Ruth 1:3

3 And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons,

Ruth 1:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 1:3

And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died
According to Josephus F24, 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.


FOOTNOTES:

F24 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 1.)

Ruth 1:3 In-Context

1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges governed that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem of Judah. And they came into the fields of Moab and continued there.
3 And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons,
4 who took wives for themselves of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they dwelt there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion both died also; and the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010