4:1-2 Boaz immediately went to the gate of the town, the place where important legal and social matters were transacted in the presence of the town elders. When Boaz summoned the other redeemer, he literally said, Come over here (Hb) poloni ’almoni, a rhyming phrase equivalent to our “Mr. So-and-So.” Boaz gathered a quorum of ten elders as official witnesses.
4:3-4 As a widow Naomi could not sell Elimelech’s land; however, she could assign someone else the right to use that field until the next Jubilee Year. Rather than have control over the field go (or remain) outside the family, Boaz requested an intervention in the spirit of the family redeemer laws to buy . . . back the use of the field. Since “Mr. So-and-So” was the primary relative entitled to redeem that property, Boaz was bringing the matter to his attention. If he did not redeem the property, Boaz himself was willing to act.
4:5-8 Along with the financial cost of redeeming the field, there was a social cost. The transaction also included a commitment to marry Ruth the Moabitess and thereby to seek to perpetuate the dead man’s name on his property. This is a reference back to the practice of levirate marriage in Dt 25:5-10, by which the brother of a man who died without male offspring was required to marry his widow and raise up a family in the name of the dead man. In this case, there was no legal obligation on either “Mr. So-and-So” or on Boaz, yet Boaz asserted a moral obligation to do so. At this, “Mr. So-and-So” backed away from his earlier enthusiasm. Ironically, his concern to protect his own name rather than committing to raise up heirs to the name of Elimelech led to him being left nameless. In seeking to serve self first, he inadvertently undermined his best interests. It is instead Boaz whose name would become famous (Ru 4:11) in Bethlehem. His decision was confirmed by a legal gesture that was archaic even at the time of the writing of the book—the removal of a sandal, which was given to the other party.
4:9-12 By receiving the sandal, Boaz committed himself to redeem Naomi’s property, to marry Ruth, and to perpetuate the names of Elimelech and Mahlon on their patrimony. The blessing of the elders (vv. 11-12) may simply have been conventional for married couples in Bethlehem, but it had a greater significance for Boaz and Ruth. Through Ruth, Boaz would indeed become famous and have his name remembered in Bethlehem. The link with Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah, invites a comparison and contrast between Ruth and Tamar, two foreign women who became part of Judah’s genealogy through very different means. Thus Ruth entered the lineage of the Messiah (Mt 1:5).
Hebrew pronunciation
[gah AHL]
CSB translation
redeem, avenge
Uses in Ruth
22
Uses in the OT
104
Focus passage
Ruth 4:1,3-4,6,8,14
Ga’al occurs only in biblically related usage. The original sense may have been “restore, repair.” Once ga’al implies reclaim (Jb 3:5). Four times each it is parallel with padah (“ransom,” Jr 31:11) or yasha‘ (“save,” Ps 106:10). A legal duty to redeem fell on relatives (Lv 25:49), and participles connote relative (Nm 5:8) or kinsman (1Kg 16:11). Land, houses, livestock, and people could be redeemed from another’s possession by payment (Lv 25:25; 27:28). Avengers of blood were relatives responsible to slay murderers of family members (Nm 35:19,21). God is the Redeemer (Is 49:26), rescuing people from slavery (Ex 6:6), transgressions (Is 44:22), harm (Gn 48:16), enemies (Ps 107:2), captivity (Is 43:14), and death (Hs 13:14). Ga’al with ge’ullah (14x) suggests take the right of redemption (Ru 4:6).
4:13-17 Although for ten years in Moab, Ruth had been unable to bear a son for Mahlon, through the Lord’s direct intervention she immediately conceived and bore a son for Boaz. The child would be a comfort for Naomi in her old age (lit “would sustain her grey hair”); he would be her family redeemer who would provide for her needs in her declining years. He was named Obed, a short form of Obadiah, which means “Servant of the Lord.” Though no one could bring back Naomi’s husband or sons, now she had a daughter-in-law whom all recognized as better to you than seven sons—an astonishing accolade in the ancient world.
4:18-22 The story concludes with a linear genealogy linking the child, Obed, backwards and forwards. It traces his roots back to Perez, the child born in Gn 38 out of the dubious relationship between Judah and a foreign woman, Tamar. It also traces his progeny on to King David, who is highlighted not simply because he was a great king but also because he was the Lord’s answer for the anarchy of the days of the judges, in which this story took place (1:1). The family records thus show us that the Lord had been pursuing bigger plans than just bringing together two worthy individuals or restoring the emptiness of a Judean widow. Their story formed part of the bigger plan to provide the Redeemer, Christ Jesus, whom Israel needed.
