Ruthchapter 4
22 verses · Samuel, by tradition · 10th century BC · History
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.
Introduction
Samuel, by tradition, History, Ruth Overview.
This chapter moves from a private promise to a public court at the town gate of Bethlehem. Its hearers knew the laws of land redemption and of a dead man's name, and how elders settled a case before witnesses. The book that opened with three deaths closes with a wedding, a birth and a family line. Listen for the careful order in which the case is put, and for the blessing the whole town speaks. Notice which name stands last in the list at the end. That name tells a reader why this small family story was kept in Israel's Scriptures.
Context
- Who
- Israelites who had watched business done at their own town gate
- What
- A narrative of a case settled at the town gate, the marriage of Boaz and Ruth and the birth of Obed, closed by the family line down to David.
- Where
- The gate of Bethlehem, where the elders sat to hear cases, and Naomi's home.
- When
- The morning after the night at the threshing floor, in the days of the judges, with the closing list reaching to David, born about 1040 BC.
- Why
- To show Naomi's emptiness filled and to tie this family's faithfulness to the line of King David.
Historical context
The gate was the town's courtroom, market and news exchange. City gates of this era were built as a passage with recessed chambers on either side and stone benches along them, so the elders sat in the shade where everyone entering or leaving passed by. Most transactions had no written contract and the crowd was the record, which is why Boaz seats ten elders and then tells the whole gathering that they are witnesses.
Show the rest of the historical context, 2 more paragraphs
Boaz frames the case in an order that matters. He raises the land first, since Naomi is selling Elimelech's parcel and the nearer redeemer holds the first right, and the man agrees at once. Only then does Boaz add that taking the field also means taking Ruth the Moabitess to raise up the dead man's name on his inheritance. That changes the arithmetic, because the buyer would pay for land that will legally belong to a son counted as another man's heir, and the nearer kinsman withdraws.
The sandal is the seal. The text stops to explain the custom because it had already fallen out of use by the time the book was written down. Land was claimed by walking it, and the shoe stood for the right to walk it. The blessing pronounced by the crowd names Rachel, Leah, Tamar and Perez, three of them women who entered Israel's line by irregular paths.
Significance
The women of the town tell Naomi that Ruth is better to her than seven sons, which is extravagant praise in a culture where sons were a woman's security. They name the child a restorer of life and a nourisher of her old age, and the woman who came home empty is holding a grandson.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For first hearers under David's line the genealogy answered a live question. The king's family tree ran through a foreigner who chose the God of Israel, and through the law of the redeemer that protected the poor. That was a statement about what kind of kingdom this was supposed to be.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The shoe at the gate is read as a legal act with a name that outlived the scene. Ibn Ezra says Boaz drew off his own shoe and gave it to the kinsman. That action "is what our sages of blessed memory referred to as 'chalifin' (exchanging)". He gives the reason. A shoe is always worn and cannot be removed without leaving the wearer exposed, so handing it over transfers the right of redemption. He records the other opinion, that the kinsman drew off his shoe and gave it to Boaz. The reference is Ibn Ezra on Ruth 4:8:1, Sefaria Community Translation, CC0. Rashi separates the two words the narrator uses. They are "Concerning redemption. This is a sale" and "And exchange. This is an exchange". The references are Rashi on Ruth 4:7:1 and 4:7:2, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001, CC-BY. The mode of acquisition by exchange is worked in the Talmud at Bava Metzia 47a:14. This chapter's corpus file lists that tractate as a locator on 4:7.
