‘ 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 Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.'
Detailed names are now given of the family. The family consisted of Elimelech (‘my God is king'), his wife Naomi (‘my delight' or ‘my sweetness'), and their two growing sons Mahlon (‘sickness') and Chilion (‘wasting'). ‘Sickness' and ‘wasting' probably refers to how they were seen when born, as they struggled to survive, but it may well be that they had continued to experience such problems. Having ‘gone to sojourn in the country of Moab' (Ruth 1:1), they ‘came into the country of Moab and continued there'. The double emphasis may have been bringing out the disapproval of the writer. They had left God's land.
Ephrath(ah) is closely connected with Bethlehem, possibly as the region in which it was found, or possibly as the ancient name of Bethlehem itself (Genesis 35:19; Genesis 48:7). In Genesis 35:19; Genesis 48:7 ‘the way to Ephrath' leads to Bethlehem. Compare Micah 5:2. Thus Ephrathites in this context may simply be the name by which Bethlehemites were called. Bethlehem-judah is so called in order to distinguish it from Bethlehem (house of bread) in Zebulun (Joshua 19:15).