The family/clan (mishpahah)5 of Elimelek is stated earlier as the Ephrathites (see comments on 1:2 below). These were undoubtedly kinsmen, although the relationship is relatively distant, since it was the bet’ab (“father’s house,” i.e., the extended family) that contained the more closely related kin group. The mishpahah was the most important single group in the social structure in ancient Israel and formed the basis for the functions of the go’el (“kinsman-redeemer”; see comments in the Introduction to Ruth, pp. 498–503).