How it is read
The commentators read this chapter as a legal transaction reported exactly, and then as a genealogy. The unnamed kinsman is read as named and withheld. Rashi says his name "was not written because he did not wish to redeem". The edition's note gives the name as Tov, withheld because he did not discharge the duty. The reference is Rashi on Ruth 4:1:1, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001, CC-BY. His refusal is read as a mistake about the very law the book rests on. On the fear of marring his inheritance Rashi takes the inheritance as offspring. He reads the man as afraid of the bar at Devarim 23:4. He then states the ruling against him, that "he erred [by not interpreting it as] 'an Ammonite but not an Ammonitess'". The note adds the alternative, that the man knew the ruling and feared a later challenge, as came in David's time. The reference is Rashi on Ruth 4:6:1, same edition. Ibn Ezra reads the refusal from the other side. The man had a large estate to protect, and Ibn Ezra records the opinion that the words hint at his wife. The reference is Ibn Ezra on Ruth 4:6:1, Sefaria Community Translation, CC0.
The terms of the sale are read closely. Rashi glosses Boaz's demand as buying the field from a seller who "is not willing [to sell] unless you marry her" (Rashi on Ruth 4:5:1, same edition). Ibn Ezra reads the verb at 4:5 as a past form used of a future act (Ibn Ezra on Ruth 4:5:1, Sefaria Community Translation, CC0). Perpetuating the dead man's name is read as an everyday thing rather than a rite. When his widow goes and comes on the estate, "people say, 'This is Machlon's wife,' and thereby his name is remembered upon it". The reference is Rashi on Ruth 4:10:1, same edition. The blessing of the elders is read twice over. Rashi notes that Rachel is named before Leah although the house of Bethlehem descends from Leah. He carries the alternative that the blessing was for a daughter of idolaters. She should be like Rachel and Leah, who were daughters of Lavan and yet built the house of Israel. The reference is Rashi on Ruth 4:11:1, same edition. The genealogy at the close is read as a genealogy doing a particular job. Rashi says that Scripture had traced David's line to the name of Ruth the Moabitess. It now "returned and traced his lineage to Yehudah's name", and the note calls that name the symbol of royalty. The reference is Rashi on Ruth 4:18:1, same edition. Malbim comments at 4:2, 4:3, 4:9, 4:13 and 4:15 with no English version in the corpus. They stand as citations: Malbim on Ruth 4:2:1, 4:3:1, 4:9:1, 4:13:1 and 4:15:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus records forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-five Midrash and five Talmud. Every one is a locator without text. This site therefore cites where the rabbis took the chapter up rather than what they said there. The gate itself draws Bava Batra 91a:13 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 5:38. The ten elders Boaz seats draw Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Ketubot 1:3 and Ein Yaakov, Ketubbot 1:4. Both are filed at the opening of the tractate on marriage contracts. The parcel of land draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:3:1 and Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 6:6:1. The offer to the nearer kinsman draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:4:1. The condition attached to the field draws Bamidbar Rabbah 21:11 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 1:2:3. The refusal draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 3:13:2 and 4:6:1. The custom of the shoe draws Bamidbar Rabbah 6:1 and Bava Metzia 47a:14. With them stand Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 5:5:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:8:1. Boaz's declaration before the witnesses draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:9:1 and 4:10:1. The blessing of the elders draws Bereshit Rabbah 71:2 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:11:1. The house of Peretz they name draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:12:1 and Midrash Shmuel 6:3. The birth draws Bamidbar Rabbah 18:21 and Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Lech Lecha 31. The women's blessing of Naomi draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:14:1 and Ruth Rabbah (Lerner) 7:15:1. The daughter-in-law better than seven sons draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:15:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Shemot 18:6. Naomi with the child draws Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:16:1. With it stands Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair 1:36. The naming of Obed draws Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 2:2 and Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 2:4. The genealogy that runs to David draws the last cluster. It holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:10 and 13:14, with Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin 2:3:7. With them stand Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 9:5:16 and Midrash Tehillim 54:2. Midrash Lekach Tov on Ruth 4:19:1, 4:20:1, 4:21:1 and 4:22:1 close the list. The rabbis teach in these places. This site reports them as their teaching rather than as a rule of the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Ruth 4:1:1, 4:5:1, 4:6:1, 4:7:1, 4:7:2, 4:10:1, 4:11:1 and 4:18:1, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001, CC-BY, 2001; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Ruth 4:5:1, 4:6:1 and 4:8:1, Sefaria Community Translation, CC0; Malbim, Malbim on Ruth 4:2:1, 4:3:1, 4:9:1, 4:13:1 and 4:15:1, cited only, no English version in the corpus; The Midrash and the Talmud, the forty locators of scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ruth/4.json, cited by ref alone.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The nearer kinsman and the loosened shoe
Ruth 4:1-2
The gate is where Deuteronomy 25:7 sends this exact case, so Boaz opens the matter where a ruling could be made and witnessed. He hails the man as "my friend", rendering a Hebrew idiom that withholds a name, as at 1 Samuel 21:2 and 2 Kings 6:8. The law fixes no number of elders, and John Gill and Adam Clarke report that Jewish practice set ten for marriage and inheritance.
