Husband of Naomi and father of Mahlon and Chilion. They where Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah (Ruth 1:2). In all references Ephrathites refers to being an Ephraimite but scolars have chosen to believe that in terms of the family of King David, it just means being of the town of Ephrath, which is the same as Bethlehem. But then the scripture is redundent as an 'Ephrathite of Bethlehem is like saying 'of Bethlehem of Bethlehem.' On the other hand, if Boaz did raise seed to the House of Elimelech, then the concept of Messiah Ben-Joseph makes all the sense in the world as Christ becomes both Messiah Ben-Judah by blood and of the seed of Joseph by the Mosaic Law of adoption as explained in Ruth 4 and in Dueteronomy.

See alsoEphrathite.