Naomi: The lovable; my delight, the wife of Elimelech, and mother of Mahlon
and Chilion, and mother-in-law of Ruth
(Ruth 1:2,20,21; 2:1) Elimelech
and his wife left the district of Bethlehem-Judah, and found a new
home in the uplands of Moab. In course of time he died, as also his
two sons Mahlon and Chilion, who had married women of Moab, and three
widows were left mourning the loss of their husbands. Naomi longs to
return now to her own land, to Bethlehem. One of her widowed
daughters-in-law, Ruth, accompanies her, and is at length married to
Boaz (q.v.).
