But as is the case with the whole of the book of Ruth, even another complexity is added when we are told in verse 2 that Elimelech’s family were Ephrathites of Bethlehem-Judah. What is an Ephrathite? Well, there’s been some disagreement about this, but as of now this matter has mostly been resolved. We will find in a few places in the OT the term Ephrathite and
sometimes it is obviously attached to people of Ephraim; at other times it is not. However more and more it seems that what we probably have is a very early copyist error or a translation error when the word Ephrathite is connected to Ephraim and the reason for this is simple: the only difference in spelling between Ephrath and Ephraim is the last letter of the word: either a t
or an m. And in Hebrew the last letter is either a tav ?or a mem ? and they look almost identical so it is an easy and common copy and/or translation error.
So what we DON’T have here in Ruth is a claim that Elimelech and his family were members of the tribe of Ephraim, but living in Bethlehem. Rather it is that Ephrath was an earlier name for Bethlehem. JB Genesis 35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Efrat (that is, Beit-Lechem).
Tom Bradford
8 сен 2024
