Page:02.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.A.vol.2.EarlyProphets.djvu/500

 =Chap. 4= =Boaz Marries Ruth - Ruth 4=

Verse1
To redeem the promise he had given to Ruth, Boaz went the next morning to the gate of the city, and calling to the nearer redeemer as he passed by, asked him, before the elders of the city, to redeem the piece of land which belonged to Elimelech and had been sold by Naomi; and if he did this, at the same time to marry Ruth, to establish the name of the deceased upon his inheritance (Rth 4:1-5). But as he renounced the right of redemption on account of the condition attached to the redemption of the field, Boaz undertook the redemption before the assembled people, together with the obligation to marry Ruth (Rth 4:6-12). The marriage was blessed with a son, who became the father of Jesse, the father of David (Rth 4:13-17). The book closes with a genealogical proof of the descent of David from Perez (Rth 4:18-22). “Boaz had gone up to the gate, and had sat down there.” This circumstantial clause introduces the account of the further development of the affair. The gate, i.e., the open space before the city gate, was the forum of the city, the place where the public affairs of the city were discussed. The expression “went up” is not to be understood as signifying that Boaz went up from the threshing-floor where he had slept tot the city, which was situated upon higher ground, for, according to Rth 3:15, he had already gone to the city before he went up to the gate; but it is to be explained as referring to the place of justice as an ideal eminence to which a man went up (vid., Deu 17:8). The redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken - that is to say, the nearer relation of Elimelech - then went past, and Boaz requested him to come near and sit down. סוּר as in Gen 19:2, etc.: “Sit down here, such a one.” אלמני פּלני, any one, a certain person, whose name is either unknown or not thought worth mentioning (cf. 1Sa 21:3; 2Ki 6:8). Boaz would certainly call him by his name; but the historian had either not heard the name, or did not think it necessary to give it.

Verses 2-5
Rth 4:2-5 Boaz then called ten of the elders of the city as witnesses of the business to be taken in hand, and said to the redeemer in their presence, “The piece of field which belonged to our brother (i.e., our relative) Elimelech (as an hereditary family possession), Naomi has sold, and I have thought (lit. 'I said,' sc., to myself; cf. Gen 17:17; Gen 27:41), I will open thine ear (i.e., make it known, disclose it): get it before those who sit here, and (indeed) before the elders of my people.” As the field had been sold