Elimelech

Name

The Hebrew name is commonly interpreted as "my God is king."

Biblical Account

Elimelech appears only in the Book of Ruth. In the days when the judges ruled, a famine struck the land of Judah. At that time Elimelech, an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, took his wife Naomi and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, and went to sojourn in the country of Moab (Ruth 1:1–2).

Elimelech died there. His two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, and after about ten years both sons also died (Ruth 1:3–5). Scripture records neither the cause of Elimelech's death nor his age.

Elimelech is mentioned by name again later in the book.

• Ruth 2 introduces Boaz as "a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech" (Ruth 2:1, 2:3).
• In Ruth 4, Boaz stands before the elders at the city gate. He buys "a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's," which Naomi is selling. He also buys "all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's," and takes Ruth as his wife (Ruth 4:3, 4:9–10).

Significance Within Scripture

The deaths of Elimelech and his two sons leave Naomi without husband or children. This loss is the starting point for the entire narrative of the Book of Ruth.

Elimelech's land and name pass to Boaz and Ruth through the institution of the kinsman-redeemer. A kinsman-redeemer was a close relative who recovered the land and restored the household of an impoverished family member. Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth, became the grandfather of David (Ruth 4:17).

The New Testament does not mention Elimelech by name. Boaz and Ruth, however, appear in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 1:5).

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

Evaluation of the Move to Moab

The text does not directly evaluate Elimelech's move to Moab, and interpreters differ on how to view it.

• Some preachers and commentators read the move as an act of unbelief, a departure from the Promised Land. Some also link the deaths that followed to it as its consequence.
• Other interpreters point out that relocating to a foreign land because of famine also occurs in the accounts of Abraham and Isaac. They therefore urge caution about adding moral judgments that the text itself does not make.

This difference reflects the views of individual preachers and commentators rather than the official positions of particular denominations.

Traditions Outside the Text

Some rabbinic literature preserves an interpretation that Elimelech was a wealthy leader who left during the famine to avoid helping his poor neighbors. This is a later interpretation and is not found in the text of Ruth.

Some explanations also interpret the names of the two sons as meaning "sickness" and "wasting away," linking them to the family's fate. These etymologies, however, are disputed.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, Elimelech is discussed mainly in sermons on Ruth 1. Such sermons frequently explain that the place name Bethlehem means "house of bread." Building on this interpretation, many sermons draw contrasts such as "famine came to the house of bread" and "he left the house of bread for Moab" to warn against abandoning one's place of faith.

In Sunday school, he is generally introduced briefly as a background figure when the story of Ruth and Naomi is taught.