of Elimelech and Mahlon, Naomi came with Ruth, her daughter-in-law, who refused to leave her, to Bethlehem, the old home from which Elimelech had migrated. There she had a rich relative, Boaz, to whom Ruth was eventually married. She became the mother of Obed, the grandfather of David. Thus Ruth, a Gentile, is among the maternal progenitors of our Lord (Matt. 1:5). The story of "the gleaner Ruth illustrates the friendly relations between the good B”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Ruth — (a female friend) a Moabitish woman, the wife, first of Mahlon, second of Boaz, the ancestress of David and Christ, and one of the four women who are named by St. Matthew in the genealogy of Christ. A severe famine in the land of Judah induced Elimelech, a native of Bethlehem--ephratah, to emigrate into the land of Moab, with his wife Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. This was probably about the time of Gideon, B.C. 1250. At the end of ten years Naomi now left a widow and childless, having heard that there was plenty again in Judah, resolved to retur”
- Ruth (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on Ruth 1 (introduction): Ruth Goes With Naomi to Bethlehem - Ruth 1 In the time of the judges Elimelech emigrated from Bethlehem in Judah into the land of Moab, along with his wife Naomi, and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, because of a famine in the land (Rut 1:1, Rut 1:2). There Elimelech died; and his two sons married Moabitish women, named Orpah and Ruth. But in the course of ten years they also died, so that Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were left by themselves (Rut 1:3-5). When Naomi heard that the Lord had once more blessed the land of Israel with bread, she set ”
- Ruth (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Ruth 1:21: I went out full - Having a husband and two sons. The Lord hath brought me home again empty - Having lost all three by death. It is also likely that Elimelech took considerable property with him into the land of Moab; for as he fled from the face of the famine, he would naturally take his property with him; and on this Naomi subsisted till her return to Bethlehem, which she might not have thought of till all was spent.”
- Ruth (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ruth 1:2: Elimelech--signifies "My God is king." Naomi--"fair or pleasant"; and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, are supposed to be the same as Joash and Saraph (Ch1 4:22). Ephrathites--The ancient name of Beth-lehem was Ephrath (Gen 35:19; Gen 48:7), which was continued after the occupation of the land by the Hebrews, even down to the time of the prophet Micah (Mic 5:2). Beth-lehem-judah--so called to distinguish it from a town of the same name in Zebulun. The family, compelled to emigrate to Moab through pressure of a famine, settled for several years in”
- Ruth (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Ruth 1 (introduction): Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, flee from a famine in the land of Israel, and go to sojourn in Moab, Rut 1:1, Rut 1:2. Here his two sons marry; and, in the space of ten years, both their father and they die, Rut 1:3-6. Naomi sets out on her return to her own country, accompanied by her daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth; whom she endeavors to persuade to return to their own people, Rut 1:7-13. Orpah returns, but Ruth accompanies her mother-in-law, Rut 1:14-18. They arrive at Beth-lehem in the time of the barley harvest, Rut ”
- Ruth (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Ruth 1:3: Elimelech - died - Probably a short time after his arrival in Moab.”
- Ruth (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Ruth 4:3: And he said unto the kinsman,.... That is, Boaz said to the kinsman he called to, and who sat down by him before the ten elders that were present: Naomi, that is come again out of the land of Moab, selleth a parcel of land; meaning, that she was determined upon it, and was about to do it, and would do it quickly, and he had it in commission to propose it to a purchaser: which was our brother Elimelech's; not in a strict sense, but being akin to the kinsman and himself, and having been a neighbour of them all, and an inhabitant of the place, he is called their brother”
- Ruth (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Ruth 1:3: And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died,.... According to Josephus (x), after he had dwelt in the land ten years, and had married his two sons to Moabitish women; but, as Alshech observes, the text shows that while he was living they were not married to them, but after his death; and it is said of them only that they dwelt there about ten years; so that it is most probable that their father died quickly after he came into the land of Moab: and she was left, and her two sons; in a strange land, she without a husband, and they without a father. (x) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. ”