Ruth 4:1
“Then went Boaz up to the gate of the city--a roofed building, unenclosed by walls; the place where, in ancient times, and in many Eastern towns still, all business transactions are made, and where, therefore, the kinsman was most likely to be found.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ruth 4:1
“The gate is the place of concourse, of business, and of justice in Oriental cities (see Jdg 19:15 note; Gen 34:20; Deu 16:18). Ho, such a one! - Indicating that the name of the kinsman was either unknown or purposely concealed 1Sa 21:2; 2Ki 6:8.”
Two or three witnesses sufficed in law, and John Wesley notes that ten elders was the usual number for cases of marriage and inheritance. Boaz asks them to sit, and they sit. The elders of the city serve as judges and as witnesses at once.
Ruth 4:2
“He took ten men - Probably it required this number to constitute a court. How simple and how rational was this proceeding! 1. The man who had a suit went to the city gates. 2. Here he stopped till the person with whom he had the suit came to the gate on his way to his work. 3. He called him by name, and he stopped and sat down. 4. Then ten elders were called, and they came and sat down. 5. When all this was done, the appellant preferred his suit. 6. Then the appellee returned his answer.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:2
“Ten men - To be witnesses: for though two or three witnesses were sufficient, yet in weightier matters they used more. And ten was the usual number among the Jews, in causes of matrimony and divorce, and translation of inheritances; who were both Judges of the causes, and witnesses of the fact.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ruth 4:3-4
The offer rests on Leviticus 25:25, where a kinsman redeems a poor relative's land, and no marriage has yet been mentioned. The man says "I will redeem it" before he knows what else is attached. How Naomi holds land to sell is disputed: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read a life right to its use, and Albert Barnes a sale priced against the years left until the jubilee.
Ruth 4:3
“According to the law Lev 25:25-28, if any Israelite, through poverty, would sell his possession, the next of kin (the גאל gā'al) had a right to redeem it by paying the value of the number of years remaining until the jubilee (see the marginal reference). This right Boaz advertises the גאל gā'al of, so as to give him the option which the law secured to him of redeeming “our brother Elimelech’s” land, i. e. our kinsman’s, according to the common use of the term brother, for near relation (see Gen 13:8; Gen 24:27; Lev 25:25; Num 27:4; Jdg 9:1).”
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:3
“In her circumstances she was at liberty to part with it (Le 25:25). Both Naomi and Ruth had an interest in the land during their lives; but Naomi alone was mentioned, not only because she directed all the negotiations, but because the introduction of Ruth's name would awaken a suspicion of the necessity of marrying her, before the first proposition was answered.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I will redeem it: Boaz tells the kinsman-redeemer he may buy back the land in the presence of the elders. The Hebrew reads if he will not redeem it, where the sense needs you, and Adam Clarke reports manuscripts that read you, as the Berean does. The man agrees at once.
Ruth 4:4
“I thought to advertise thee - Both Dr. Kennicott and Father Houbigant have noticed several corruptions in the pronouns of this and the following verses; and their criticisms have been confirmed by a great number of MSS. since collated. The text corrected reads thus: “And I said I will reveal this to thy ear, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ruth 4:5-6
Boaz binds the land redemption of Leviticus 25:25 to raising up a name for the dead at Deuteronomy 25:5, though that law names a brother and Boaz is none to Mahlon. The kinsman fears he would "jeopardize my own inheritance" without saying how. Albert Barnes reads a son counted to Mahlon taking the field from his line, and Adam Clarke rejects the Targum's claim that the kinsman was already married.
