“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. Elimelekh, Na‘omi’s husband, died; and she was left, she and her two sons.”-Ruth 1:2-3
Today I’m going to peel back the curtain and show you how the world’s best scholars get to the real root meaning of words in Scripture.
Actually, let me rephrase that.
I’m gonna show you how to do research BETTER than the world’s top scholars…
There’s too much “scholar worship” going on in the world and it irritates the heck out of me because a good majority of them don’t think for themselves.
They’re just regurgitating what the last scholar before them said who’s regurgitating what the last scholar before him said…
So understand this!
If you’re a layman, you actually have a distinct advantage…
Because you’re not handcuffed by any one institution’s theological biases.
You’re free to use your brain unconstrained by manmade doctrinal booool sheeeet that more often than not is fueled by political agendas than any dedication to the truth.
So let’s get started.
In my last post I established that the word EFRAT (or EFRATIM in the plural) has about as much connection to the word EPHRAIM as does a pork chop to a Kosher deli in New York.
However, we still didn’t answer the key question which is:
Why would Elimelech’s family be called Ephrathites?
To get to the answer, the first thing you need to know is that Hebrew is a language and culture that uses simple words that were commonly understood by everyone to describe events and people.
Here are some examples:
YESHUA=G-d Saves
MARAH=Bitter
ELIMELECH=My G-d is king
BEIT-LECHEM=House of Food
Now with this understanding, let’s find out what the literal meaning of the word EFRAT is…
If you check a concordance, you’ll find it means “fruitfulness” or “abundance”.
And if you were to dig deeper, you’d discover the word was often used to describe a town or region that was unusually fertile.
Are you with me so far?
With just a bit of research, we now know EFRAT means “fruitfulness” or “abundance”.
And we’ve also discovered EFRAT was a word used to describe an unusually fertile area.
So with that knowledge in hand and using just a little bit of common sense, what do you think the author meant when he said Elimelech and his family were “Efratim from Beit-Lechem”?.
How about maybe concluding that Elimelech came from an area that was very fruitful?
That wouldn’t be too farfetched now, would it?
Especially when you connect the word EFRAT with BEIT-LECHEM…which means a huge warehouse with food stored in it.
Also consider this:
It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to maybe assume that Elimelech made out quite well for himself as a farmer…
I mean that’s how folks became rich in agricultural societies.
As a result, his family maybe became known as the rich or “fruitful” clan in Bethlehem of Judah where they were living.
I mean why else would they be given the nickname the “Clan of Efrat” which literally means “the clan of fruitfulness”.
Well golly jee homies, I do think we’re onto something here!
Elimelech was probably a well-known and well-respected person who gave lots of charity and likely held a leadership position in the community.
And that’s why the Biblical writer described him and his family as “Efratim from Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah”…
Or that “Clan of Abundance from Bethlehem in Judah”.
YES! YES! YES!
SHERLOCK HOMIE I THINK WE GOT IT!
THAT’S IT!
Alrighty, let’s bring this baby to a close.
So to recap, when you want to get to the bottom of what some word or phrase in the Bible really means, follow this simple formula:
FIRST, check out its literal meaning using any good concordance.
SECOND, find out how the word was used in its ancient Middle Eastern cultural context (any good Bible commentary will give you this info).
THIRD, use your brain and good ‘ole common sense to draw a conclusion as to what the author intended.
And that’s it!
Follow these 3 simple steps and you’ll be miles ahead of your average Bible reader who just accepts whatever he’s fed from the pulpit without questioning it.
Now ain’t that cool?
With just a little research and thought, you’ll find the Hebrew Bible isn’t as mysterious or unintelligible as a lot of folks make it out to be.
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