ELIMELECH (
= [my] "God is King"):
A man of the tribe of Judah, living in Bethlehemjudah at the time of the Judges (Ruth i. 2). Scarcity of food compelled him to emigrate with his family to Moab, where he died, and where one of his sons married Ruth (ib. i. 3, 4). As a relative of Boaz (ib. ii. 1, iv. 3), he was of the family of the Hezronites. But according to Rab (B. B. 91a), Elimelech, Salmon (the father of Boaz), Peloni-Almoni, and the father of Naomi were the sons of Nahshon ben Aminadab. R. Simon b. Yoḥai contends (ib.) that Elimelech was one of the chiefs of Israel, andthat his premature death was his punishment for having left the Holy Land and having settled in the land of Moab.