Ruth 4:5
“Buy it - According to the law, Deut. xxv, 5. To raise,&c. - To revive his name, which was buried with his body, by raising up a seed to him, to be called by his name.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ruth 4:5
“For, by the law, when a man died, the marriage bond with his wife was passed on to his brother or other male next of kin, in order that the seed of the brother or next of kin might renew the life of the house. And so it was that Ruth, though she was foreign-born, had possessed a husband of the Jewish people who had left a kinsman of near relation.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.69-70patristic
Ruth 4:5
“Observe the action of the Levirate law. If there had been no one interested but Naomi, she would have sold the land unclogged by any condition, the law of Levirate having no existence in her case. But there was a young widow upon whom the possession of the land would devolve at Naomi’s death, and who already had a right of partnership in it, and the law of Levirate did apply in her case. It was, therefore, the duty of the גאל gā'al to marry her and raise up seed to his brother, i. e. his kinsman.”
The Targum says the man refused because he already had a wife, and Adam Clarke answers that the law of Deuteronomy 25:5 to 9 gives that reason no ground. The text's own reason is money. A son by Ruth would inherit the field he had paid for.
Ruth 4:6
“I cannot redeem it for myself - The Targum gives the proper sense of this passage: “And the kinsman said, On this ground I cannot redeem it, because I have a wife already; and I have no desire to take another, lest there should be contention in my house, and I should become a corrupter of my inheritance. Do thou redeem it, for thou hast no wife; for I cannot redeem it.” This needs no comment. But still the gloss of the Targum has no foundation in the law of Moses. See the law, Deu 25:5-9.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ruth 4:7-8
Verse 7 explains a custom to readers who no longer kept it, which places the writing long after the events. Deuteronomy 25:9 has the widow pull off the man's sandal and spit, while here the man removes his own sandal and no shaming is recorded. Albert Barnes reads a general form of transfer, and Keil and Delitzsch read Deuteronomy as the narrow case and Ruth as the wider custom.
Ruth 4:7
“In former time in Israel - Showing that the custom was obsolete in the writer’s days. The letter of the law (see the marginal reference) was not strictly followed. It was thought sufficient for the man to pull off his own shoe and give it to the man to whom he ceded his right, in the presence of the elders of his city.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:7
“All things - That is, in all alienation of lands. So that it is no wonder if this ceremony differ a little from that, Deut. xxv, 9, because that concerned only one case, but this is more general.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The sandal marks the transfer of the right, as verse 7 explains. In Deuteronomy 25:9 the widow pulls it off and spits, while here the man removes it himself and no shame is attached. The book records his refusal and never gives his name.
Ruth 4:8
“Honesty will be found the best policy. 9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye 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.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Boaz buys the field and takes Ruth with it
Ruth 4:9-10
The words "You are witnesses today" fall twice here and nowhere else in Scripture, and they close a sale this size without a document. Boaz acts "to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance", so the business is a name before a field. Matthew Henry reads Boaz as a figure of Christ buying back a forfeited inheritance, and the reading is his own.
Ruth 4:9
“Boaz said unto the elders, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was . . . Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi--Although the widow of Chilion was still living, no regard was paid to her in the disposal of her husband's property.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:9
“Our Lord Jesus is our Goel, our Redeemer, our everlasting Redeemer. He looked, like Boaz, with compassion on the deplorable state of fallen mankind. At a vast expense he redeemed the heavenly inheritance for us, which by sin was mortgaged, and forfeited into the hands of divine justice, and which we should never have been able to redeem.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that once the nearer man withdrew, Boaz was bound by law to take her. Only here does the book say which brother Ruth married. The purpose Boaz states is the dead man's name kept on his land and at his town gate.
