We are not told why Elimelech should have felt constrained to move from Bethlehem

owing to famine, for there must have been many families similarly stricken. Perhaps the

names of his children indicate that they were very delicate, for Mahlon means "Sickly"

and Chilion "Pining". There is more significance, however, in this than the merely

physical. In direct contrast with the names meaning "sickly" and "pining" we have Boaz,

"Strong", who alone is able to redeem that which by weakness and death the two sons of

Elimelech had lost. The reader will realize that in the Apostle's reference to "the weak

and beggarly elements", in contrast with Christ the Redeemer, we have a continuance of

the same lesson in New Testament terms.

The name Elimelech means "My God is King", a splendid name during the dark days

of the Book of Judges, when there was "no king in Israel". It balances the close of the

book, where, in the last verse, we read of David, the first king of God's choice. There is

also significance in the fact that Bethlehem means "The House of Bread" and Ephratha

"Fruitful", though neither of these titles were fulfilled in the case of Naomi, until the

advent of the Kinsman-Redeemer. Again, Naomi's name means "Sweetness", and here

the book itself assures us that it has a typical meaning. In 1: 20 we read that Naomi

changed her name to Mara, meaning "bitter". This word is used of Israel in Exod. 1: 14,

and also of their initial experience as the redeemed of the Lord in Exod. 15: 23, where,

at the waters of Marah, sweetness was produced by the application of a tree--an obvious

type of redemption.

The Book of Ruth is read by the Jews in their synagogues at Pentecost, the period of

harvesting, since much of the book is concerned with reaping and gleaning. Pentecost is

the prophetic pledge of the final restoration of Israel, and the two houses, Judah and

Israel, are typified by the two loaves baken with leaven (Lev. 23: 17). This twofold

character of the restoration is set forth in Zech 11: 7 under the symbol of the two staves

"Beauty" and "Bands". In case the reader should wonder what this has to do with the

Book of Ruth, it must be explained that Naomi, "Pleasant", is the same word as

"Beauty", while "Bands", meaning "Pledge", is linked up with the idea of a "Surety", as

the parallelism of Prov. 20: 16 shows. All this may not be very obvious to the Gentiles

reader, but the Hebrew mind would seize upon these associations and see in the

restoration of Naomi at Pentecost by a Kinsman-Redeemer, a prophecy of the future

restoration of all Israel.

The structure of the opening verses focuses our attention upon the two sons.