Boaz Marries Ruth

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Ruth 4:1) Then Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by, to whom he said, "Ho, such a one! Turn aside, sit down here." And he turned aside and sat down.

At the end of the last chapter and post, Ruth had let Boaz know he was her next of kin, and by law, should marry her.  Boaz, in turn, let Ruth know that although he was her kin, he knew she had one who was nearer in kin to her than he was.  So Boaz went to the city gate and sat and waited until that kinsman he had spoken of came by.  He did indeed come by, and Boaz said something to the effect of he was the one Boaz had been looking for, and he asked him to sit down.  The man did as Boaz asked and sat down with him.

(2) And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, "Sit down here." And they sat down.

Boaz also called ten elders of the city to come and sit by him.  His purpose was to call a court to determine whether or not Ruth's next of kin would assume his responsibility as laid out in Deuteronomy 25:7-9.

(3) And he said to the kinsman, "Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land which was our brother Elimelech's, (4) And I thought to advise you, saying, 'Buy it before the inhabitants and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it, but if you will not redeem it, tell me that I may know, for there is no one to redeem it besides you, and I after you.'" And he said, "I will redeem it."

Boaz began by explaining to his kinsman that Naomi who had come back from Moab was now needing to sell a parcel of land that had belonged to their mutual kinsman, Elimelech.  He had come to inform Elimelech's nearest kinsman that he might buy it and redeem it, preserving the inheritance in the family according to the law (Leviticus 25:25).  Boaz asked his kinsman to tell him then and there if he would redeem the land, for if he didn't, then it was Boaz's responsibility to redeem it as he was the nearest of kin after the kinsman to whom he now spoke.  The kinsman said he would indeed redeem it.

(5) Then said Boaz, "What day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance."

Boaz went on to explain that on the day the kinsman bought the field from Naomi, he was also buying it from Ruth, as her husband had been the rightful heir of Elimelech's land upon his passing.  Now that her husband was also dead, it was the redeemer's duty to raise up the name of Ruth's husband and Naomi's son, Mahlon, perpetuating it according to the law (Deuteronomy 25:5).

(6) And the kinsman said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance; you redeem my right to yourself as I cannot redeem it."

At that, the kinsman said he would not be able to redeem the land, for he had his own inheritance to think of and pass on to the next generation.  He was surely married and had children and thought that marrying Ruth and raising up children in her husband's name would greatly diminish his own inheritance for his children.

(7) Now this was the custom in former time concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things, a man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor, and this was a testimony in Israel.

The custom at that time concerning redemption and the exchanging of property, in order to confirm the transaction, a man was to take off his shoe and give it to the other party, in this case Boaz, to confirm that he had refused his right of redemption and allowed it to pass to Boaz.  In Deuteronomy 25:8-9, we saw a stricter version of this custom that was the law, where the widow of the brother of the man who refused to uphold his responsibility in taking his brother's widow as his wife, she herself took off her brother-in-law's shoe and spit in his face because he refused to do his duty in perpetuating his brother's name.  As this kinsman was not a brother to Mahlon, he was therefore not obliged to take Ruth as his wife, but it appears that it remained a custom in the transferring of property to remove the shoe and pass it to the other party to confirm the transaction in the presence of the elders in Israel.

(8) Therefore the kinsman said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." So he drew off his shoe. 

So the kinsman told Boaz to buy the land for himself, and he took off his shoe to confirm that he was relinquishing his right to the land and giving Boaz the right to redeem it.

(9) And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. (10) Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of this place, you are witnesses this day."

Boaz then said to the elders and thus in testimony to all the people of Israel that they were witnesses to the fact that he had bought all that had been Elimelech's, and all that would have been passed down to his sons, Chilion and Mahlon, from Elimelech's widow, Naomi.  In addition, he was purchasing the right to make Ruth his wife and agreeing to raise up the names of Mahlon and his father Elimelech, so that their names would not be cut off and forgotten among their brethren.  From their position at the gate of the city, the elders and the people present were witnesses to those facts that day.

(11) And all the people who were in the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and like Leah, the two who built the house of Israel, and may you do worthily in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem, (12) And let your house be like the house of Pharez whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give you of this young woman."

