“The man’s name was Elimelekh, his wife’s name was Na‘omi, and his two sons were named Machlon and Kilyon; they were Efratim from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah. They arrived in the plain of Mo’av and settled there.”-Ruth 1:2
We come across a confusing point in verse 2 of Ruth Chapter 1.
We’re told that Elimelech’s family were Ephrathites hailing from Bethlehem-Judah.
Who or what in the world was an Ephrathite?
Was it just another word for someone connected to Ephraim?
In the past there was some vigorous debate about this but not anymore.
The truth is sometimes this word is connected to Ephraim and sometimes it’s not.
It all depends on the context.
In addition, we’ve also discovered that what we’re probably dealing with here is a translation error mixing up Ephrath with Ephraim.
Let me show you what I mean.
Take a look at the two Hebrew words:
אֶפְרָת
אֶפְרָיִם
The first word is EPHRATH.
The second word is EPHRAIM.
Notice that the only difference in spelling between these two words is the last letter (colored in red).
It’s either a TAV or a MEM in Hebrew (or a T or M in English).
Now also notice how similar they look to each other.
Well, maybe you don’t think they look so similar because of the open part of the bottom of TAV, but trust me, on a handwritten scroll, at first glance these 2 letters look pretty much the same.
So what we’ve got is a bonafide scribal error here folks!
The author of Ruth ain’t making the claim that Elimelech and his family came from the tribe of Ephraim but were now living in Bethlehem.
Instead it’s that EPHRATH is simply another and actually much older word for Bethlehem.
In other words, the Complete Jewish Bible (or any other English Bible translation for that matter) can be misleading when it says “they were Efratim from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah”.
And if you think I’m full of baloney, well here’s a verse from the Torah that proves I’m right.
“So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Efrat (that is, Beit-Lechem).”-Genesis 35:19
And the King James and the NIV say the EXACT SAME THING as follows:
“And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.”-Genesis 35:19 (King James Version)
“So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”-Genesis 35:19 (NIV)
Later homies.
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