Rth 4:1. Boaz went up to the gate- See on Deu 16:18. The Chaldee paraphrases this, He went up to the gate of the house of judgment, where the Sanhedrim sat.
Rth 4:2. Ten men- This number of witnesses, it seems, was necessary for the ratification of marriages, divorces, and the conveyance of right and property. See More Nevoch. pars 3: cap. 49: and Bertram de Rep. Jud. cap. 9: Boaz, in representing the distress to which Naomi, the sister of their brother, 1:e. their common relation, found herself reduced after her return from Moab, tells the kinsman, that, in order to supply her present necessities, she designed to sell the parcel of land which belonged to Elimelech; and that she had a right to do so, in such a state of necessity, is supposed by the best writers on this subject. See Selden de Success. in Bonis, cap. 15: p. 52.
Rth 4:5. Thou must buy it also of Ruth- This whole speech is rendered very confused by the present printed Hebrew text; but if we admit of some alteration from the best manuscripts, the passage will be cleared from obscurity, and when corrected will run thus: Rth 4:4. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it; but if thou wilt not redeem it, tell me, that I may know; for there is none but thee to redeem it, except myself, who am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it, Rth 4:5. Then said Boaz, on the day thou takest the land of the hand of Naomi, thou must also take Ruth the Moabitess. See Kennicott's Dissert. vol. 1: p. 447 and Houbigant, who has made the same observation.
Rth 4:6. I cannot redeem it for myself, &c.- The Chaldee paraphrases thus: "I cannot redeem it upon this condition, because I have a wife already, and do not choose to bring another into my house, lest quarrels and divisions arise in it, and lest I hurt my own inheritance." The Jewish commentators understand it in the same manner. See Selden de Uxor. Heb. lib. 1: cap. 9.
Rth 4:7. This was the manner in former time- See the note on Deu 25:5. Though the custom there referred to was somewhat different from the present, there can be no doubt that this was founded upon it; and the ceremony seems to express, that the person refusing to redeem transferred all his right to the man to whom he delivered his shoe. The reason of the custom, as Bishop Patrick says, is plain enough: it being a natural signification that the man resigned his interest in the land, by giving to the person redeeming his shoe, wherewith he used to walk in it, to the end that he might enter in it, and take possession of it himself. The Chaldee, instead of his shoe, reads his right hand glove. The Germans and Dutch call gloves the shoes of the hands. Rabbi Jarchi observes, "It is now the custom with us, that a handkerchief or vail be given, instead of a shoe, when we purchase any thing." It is doubtful from the next verse, whether the kinsman or Boaz drew off the shoe; though it seems most likely to have been the former.
Rth 4:11. The Lord make the woman-like Rachel, and-Leah- See Gen 24:60.
Rth 4:12. Like the house of Pharez, &c.- Pharez, the son of Judah by Tamar, was the chief of the family of Elimelech, and of all the Beth-lehemites. Nothing, therefore, could be more natural than this blessing which the elders of the village give to Boaz and Ruth upon their marriage.
REFLECTIONS.-No sooner has the nearest kinsman quitted his right, than Boaz puts in his claim, ready to pay the money for the land to Naomi, and purchase Ruth for his wife; and he calls upon them to witness the contract, and insert it in the public register. Note; Thus hath our God, our divine Redeemer, when we were poor and destitute, and none were either able or willing to purchase the inheritance which we by sin had so deeply mortgaged, yea, utterly forfeited, paid down the price, even at the expence of marring his own inheritance; having left the realms of bliss and glory for our sake, and then, espousing us to himself, has made us sharers of that glory, to which the Father, as the reward of his sufferings, hath exalted him. What love, what fidelity, constancy, and subjection, then do we owe to him!
Rth 4:17. The women her neighbours gave it a name- They advised Naomi to give the child such a name as was suitable to their foregoing discourse, and to the case of Naomi. See Luk 1:59. Obed signifies a servant, as Josephus interprets it: the Chaldee paraphrases the name, "Obed, who served the Lord of the world with a perfect heart." The sacred historian adds, he is the father of Jesse, the father of David; and in these words points out to us what appears to have been the principal design of this book, which was, to inform us of the origin of the family of David, and consequently that of the Messiah; and on this account it is that the genealogy is annexed, Rth 4:18, &c. We refer to the chronologists for the dates and ages of the persons mentioned in this genealogy, and in particular to Archbishop Usher's Chronol. Sacr. pars 1: cap. 12.
