The sudden passing of a father often serves as a profound turning point, stripping away the security of wealth and leaving a fragile household exposed in a foreign land. For a prominent family that fled a famine in their homeland, this loss acts as a severe spiritual warning. The primary approach among commentators is that the father dies as a direct punishment for abandoning the Land of Israel and fleeing his responsibility to support the poor during a time of national hunger [תורה תמימה, אשכול הכופר, אגרת שמואל]. As the head of the household, he bears the central burden of responsibility, which is why the judgment falls upon him first [מלבי״ם].
His identity at the time of his passing is deeply intertwined with his wife, a detail that carries multiple layers of meaning. On an emotional level, it highlights the profound reality that a husband's death is felt most acutely by his wife, who bears the pain of his absence more than anyone else [תורה תמימה, צאינה וראינה, רש״י]. Socially, this reflects a severe decline in his status. While he was a respected leader in his own right in the Land of Israel, in Moab he lost his wealth and standing, ultimately being recognized merely through his connection to his wife [מלבי״ם, אלשיך]. Yet, some view this connection as a mark of praise. Even while living in the highly immoral environment of Moab, he maintained his personal holiness, refusing to take foreign wives and remaining entirely faithful to his wife until his final day [אגרת שמואל]. Furthermore, his role as the absolute authority of the home meant that divine judgment targeted him rather than his wife, who was secondary to his decisions [רש״י, מלבי״ם]. His passing serves as an atonement for his own sins, while she is spared due to her enduring righteousness [אלשיך].
The surviving family members are described as having been left behind, which raises a question: how can three people be considered mere remnants when only one has died? Commentators explain this through a comparison to the meal offerings brought in the Tabernacle. Just as the small handful burned on the altar is the true essence of the offering while the larger remaining portion is secondary, the father was the foundation of the household. With his departure, his wife and sons are reduced to mere remnants [תורה תמימה, מלבי״ם, חנוכת התורה]. This also indicates that only these two sons survive, with no other children remaining [רלב״ג]. According to some, the mother even loses a child she was carrying, leaving her completely dependent on these two surviving sons [אגרת שמואל].
Tragically, the surviving family members fail to internalize the lesson of this loss. Rather than returning to the Land of Israel, they remain in Moab. A decree of destruction hovers over them as well, with God simply waiting for them to repent [מלבי״ם, אגרת שמואל, אשכול הכופר]. The father's absence creates a devastating vacuum of authority. During his life, his sons respected him and would have been ashamed to marry Moabite women. Without him, the mother is left as a minority against her sons, powerless to protest their choices [אלשיך, אגרת שמואל, אשכול הכופר]. Additionally, the loss of the father means the family no longer has three adult men required to form a proper Jewish court, making it impossible to properly convert the local women the sons eventually marry [אגרת שמואל].