Chapter 4

1 Boaz calleth into judgment the next kinsman. 6 He refuseth the redemption according to the manner in Israel. 9 Boaz buyeth the inheritance. 11 He marrieth Ruth. 13 She beareth Obed the grandfather of David. 18 The generation of Pharez.

1. Up to the gate. As previously noted (see on ch. 3:3), Bethlehem is situated on a narrow ridge that projects eastward from the central mountain range. The ridge falls away abruptly in terraced slopes to deep valleys on the north, east, and south. Today these terraces are covered with rows of olive trees and interspersed with fig trees and vines. To reach the gate of the city, Boaz would leave the field where he had spent the night and ascend the slopes of the ridge. The city gate, probably the only opening in the wall, was the place where court sessions were held and where public business was transacted (see Deut. 21:19–21; cf. Ps. 127:5; Zech. 8:16). Jerome notes that “the judges sat in the gates that the country-people might not be compelled to enter the cities and suffer detriment. Sitting there, they [the judges] could meet the townsmen and the country-people as they left or entered the city; and each man, his business finished, could retire at once to his own house.”

Sat him down. The fact that Boaz sat in the gate probably made evident that he sought a judicial decision. Boaz proceeded to assemble a jury of the elders of the city, according to the law of Moses (Deut. 16:18).

2. He took ten men. Presumably the number required to make up a citizen jury for civil cases. It seems that Boaz himself made the selection; however, he had first hailed the near kinsman (v. 1), and probably consulted with him in making the selection. The procedure followed was most democratic. The case was clear, a decision was reached on the basis of Mosaic law without delay, and the decision was confirmed and witnessed by a representative group of the recognized leading men of Bethlehem. Legal business was thus settled without lawyers and without extended legal arguments.

The elders. The elders of a town were probably the heads of the various major family groups. They were responsible for the civil and religious interests of the people who lived there. The “elders” were not necessarily aged men, but men of maturity and experience.

3. Selleth. Such a sale was not a permanent transfer of property, but a temporary one. Naomi and Ruth, though unable to till the land themselves, could thus receive some income from it. The original owners might buy the land back at any time by paying the unexpired portion of the sale price; otherwise, it would automatically revert to them at the year of jubilee (see on Lev. 25:23–25).

Our brother. Not necessarily a blood brother. The relationship implied by the Hebrew word thus translated is far more flexible than its English equivalent. Even friends are sometimes called brothers. The statement of Boaz to the effect that the land belonged to Elimelech implies that the two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, had not yet been given their inheritance. Therefore it is Naomi, and not Ruth, who sells the land. Nevertheless, a child of Ruth would legally fall heir to Elimelech’s land, and Naomi is therefore ready to transfer title to the property of her deceased husband to the kinsman who would marry Ruth. This kinsman would hold the land in trust until a child born to Ruth should become eligible to inherit it in his own right.

The fact that the land was to be sold—leased, we would say today—to a near kinsman who would marry Ruth and hold it in trust for her offspring by this union, called for the application of two provisions of the Mosaic civil code. The laws on the transfer of land (Lev. 25:23–28) and the marriage of a widow to a near kinsman (Deut. 25:5–10) both applied to the case, with the latter placing a limitation upon the former.

4. To advertise thee. Literally, “to uncover your ear,” or “to tell you of it” (RSV).

If thou wilt. Should the nearer kinsman decide to purchase the property, it was his privilege to do so. Boaz would be without recourse.

I am after thee. After setting forth the facts and recognizing the rights of the nearer kinsman, Boaz clearly reveals his personal interest in the matter. He expresses hope that the nearer kinsman will not purchase the property.

I will redeem it. Realizing that this is a good opportunity to increase his income, the nearer kinsman feels no hesitancy about purchasing the land.

5. Then said Boaz. Thus far nothing had been said concerning Ruth’s part in the transaction. Boaz apparently felt it best to make the property the main issue, perhaps considering that a more favorable response might thus be secured. But now that the nearer kinsman has expressed his intention to purchase the property Boaz reveals the fact that Naomi has limited the sale of the land by requiring the purchaser to marry Ruth.

The order in which Boaz brought up the two aspects of the case implies that he was more interested in Ruth than in the land. This would be a typically Eastern approach to the problem, for Oriental psychology would lead Boaz to hold in the background that which was of major concern to him, and seek to arrange a satisfactory settlement without making his own interest in the matter the determining factor. In contrast, the nearer kinsman’s interest was centered exclusively on the land as a source of profit.

6. Lest I mar. The eagerness of the nearer kinsman to purchase the land when the sole factor involved appeared to be profit, and his immediate loss of interest upon learning of the possibility of self-sacrifice and financial loss, seem to mark him as an avaricious man, like the rich fool of Luke 12:13–21. The nearer kinsman is not willing to marry Ruth. Evidently he had no children of his own to inherit his property. If he should marry Ruth, the first child he might have by her would be counted as the children of Ruth’s deceased husband. Then both the parcel of land that he might buy from Naomi, and also the kinsman’s own property, could pass to Ruth’s children. The fact that Ruth was a Moabittess seems not to have affected his decision.

