Mahlon and Chilion

Biblical Account

Mahlon and Chilion appear at the opening of the Book of Ruth. According to Ruth 1:1-2, when a famine struck the land in the days when the judges ruled, Elimelech, an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, went to live in the country of Moab with his wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. After Elimelech died, the two sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth (Ruth 1:4). After they had lived there about ten years, both sons also died, and Naomi was left alone, bereft of her husband and her two sons (Ruth 1:5).

Ruth 1:4 gives only the names of the two daughters-in-law and does not specify which woman was married to which son. Because Boaz speaks in Ruth 4:10 of "Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon," Ruth is understood to have been Mahlon's wife and Orpah the wife of Chilion.

The two names appear again in Ruth 4. At the city gate, with the elders as witnesses, Boaz bought from Naomi "all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's" (Ruth 4:9). He also declared that he was taking Ruth as his wife "to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance" (Ruth 4:10).

Significance Within Scripture

No words or deeds of the two brothers are recorded. Their deaths form the backdrop against which the story of Ruth unfolds. The crisis of a family left with no male heirs leads to Naomi's return home, Ruth's decision to accompany her, and Boaz's role as kinsman-redeemer. Obed, the son born to Boaz and Ruth, became the grandfather of David (Ruth 4:17, 21-22).

The New Testament does not mention Mahlon or Chilion directly. The genealogy in Matthew 1:5 includes Boaz, Ruth, and Obed, but not Mahlon.

Interpretations and Debates

• Meaning of the names: Mahlon is commonly interpreted as related to "sickliness," and Chilion to "frailty" or "annihilation." The etymologies are not certain, however, and opinions differ on whether the names were chosen to match the characters' fate in the story.
• The move to Moab and the marriages: Some preachers and commentators regard leaving the Promised Land and marrying Moabite women as acts of unbelief and interpret the brothers' deaths as the consequence. In this connection the law concerning Moabites in Deuteronomy 23:3 is also cited. Others argue that because the text of Ruth offers no evaluation of their deaths, the cause cannot be determined with certainty.
• Jewish tradition: Jewish literature preserves interpretations holding that the two died because they left the land of Israel or married foreign women. The Talmud is also reported to contain a tradition identifying them with figures mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:22. These are later interpretations rather than statements of the biblical text itself.
• Raising up the name of the dead: Although Boaz declared that he would perpetuate Mahlon's name, the genealogy records Obed as the son of Boaz (Ruth 4:21). Commentators discuss how this discrepancy should be explained in light of ancient Israelite levirate custom and the practice of redemption.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, Mahlon and Chilion are introduced mainly as background figures in sermons on Ruth and in Sunday school lessons on the story of Ruth. They are rarely the subject of sermons in their own right. When preachers address the decision of Elimelech's family to leave for Moab during the famine, both of the interpretations described above are used.