Ruth 4:10
“Ruth the Moabitess . . . have I purchased to be my wife--This connection Boaz not only might form, since Ruth had embraced the true religion, but he was under a legal necessity of forming it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ruth 4:11-12
We are witnesses: The elders name Rachel and Leah over a Moabite bride, and Genesis 35:19 buries Rachel on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 names the same town by the same double name. The blessing also names "Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah", one irregular line set over another, and the genealogy ending the chapter starts from Perez as the answer to this prayer.
Ruth 4:11
“There was no signing of deeds; yet was the transfer made, and complete security given, by the public manner in which the whole matter was carried on and concluded. the Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah--This was the usual bridal benediction.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Ruth 4:11
“The elders confirmed the marriage with a blessing, saying, "The Lord made this woman," etc. Moreover, "So that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrathah," they predicted the salvific birth through which Bethlehem was made famous among all people.”
Theodoret of Cyrus · written before 458 · QUESTIONS ON RUTHpatristic
Ruth 4:11
“Rachel and Leah - Amiable and fruitful. These two are singled out, because they were of a foreign original, and yet ingrafted into God's people, as Ruth was; and because of that fertility which God vouchsafed unto them above their predecessors, Sarah and Rebecca. Rachel is placed before Leah, because she was his most lawful, and best-beloved wife.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Adam Clarke notes that the Bethlehem families, Elimelech's among them, came from Perez. John Wesley adds that the house of Perez became one of the chief families of Judah. Tamar too was a widow who bore Judah an heir.
Ruth 4:12
“Like the house of Pharez - This was very appropriate; for from Pharez, the son of Judah, by Tamar, came the family of the Beth-lehemites and that of Elimelech.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:12
“Pharez - As honourable and numerous as his family was; whom, though be also was born of a stranger, God so blessed, that his family was one of the five families to which all the tribe of Judah belonged, and the progenitor of the inhabitants of this city.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
A son laid in Naomi's lap, and the line down to David
God is reported acting twice in the book, giving his people food at 1:6 and here enabling conception, and people keeping faith do everything between. Deuteronomy 23:3 bars a Moabite from the assembly, and the book neither cites nor argues it. Adam Clarke and John Gill report Jewish readings limiting the bar to Moabite men or to Moabites who kept their gods, and Ruth left hers at 1:16.
Ruth 4:13
“So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife,.... Without any other rites or ceremonies than what are here expressed; for as yet the rites and ceremonies now in use with the Jews (o), in marriages had not obtained: and when he went in unto her; which is a modest expression of the conjugal duty performed him: the Lord gave her conception; for this is of God, let the circumstance of the person, as to age, be as it may: and she bare a son; at the year's end, as Josephus (p) relates, (o) Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:13
“So Boaz took Ruth - The law of Moses had prohibited the Moabites, even to the tenth generation, from entering into the congregation of the Lord; but this law, the Jews think, did not extend to women; and even if it had, Ruth’s might be considered an exempt case, as she had been already incorporated into the family by marriage; and left her own country, people, and gods, to become a proselyte to the true God in the land of Israel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ruth 4:14-15
The women bless the LORD before the woman who asked at 1:20 to be called Mara, and give the newborn the title "kinsman-redeemer", held by Boaz since 3:9. "He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age" answers her summary at 1:21. Seven sons marks a full house, as at Job 1:2, and a Moabite daughter-in-law is "better to you than seven sons".
Ruth 4:14
“And the women said unto Naomi,.... The inhabitants of Bethlehem, as they fell into her company; or perhaps these were the women that were called to the labour of Ruth, and attended the birth of the child: blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman; a grandchild born to her that day. In Moab she was bereaved of her husband and of two sons; but now she is not left without a relation, a kinsman, and a redeemer, for which the women blessed God, and stirred her up to do the same.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:14
“Which hath not, &c. - The words may be rendered, Which hath not made, or suffered thy kinsman to fail thee; that is, to refuse the performances of his duty to thee and thine, as the other kinsman did. Famous - Hebrew. and his name shall be famous in Israel, for this noble and worthy action.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Seven sons was the full measure of blessing, as Hannah's song says at 1 Samuel 2:5. The women give Ruth that rank in Naomi's life. John Wesley remarks that God often supplies comfort through the relative from whom it was least expected.
