The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and his two sons Machlon and Chilion. [Elimelech’s name means: ”my God is king”; Naomi ”well-being/sweetness”; the sons ”sickly” and ”fragile/weak”]. The family were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. [Ephraim was an area around Bethlehem, see ; ; .] They came to the land of Moab and stayed there.
[The first chapter begins and ends in the small town of Bethlehem in Judah. It is an almost ironic point that there is a famine in Bethlehem, in Hebrew ”house of bread”. The natural cause of the famine was probably several years of drought and crop failure. From a theological perspective, there were also spiritual causes. The people of Israel had abandoned God and devoted themselves to idols, and one consequence of this was that God’s hand of protection left the people, see ; .
Moab is located east of the Dead Sea, see ; . Only a generation earlier, the Israelites had been at war with Moab, see . The decision to go to Moab, and not to their Jewish brethren east of the Jordan River, may describe spiritual apostasy. Marriage to Moabite women was not forbidden, but no Moabite, or his sons to the tenth generation, were allowed to be admitted to the assembly of the Lord, see . The reason was the origin of the people, the incestuous relationship between Lot and his eldest daughter, see . Further, it was the Moabites who paid for Balaam to curse Israel, see .]
Then both Machlon and Chilion died, and the woman [Naomi] was left alone without her little boys and her husband.
[In verses 1-3 the Hebrew word for sons has been used. Here, however, the word is used for babies and small children. The choice of words and the sequence of words reinforce the tragedy. Although her sons were grown men, they were her beloved little boys.]