The elders and the people present at the gate of the city declared they were indeed witnesses.  They blessed the union of Boaz and Ruth.  The fact that they wished that Ruth who was coming into his house be like Rachel and Leah seems to indicate that Boaz had married before this time, and their wish was that both women would continue to build up the house of Israel as Rachel and Leah had done.  They wished that Boaz might do well in Ephratah and Bethlehem, which were one and the same place, where Rachel had died and was buried, according to Genesis 35:19.  The elders and the people also wished that Boaz's house might be like that of Pharez, the son of Judah, by Tamar who was actually Judah's daughter-in-law.  When Tamar's husband Er died, the other sons of Judah and Judah himself refused to do their duty to Tamar to raise up an inheritance to her dead husband.  However, she tricked Judah into impregnating her when he did not know it was his daughter-in-law.  This event was detailed in Genesis 38.  The people wished that Boaz's house might be like that of Pharez who was the result of the union between his mother and a redeemer, although an unwitting one.  May he as Ruth's redeemer have descendants as numerous as Judah by Pharez.  The fact that Ruth was a Moabitess, although often mentioned, seems to be of no concern, as Ruth had obviously become a proselyte or convert to the Jewish religion.  

(13) So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife, and when he went in to her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son.

Boaz took Ruth as his wife, and he performed his conjugal duty.  As the ultimate proof that God blessed this union, it is said that He gave her conception, and she bore a son.

(14) And the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. (15) And he shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him."

The women of Bethlehem, neighbors of Naomi, told her that the Lord had not abandoned her and left her without descendants after all.  Through her daughter-in-law Ruth, who so loved her, and was better to her than seven sons would have been, she had a grandson.  They wished that his name be famous in Israel as he was to her a restorer of life and nourisher to her in her old age at a time when she had felt alone and abandoned.

(16) And Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom and became nurse to him.

Naomi took the baby and laid him in her bosom as a sign of her tender love and affection for him, and she became a nurse to him, aiding Ruth in her care of him.

(17) And the women her neighbors gave him a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi," and they called his name Obed; he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The neighbor women suggested a name for the baby that was indeed adopted by Ruth and Boaz.  They suggested the name of Obed which meant "serving," as they saw him serving, nourishing, and comforting Naomi in her old age as they had wished for her in verse 15.  However, the name had greater significance than they knew as Obed's grandson, David, was God's beloved servant.  Life was restored to Naomi's name as a son, actually a grandson, was born to her son's wife.  Obed would go on to have a son Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David.  In this would Obed's name become famous in Israelite history as the grandfather of David, as the women neighbors had wished (v. 14).

(18) Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron,

The author of Ruth now inserted a descendant genealogy of Pharez, the son of Judah and Tamar, whose house the people of Israel wished for the descendants of Boaz and Ruth to mirror (v. 12).  Pharez's son was Hezron.

(19) And Hezron begat Ram, and Ram begat Amminadab, (20) And Amminadab begat Nahshon, and Nahshon begat Salmon, (21) And Salmon begat Boaz, and Boaz begat Obed,

Pharez's son Hezron had a son Ram who produced Amminadab, who produced Nahshon, and Nahshon produced Salmon, the father of Boaz.  And of course, Boaz's son was Obed.

(22) And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David.

Completing the genealogy from Judah (by his son Pharez) to David, Obed would go on to have a son Jesse, who was the father of David.  How beautiful and fitting that Ruth the Moabitess should play a prominent role in the genealogy of David which would also extend to Jesus, the Son of David, the Lion of Judah.  Of course, Ruth had converted to Judaism, so was not really a Moabite at the time she married Boaz.  But this shows how the Gentile, someone not originally of the Jewish faith, was grafted into the line of Jesus, just as Jesus offered his salvation to the Gentiles and allowed them to be grafted into His living vine (Romans 11).  As the author of Ruth linked her to her great-grandson David, we know her book was written after David's anointing which agrees with Jewish tradition that the prophet Samuel may have written it.

Naomi and Ruth

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

According to Dr. John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible, it was a commonly received notion of the Jews that Ruth was the daughter of Eglon, the king of Moab, from whom Ehud had delivered Israel in the last post, chapter 3 of Judges.  As Ruth was a contemporary of the judges in the last post, her story fits chronologically here:

(Ruth 1:1) Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem, Judah, went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

At the time when the first judges ruled Israel, there was a famine in the land of Canaan.  A man from Bethlehem in Judah took his wife and two sons to live in Moab, and as Moab ruled Israel during the time of Eglon and Ehud, it seems reasonable that they might go there.

(2) And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, Judah. And they came into the country of Moab and continued there.

The name of the man was Elimelech, which meant literally "my God is King."  His wife was Naomi, which meant "sweet, pleasant," and the sons' names were not nearly so nice, as the root of Mahlon was "sick," and the root of Chilion, "destruction."  The meaning of names was important in Biblical times, but it always makes me wonder if people always knew what the names meant when they gave them.  Would good people like Elimelech and Naomi purposely give their sons names that meant sick and destruction?  Or were they inspired by God to call them such names because God knew their outcome?  Or maybe their names were changed after their fates had played out?  It makes one wonder.  Anyway, this family moved from Bethlehem in Judah to Moab and continued there.