Ruth 4:15
“Thy life - That is, of the comfort of thy life. Born him - Or, hath born to him; that is, to thy kinsman a son. Better than seven sons - See how God sometimes makes up the want of those relations from whom we expected most comfort, in those from whom we expected least!”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ruth 4:16-17
And Naomi took the child: The neighbor women name the child and neither parent is recorded doing it, and John Gill cites Josephus making Naomi the namer on their advice. "A son has been born to Naomi" is said of Mahlon's legal heir and Boaz's son, and it closes the account of her losses. Obed means serving, verse 15 has said whom he serves, and the name David enters Scripture in verse 17.
Ruth 4:16
“And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom,.... As a token of her most tender love and affection for it; this it is probable she did quickly after the birth of it: and became a nurse unto it; that is, after the mother had suckled and weaned it, then she took it from her, and brought it up.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ruth 4:16
“Naomi took the child - This might do for Naomi, but it was bad for the child. A child, unless remarkably healthy and robust, will suffer considerably by being nursed by an old woman, especially if the child sleep with her. The aged gain refreshment and energy by sleeping with the young; and from the same means the young derive premature decrepitude. The vigor which is absorbed by the former is lost by the latter. It is a foolish and destructive custom to permit young children, which is a common case, to sleep with aged aunts and old grandmothers.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ruth 4:16
“Grandmothers are often the most fond. Ruth is hereby brought in among the ancestors of David and Christ, which was the greatest honour. The genealogy is here drawn from Pharez, through Boaz and Obed, to David, and so leads towards the Messiah, and therefore it is not an endless genealogy.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Adam Clarke gives Obed as serving, a name that fits the child who will sustain Naomi in her old age. John Gill thinks the naming took place at the circumcision on the eighth day, as with John at Luke 1:59. The verse then reaches two generations on to David.
Ruth 4:17
“The neighbors gave it a name - That is, they recommended a name suitable to the circumstances of the case; and the parents and grandmother adopted it. They called his name Obed - עובד obed, serving, from עבד abad, he served. Why was this name given? Because he was to be the nourisher of her old age, Rth 4:15. And so he must be by lying in her bosom, even if services in future life were wholly left out of the question. These neighbors of Naomi were skillful people. See on Rth 4:16 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ruth 4:18-20
Now these are the generations: The heading "these are the generations" is the formula Genesis uses ten times, from 2:4 to 37:2. Ten names run from Perez to David, the count from Adam to Noah and from Shem to Abraham. Nahshon, prince of Judah at Numbers 1:7 and Aaron's brother-in-law at Exodus 6:23, dates the list to the exodus, and Albert Barnes calls four names for near four centuries an unsolved difficulty.
Ruth 4:18
“Now these are the generations - The Targum gives a copious paraphrase on this and the following verses, I shall insert the principal parts in their proper places.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:18
“8 Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for thee. Boaz calls a court immediately. It is probable he was himself one of the elders (or aldermen) of the city; for he was a mighty man of wealth.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Gill notes that the Septuagint and Matthew 1:3 give Ram as Aram. He counts Ram and Amminadab among those born while Israel was in Egypt. The list crosses centuries in a few names.
Ruth 4:19
“And Hezron begat Ram,.... Called Aram by the Septuagint, and so in Mat 1:3, and Ram begat Amminadab; in whose name there is no variation, neither in the book of Chronicles nor in the Evangelists; both these, as well as the next, were born in Egypt.”
Nahshon led the tribe of Judah in the wilderness, as Numbers 7:12 records. The Hebrew spells the name of Salmon as Salmah here and Salmon in the next verse, and Adam Clarke traces the difference to a copyist. Matthew 1:5 makes Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab.
