Ruth 1:3

3 Elimelech died and Naomi was left, she and 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Ruth 1:3 In-Context

1 Once upon a time - it was back in the days when judges led Israel - there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah left home to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

2 The man's name was Elimelech; his wife's name was Naomi; his sons were named Mahlon and Kilion - all Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They all went to the country of Moab and settled there.

3 Elimelech died and Naomi was left, she and her two sons.

4 The sons took Moabite wives; the name of the first was Orpah, the second Ruth. They lived there in Moab for the next ten years.

5 But then the two brothers, Mahlon and Kilion, died. Now the woman was left without either her young men or her husband.