Many of us know that Ruth had two husbands in the Bible. We tend to have more familiarity with her second husband, Boaz. Ruth, a widow, met Boaz and fell from his kindness. Turns out, he was a kinsman-redeemer—someone who could help restore the fortune of her mother-in-law's family. Ruth and Boaz's story is one of the Bible's most revered love stories.
But what about the man whom Ruth first married? What do we know about Mahlon?
Before we can uncover what happened to Mahlon in Ruth 1, we must first understand him as a person. Scripture doesn't give us much to go off, but we can make several inferences.
First, he was one of two brothers. Naomi was his mother. Per Torah law, He and his brother should have married a Jewish woman. This happened during the time of the judges—rulers before the kings of Israel. Most likely, Mahlon and his brother had witnessed people marrying foreigners and being led astray from their faith.
We can see how the Israelites felt about marrying foreigners through how Moses' siblings treated his foreign wife.
Mahlon and his brother marry two Moabite women anyway—Ruth and Orpah.
Scripture doesn't specify which ruler had been overseeing Israel at the time of the first chapter of Ruth. We do have a hint, though. A famine swept the land.
Most likely, this happened somewhere between the judges named Ehud and Jephthah. We can make this assumption because Israel ruled over Moab at this period—which would help explain why Mahlon felt it was acceptable to marry a Moabite woman, even if it pushed the rules a bit.
We have no idea if Ruth loved him or if he married her for some contractual fulfillment. Old Testament marriages often contained a little of both. We see romantic love in books such as Song of Solomon. But Solomon likely had several loveless marriages for trade reasons. Seeing that dowry would've played a role in this.
He likely married Ruth when she was a teenager, as was common for the time. How young? We're not sure. Perhaps as young as thirteen. Perhaps as old as her early twenties.
Scripture also tells us that Ruth didn't have any children with him. We can imagine not for lack of effort. Either he or Ruth was infertile. Although we could assume the former, as Ruth later has a child with Boaz.
Oh, and Scripture tells us one more thing about Mahlon. He dies young.
Why does Mahlon die?
Many scholars will jump to one conclusion in particular: Mahlon didn't trust God enough. They point to two things in particular to provide evidence for this. First, he marries a foreign woman.
We see several examples of Israelites marrying foreign women in the Old Testament, such as Moses' wife or Rahab who helped the spies escape Jericho and later married an Israelite. However, these women often become part of Israel. Many scholars argue that Mahlon sinned because there is no record that he had Ruth convert to Judaism.
Secondly, scholars speculate that Mahlon died because he and his family moved to Moab instead of trusting God during the famine in Israel. Meaning God cut his life short because he lacked faith.
In my opinion, Scripture doesn't give us explict reasons for why this happened. I think we often assume that when bad things happen, it's a consequence of a specific sin. The Bible does not promise this. Sometimes, as we see in the Book of Job, people die for reasons the Bible never specifies.
Mahlon isn't the only one to die. His brother and father passed away in relatively quick succession. It sends Naomi spiraling, and she decides to return home. Ruth goes with her, whereas her daughter-in-law Orpah goes back to Moab.
After 10 years of marriage to Ruth, Mahlon passes away. Whether the marriage started as romantic or not, we can imagine Ruth had developed feelings for him. Even couples who marry out of convenience often develop feelings for each other. The loss she must've felt would've been devastating. Not only did she lose the love of her life, but as a woman in her late twenties, there would've been very few options for her to remarry. She wasn't a virgin anymore and likely had been rumored to be infertile.
Unfortunately, Scripture doesn't tell us much else about him. We have no idea what age he was when he died. We can assume he was older than Ruth.
How?
Well, Naomi seems to indicate that she is well along in years. Women had babies at a pretty early age, so if she was an older mother, her son had likely reached his late twenties or early thirties.
However, Mahlon serves as a vehicle in the story. Ruth's grief over him allows her to find someone in Israel. If Mahlon had not passed away young, Ruth would've never met Boaz and become part of Jesus' genealogy.
Although we can only imagine Naomi and Ruth's grief at the loss of Mahlon, we can imagine their inexplicable joy when God redeemed the time and redeemed the grief.
God can turn any story of grief into good, and we see this through the person of Mahlon. If not for him, Ruth would've never met Naomi. She would have never accompanied Naomi to Israel after her loss. She would have never met Boaz.
Mahlon has a lot to teach us. We will explore three life lessons from him.
First, we can't jump to conclusions during tragedy
Had Mahlon sinned by marrying a Moabite woman and moving away from Israel for a time? Perhaps. But I'd give serious pause to us trying to think of every tragedy in black-and-white thinking. It rains on the just and unjust, after all.
For all we know, Mahlon could've been a virtuous man who loved Ruth dearly.
In the same way, we cannot assume that every Christian who goes through something hard somehow deserves to experience tragedy. We ought to show more empathy as believers.
Second, God redeems tragedies, but . . .
This doesn't eliminate the sting of the tragedies. Too often, we want to bandage the wounds with platitudes when people really need us to sit with them as they grieve.
Yes, God brought Ruth Boaz.
But first, God took Mahlon away from her.
Although Ruth takes the difficult moment in stride, we can imagine it left quite a wound.
Finally, God uses unexpected people. Don't judge them.
After Mahlon died, Ruth would've been quite the pariah. A widow, no longer a virgin, a foreigner, probably rumored to be infertile . . . no man would've wanted to be with her. In fact, a man in the Book of Ruth gets out of dodge fast when he learns he may have to marry her.
And yet, God used Ruth. He made her part of the lineage of his own son, Jesus.
All this happened because Ruth married Mahlon and later trusted God enough to go to Israel…to meet her second love, Boaz.
You never know who God will choose to use for the glory of his kingdom next.
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Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:
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