Ruth 4:20
“And Amminadab begat Nahshon,.... The prince of the tribe of Judah, as the Targum adds; and so he was when the Israelites were come out of Egypt, and were in the wilderness at the time of the dedication of the altar, Num 7:12 called Nahsson, Mat 1:4, and Nahshon begat Salmon; or, as in the Hebrew text, Salmah, and in 1Ch 2:11, Salma; and yet in the verse following Salmon, as we read it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:20
“Amminadab begat Nahshon - The Targum adds, “And Nahshon was chief of the house of his father in the tribe of Judah.” Nahshon begat Salmon - In the Hebrew it is שלמה Salmah, which Houbigant thinks was an error of an ancient scribe, before any final letters were acknowledged in the Hebrew alphabet: for then the word would be written שלמון Salmon, which a scribe, after final letters were admitted, might mistake for שלמה Salmah, and so write it, instead of שלמון Salmon, the ו vau and final nun in conjunction (ון) bearing some resemblance to ה.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ruth 4:21-22
Ruth never names the mother of Boaz, but Matthew 1:5 names Rahab, so a woman of Jericho and a Moabite widow share one verse of Christ's line. Albert Barnes suggests, marking it as a suggestion, that a son of such a mother was readier to marry Ruth. The list recurs at 1 Chronicles 2:10-12, Matthew 1:3-6 and Luke 3:32-33, and the book closes on a king's name.
Ruth 4:21
“And Salmon begat Boaz,.... Of Rahab the harlot, whom he married, Mat 1:5 the very same person that makes a principal part of this book, and whom the Targum here takes to be the judge Ibzan; see Gill on Rth 1:1. and Boaz begat Obed; of Ruth; of whom see the preceding verses.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ruth 4:21
“Salmon begat Boaz - Matthew has preserved the additional interesting information that the mother of Boaz was Rahab Josh. 2; 6. It is possible that the circumstance that the mother of Boaz was a Canaanite may have made him less indisposed to marry Ruth the Moabitess. As regards the whole genealogy in Rth 4:18-22, it should be remarked that it occurs four times in Scripture, namely, here, 1Ch 2:10-12; Mat 1:3-6; and Luk 3:32-33, and is of course of singular importance as being the genealogy of our Lord. One or two difficulties in it still remain unsolved.”
ConnectionsMatthew 1:5
The book closes on David, a name it has not used before, and that name explains why the story was kept. The son of Boaz and Ruth is the grandfather of Israel's king. Matthew 1:5 and 1:6 carry this line to Christ.
Ruth 4:22
“And Obed begat Jesse - “Who,” says the Targum, “also is called Nachash, נחש because neither iniquity nor corruption was found in him, that he should be delivered into the hands of the angel of death, that he might take away his soul from him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: Two forms in one chapter, a legal scene at the gate at 4:1 to 17 and a genealogy at 4:18 to 22, which the book page titles The gate: legal redemption and the genealogy, as guide classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| You are witnesses | The phrase falls twice in verses 9 and 10 and nowhere else in Scripture, which is how a sale of this size closes with no document. The elders and all the people answer it at verse 11, we are witnesses, and their answer runs straight on into a blessing. Nothing about the transaction is private.the site's Ruth exposition, note on 4:9 to 10, citing Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871. | Ruth 4:9, Ruth 4:10, Ruth 4:11 |
| Ho, such a one | Boaz calls the nearer kinsman by an idiom that withholds a name, the same way a name is hidden at 1 Samuel 21:2 and 2 Kings 6:8. The man who declines the redemption stays unnamed for the rest of Scripture, and Boaz, who takes it up, is named in Matthew's genealogy.the site's Ruth exposition, note on 4:1 to 2, citing Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1810 to 1826, and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763. | Ruth 4:1, Ruth 4:6, Ruth 4:8 |
| The sandal, a receipt here and a shaming there | Deuteronomy 25:9 puts the shoe in the widow's hands, with spitting and a name of reproach fixed on the house. Here the man draws off his own shoe and hands it over, and no shaming is recorded. Albert Barnes reads the difference as the letter of that law giving way to a general form of transfer, and Keil and Delitzsch read Deuteronomy as the narrow case and Ruth as the wider custom.the site's Ruth exposition, note on 4:7 to 8, citing Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, and Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1834 to 1885. | Ruth 4:7, Ruth 4:8 |
