“In the days of one of the judges, when the judges ruled, there came a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Juda, went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and his two sons. He was named Elimelech, and his wife, Noemi: and his two sons, the one Mahalon, and the other Chelion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem Juda. And entering into the country of Moab, they abode there. And Elimelech the husband of Noemi died: and she remained with her sons. And they took wives of the women of Moab, of which one was called Orpha, and the other Ruth. And they dwelt there ten years. And they both died, to wit, Mahalon and Chelion: and the woman was left alone, having lost both her sons and her husband.”
The time of the judges was one of chaos in Israel, with prevalent lawlessness: “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judges 2:11), and eccentric leadership: “After him was Samgar the son of Anath, who slew of the Philistines six hundred men with a ploughshare: and he also defended Israel” (Judges 3:31). This all comes from a lack of the love of God, which renders life a famine in the search for love, thus is the famine upon the land the fulfillment of a curse in breaking the covenantal relationship with God: “The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon all the works which thou shalt do” (Deuteronomy 28:20). This famine leads to such destitution that Elimelech goes to Moab, who oppressed Israel in the time of the judges: “And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: who strengthened against them Eglon king of Moab: because they did evil in his sight” (Judges 3:12), from Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread” due to its lauded agricultural fertility. In this is a precursor to the tale of the Prodigal Son, who turns from the abundance of his father’s house to be found with nothing: “And he would have fain have filled his bely with the husks the swine did eat; and no man gave unto him” (Luke 15:16), and so too does turning from the abundant stream of the love of God render one’s life a painful, embarrassing search for love that descends to great depths to soothe the heart: “Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord: Lord hear my voice” (Psalm 129:1-2). “Elimelech” means “my God is king,” and shows that, despite the wantonness in Israel, there were still some that held to Him: “Except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom, and we should have been like to Gomorrha” (Isaias 1:9), and went into pagan territory with his wife Noemi, whose name means “pleasant;” or “beautiful,” for she held the commandments of God, which renders the soul beautiful: “Behold, thou art fair, O my love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are as those of doves” (Canticle 1:14), that is, the eyes of one’s mind are on the ways of the Spirit. With them were their sons Mahalon, which means “sickness” or “weakness,” for not knowing the love of God, Mahalon breaks the Torah commandment concerning the pagan nations: “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy son” (Deuteronomy 7:3). Now, if this is so, why is Ruth even permitted into Israel, there extolled, and later to be the ancestor of Christ? Amongst many reasons, this is because “The law is not made for the just man, but for the unjust and disobedient” (1 Timothy 1:9), and in her upright way of life, she was a kindred of the Israelites by mind and deed rather than by heritage: “He is a Jew, that is one inwardly” (Romans 2:29). “Chelion” then means “wasting away” and “man of finality,” because without love, life wastes away and becomes meaningless: “So the people were thirst there for want of water,” a figure for love, “and murmured against Moses, saying: ‘Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?’” (Exodus 17:3), and without the fruits of love, which are children either spiritually or physically, one dies with no posterity to love and be proud of: “There is but one, and he hath not a second, no child, no brother, and yet he ceaseth not to labour, neither are his eyes satisfied with riches, neither doth he reflect, saying: ‘For whom do I labour, and defreaud my soul of good things?’ In this also is vanity, and a grievous vexation” (Ecclesiastes 4:8). This little family, then, goes to Moab, where Elimelech dies. Thus, in fleeing the hunger of Israel he finds death in Moab, so too by leaving the difficulties of love’s demands for something easier can spiritual death come, even for those that claim themselves to be Christians: “Not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21). The sons of Elimelech and Noemi then marry, Chelion marrying Orpha, whose name means “back of the neck,” as she will turn her back on the invitation to love God, instead returning to her people and deities, and Mahalon marries Ruth, whose name means “friendship,” or “refreshment,” for the love of a friend is a sweet refreshment, a magnificent gift in life: “Nothing can be compared to a faithful friend, and no weight of gold and silver is able to countervail the goodness of his fidelity” (Ecclesiasticus 6:15). The sons then die as well, leaving Noemi bereft of proper worship, family, and homeland, and thus in the pit of a lack of love: “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).