On his part Boaz may have had two reasons for desiring to buy the parcel of land and to marry Ruth. He may have been a widower with one or more grown sons. It is also evident that Boaz sincerely respected and loved Ruth. He did not mind the fact that the child he might have by her would be counted the child of her deceased husband, and that the property that he purchased from Naomi would go to her children and not to the children he may have had by a previous wife. Furthermore, Boaz was obviously not affected by prejudice. His own mother may have been Rahab of Jericho (see on ch. 1:1).

7. In former time. See on v. 8.

To confirm all things. Literally, “to confirm any transaction.” The procedure noted in this verse is not out of harmony with the law of Deut. 25:7–9, which is concerned with a woman who finds no kinsman of her deceased husband willing to perform the duty of a kinsman. Consequently, she takes the initiative against the kinsman who refuses her proposal. He confirms his refusal by allowing the woman to pluck off his shoe. According to Jewish commentators, however, the woman spits on the ground before his face, which the Hebrew construction would allow.

But in the case of Boaz the situation was different. Ruth had asked him to marry her, and he was ready to do so. The request to the nearer kinsman was not being made by the woman whose husband had died. Boaz was evidently granting the other kinsman the chance to marry Ruth if he wanted to do so, a prerogative that was his by law.

A testimony. That is, legally acceptable as evidence.

8. Drew off his shoe. It is clear from the context that it was the nearer of kin who took off his own shoe or sandal and gave it to Boaz, thereby confirming the transfer of his right of redemption to Boaz. The author of Ruth is not necessarily explaining a ceremony that was not understood by his readers, as some commentators think. He simply notes that in this case the contemptuous part of the ceremony was omitted.

9. Ye are witnesses. Boaz calls upon the citizen jury and all others standing by to witness the act of transfer symbolized by the ceremony of the sandal. As the nearer kinsman had the prior right to marry Ruth and administer her property, so also he had the right to decline to do so (Deut. 25:7–9).

10. Purchased. The purchase of Naomi’s property was the legal point at issue, but in this particular instance more was involved than merely the land itself (see on vs. 5, 6). Furthermore, Boaz was more interested in Ruth than he was in the land (see on v. 5), a fact that he now makes clear. It was necessary for him to purchase the land in order to make Ruth his wife. The nearer kinsman had shown himself unwilling to take Ruth in order to come into possession of the land, but Boaz was willing to take the land, if necessary, in order to win her hand.

Raise up. That is, to perpetuate his family line (see Deut. 25:6).

Upon his inheritance. The family allotment of land was considered the sacred, inalienable right of the original owner and his posterity. It might never be sold in perpetuity. For a piece of land to be, in a sense, an orphan, was similar to a man being without an heir. The preservation of the family name and inheritance became a vital factor in the maintenance of the social structure of the nation (see Num. 36:1–9 and on Matt. 1:1).

11. We are witnesses. The assembly at the gate did not reprove the nearer of kin. For him they had no word of censure; for Boaz, however, they had words of congratulation and blessing.

Like Rachel and like Leah. See Gen. 29:31 to 30:24.

12. The house of Pharez. See Gen. 38:12–29. This statement prepares the way for the genealogy of vs. 18–22, which would seem therefore not to be a later editorial addition but an integral part of the story in its original form.

13. The Lord gave. The Hebrew people recognized the fact that all life comes from God, and that He is the giver of “every good gift and every perfect gift” (James 1:17; cf. John 3:27). It is He who “gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:17; see also Deut. 11:14) and “power to get wealth” (Deut. 8:17, 18). We should ever recognize God as the one from whom all our blessings flow and to whom our gratitude should ascend.

14. The women. Apparently a group of close friends present at the ceremony of circumcision, when the child would be given its name (see Luke 1:58, 59).

A kinsman. Or, a “redeemer” (see on ch. 2:20).

His name. That is, the son’s name.

15. A restorer of thy life. The birth of a son to Ruth assured Naomi that her family line would not die out, as it had seemed would be the case when her husband and both sons died.

17. Obed. The name of Ruth’s child means “servant,” that is, of God. This is an abbreviated form of Obadiah, which means “the servant [or worshiper] of Jehovah.”

The father of David. In these words the author comes to the climax of his story, and justifies his narration of it. They point out the fulfillment of the blessing pronounced on Ruth by the townsfolk of Bethlehem (see vs. 11, 12, 15). The name of the kinsman who thought that marriage with the converted Moabitess would endanger his inheritance is forgotten; but from Boaz comes David, the ancestor and type of Christ. Obed was the son of Naomi through the love of Ruth.

Had the Jewish nation appreciated the lesson of the book of Ruth—that God is no respecter of persons—their attitude toward the Gentiles would have been vastly different from what it was. They would have been looking for a Messiah whose mission was to save all men from sin, whether Jew or Gentile, and not merely for a Jewish Messiah to save the Jewish nation from bondage to Rome. There is a lesson for us also in the book of Ruth. If we will but practice love and sympathy toward our fellow men, many of them will say to us as Ruth said to her mother-in-law, “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” And we in turn can reply to them as Boaz did to Ruth, “The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.”