| Now these are the generations | The formula that organised Genesis ten times, from the heavens and the earth at 2:4 to Jacob at 37:2, falls next in Scripture at verse 18. Ten names run from Perez to David, the same count as Adam to Noah in Genesis 5 and Shem to Abraham in Genesis 11. The elders had prayed at verse 12 for a house like the house of Perez, and the list starts there.the site's Ruth exposition, notes on 4:11 to 12 and 4:18 to 20, citing Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1834 to 1885, and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863. | Ruth 4:12, Ruth 4:18, Ruth 4:22 |
The structure
15 more paragraphs on the patterns
Four movements, and the chapter is timed by a single morning. Naomi told Ruth at 3:18 that the matter would be settled that day, and verse 1 opens with Boaz going up to the gate. Everything from the offer to the sandal happens before the town has fully gathered.
The two statutes bound together
Leviticus 25:25 puts the duty of buying back family land on the nearest kinsman. Deuteronomy 25:5 to 10 puts the duty of marrying a childless widow on the dead man's brother, which Boaz is not. Ruth 4 does both in one transaction. The dossier sets out three ways scholars account for the blend. A wider unwritten kinsman custom of which Deuteronomy 25 preserves the brother's case alone, a legitimate extension where no brother survives, or a local Bethlehem practice the book reports. Keil and Delitzsch worked the legal question at length in their Joshua, Judges, Ruth volume.
What the kinsman was protecting
He gives his reason as jeopardising his own inheritance, and the text never says how. Albert Barnes reads a son counted to Mahlon carrying the field back out of his line. The Targum has him already married, which Adam Clarke reports and says has no footing in the law of Moses.
What Naomi had to sell
How Naomi holds land at all is disputed. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read a right to the use of it during her life rather than the title. Albert Barnes reads a sale priced against the years remaining until the jubilee.
The second act of God in the book
God is reported acting twice in Ruth. At 1:6 He gives His people bread, and at verse 13 He gives conception. Everything between the two is done by people keeping faith with one another. The clause the LORD enabled her to conceive occurs nowhere else in Scripture.
The blessing and the names in it
Rachel died on the road to Ephrath, which Genesis 35:19 says is Bethlehem, so the blessing invokes a woman buried within sight of where it is spoken. Ephrathah occurs here for the first time in Scripture, and Micah 5:2 addresses the same town by the same double name. Perez was born to Tamar and Judah in Genesis 38, so the elders set one irregular line over another.
The genealogy and its gaps
Nahshon fixes the middle of the list at the exodus, since Numbers 1:7 and 7:12 make him prince of Judah in the wilderness and Exodus 6:23 makes him brother-in-law to Aaron. From Nahshon to David is four names for something near four centuries. Albert Barnes says the difficulties in this list remain unsolved, and whether a Hebrew genealogy of this kind names every father or selects among them is where readers differ.
Where the chapter reaches
The name David enters Scripture at verse 17 and the chapter ends on it. Matthew opens his Gospel by naming Ruth in Messiah's genealogy at Matthew 1:5, where she stands with Tamar, Rahab and the wife of Uriah. The line this chapter closes is the line Matthew 1 carries the rest of the way.
Keep studying
Studies5
Places1
Words12
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Stephen Bertman, Journal of Biblical Literature, 1965, carried as a proposed chiasm in the site's Ruth dossier; the site's Ruth exposition, note on 4:5 to 6, citing Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, 1834 to 1885, and Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1810 to 1826 and the site's Ruth guide, src/components/book/guides/ruth/RuthGuide.tsx, the movements table, movement IV.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.