(3) And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons.

Elimelech died in Moab, leaving his widow Naomi and his two sons.

(4) And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth; and they dwelled there about ten years.

The two sons married Moabite women.  Chilion married a woman named Orpah, and Mahlon married Ruth.  The Jewish Targum, an ancient translation of the Bible from Hebrew to Aramaic, states that Ruth was "the daughter of Eglon, king of Moab."  Although the Bible doesn't say so, the Jews from as early as the first century B.C. believed it.  As King Eglon was a very fat gluttonous man, one can reasonably assume he was just as gluttonous about his women and had many "wives."  The sons of Naomi dwelt in Moab about ten years.

(5) And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them, and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

Naomi's sons both died, and she was left alone in a strange country, without her husband or her sons.

(6) Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how the Lord had visited His people in giving them bread.

Naomi had heard that the Lord had ended the famine in Israel, so she intended to go back to her country.  It appears her daughters-in-law both rose up with intentions to go with her.

(7) Therefore she went forth out of the place where she was and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. (8) And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each to her mother's house; the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. (9) The Lord grant you that you may find rest, each in the house of her husband." Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.

Naomi and her daughters-in-law with her began on her journey back to Judah.  However, Naomi told her daughters-in-law to go back to their homes, to the loving arms of their mothers.  She blessed them with the prayer that the Lord would deal kindly with them and give them rest because of how kindly they had dealt with Naomi and her sons, their husbands.  The rest she wished for them was that they each might have another marriage.  The fact that she called marriage a state of rest is confirmed in a later verse, Ruth 3:1.  She kissed the young women, and they wept.

(10) And they said to her, "Surely we will return with you to your people."

However, both the daughters-in-law said that they would go with Naomi back to her land.

(11) And Naomi said, "Turn again, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there yet sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? (12) Turn again, my daughters, go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope I should have a husband also tonight and also bear sons, (13) Would you tarry for them till they were grown? Would you stay for them from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me."

Naomi told her daughters-in-law to go back.  She asked why they would want to go with her.  She saw no reason as she had no more sons who could be husbands to them.  She saw no hope of another husband in her life, but even if she did remarry and were to have sons, it made no sense to her that her daughters-in-law should spend the rest of their lives waiting for her sons to grow up and marry them.  It grieved Naomi that she couldn't do anything for her daughters-in-law.  She had no husband, no sons, and was probably left poor.  She felt she could do nothing for them, so they ought to stay in their country.

(14) And they lifted up their voices and wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

The young women wept again, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to Naomi.

(15) And she said, "Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law."

Naomi told Ruth that as her sister-in-law had gone back to her own people and her gods, she should do the same.  It's interesting that Naomi would tell her to return to her gods, the pagan gods of Moab.  Perhaps it was her way of telling her that she was going back to her people and the one true God and that would not be the life Ruth had had.

(16) And Ruth said, "Do not ask me to leave you, to return from following after you, for wherever you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God."

However, Ruth begged Naomi not to ask her to leave her.  She let her know that wherever Naomi went, she wanted to go.  She did not want to return to her people and the gods of her land.  She wanted Naomi's people to be her people, and Naomi's God to be her God.  

(17) "Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts you and me."

Ruth continued imploring her mother-in-law, telling her she wanted to remain with her until death should separate them, and she wanted to die and be buried in her mother-in-law's land.

(18) When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she stopped speaking to her.

When Naomi saw how determined Ruth was to go with her, she stopped arguing with her about it.

(19) So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass when they had come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they said, "Is this Naomi?"

Therefore the two women made their way to Bethlehem.  When they arrived there, it seemed there was much excitement about the return of Naomi.  The fact that they asked if it was really her, might mean she looked much different than when she had left her land.  For there to be such excitement about her return surely meant that she and her husband Elimelech had been well known and respected.  The sweet, pleasant, and perhaps beautiful Naomi was now old and worn.

(20) And she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. (21) I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty; why call me Naomi seeing the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"

Naomi told the people not to call her Naomi, "sweet, pleasant," anymore.  Rather they should call her Mara, "bitter," for the Lord had dealt bitterly with her.  I don't believe she was bitter in her heart, but rather she knew she was in bitter circumstances.  She was humbled and perhaps did not feel all the excitement about her return was warranted.  She wasn't the same woman who had left out, and she demonstrated her acceptance of her present state with her new name, Mara.  She accepted the fact that it was her Lord's will.

(22) So Naomi returned and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned from the country of Moab; and they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Thus Naomi had returned, bringing her daughter-in-law called a Moabitess, with her.  They had left the country of Moab and had come to Bethlehem in the beginning of spring which was when the barley harvest began.