24 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Ruth 4 This chapter relates how an offer was made to the nearest kinsman of Ruth to redeem her, and the field her husband left, which he refused to do, Ruth 4:1, upon which Boaz redeemed both, and married Ruth before the elders of the city as witnesses, and who congratulated him and her on that occasion, Ruth 4:9, to whom a son was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then went Boaz up to the gate,.... In the middle of the day, as Josephus (d) says, to the gate of the city, where people were continually passing and repassing to and from the country, and where he was most likely to meet with the person he wanted to see and converse with, and where courts of judicature were usually held, and where it was proper...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have the wedding between Boaz and Ruth, in the circumstances of which there was something uncommon, which is kept upon record for the illustration, not only of the law concerning the marrying of a brother's widow (Deut. xxv. 5, &c.), for cases help to expound laws, but of the gospel too, for from this marriage descended David,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he took ten men of the elders of the city,.... Who were such, not merely in age but in office, who were the heads of thousands, fifties, and tens; ten of whom were a quorum to do business in judiciary affairs, to determine such matters as Boaz had propose, as to whom the right of redemption of a brother and kinsman's widow, and her estate,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto the kinsman,.... That is, Boaz said to the kinsman he called to, and who sat down by him before the ten elders that were present: Naomi, that is come again out of the land of Moab, selleth a parcel of land; meaning, that she was determined upon it, and was about to do it, and would do it quickly, and he had it in commission to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I thought to advertise thee,.... To give him notice of it; or "I said" (g); he said in his heart and mind, purposing to do it; or he said it to Ruth, promising her that he would do it: saying, buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people; or before those that sat there, even the elders, as witnesses of the purchase: if...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said Boaz,.... In order to try the kinsman, whether he would abide by his resolution, he acquaints him with what he had as yet concealed: what day thou buyest the field of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead; the wife of Mahlon, who was dead, the eldest son of Naomi, and so his widow, Ruth the Moabitess,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself,.... On such a condition, because he had a wife, as the Targum suggests; and to take another would, as that intimates, tend to introduce contention into his family, and make him uncomfortable; so Josephus says (h), he had a wife and children, for that reason it was not convenient for him to take...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming,.... It is a custom, and not a law, that seems here referred to, when an estate was bought and sold; not the law in Leviticus 25:25, though that respects the redemption of an estate by a near kinsman, yet no such manner was enjoined as here practised afterwards, made mention of;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, buy it for me,.... Which is repeated to show he gave his full consent to it, that he should make the purchase of it if he pleased, and which he confirmed by the following rite: so he drew off his shoe; thereby signifying that he relinquished his right to the purchase of the estate, and ceded it to him; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people,.... Who were present at the gate of the city, or in court: ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's; all the land which belonged to him, who was the husband of Naomi, and the father of Ruth's husband, whose estate Boaz now bought, paying the value for it to Naomi:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife,.... Which was the condition on which the purchase of the land was, that whoever bought that should take her for his wife; nor did Boaz do evil in marrying her, though a Moabitess. Moab was not one of the nations with whom marriage was forbidden; and though it was a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, we are witnesses,.... Both of the purchase of the estate by Boaz being legally made, and of the marriage of Ruth to him, the condition of the bargain: the Lord make the woman that is come into thine house; not into his house, strictly and literally taken, the place of his habitation;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah,.... Of whose tribe the Bethlehemites were, and were also of the house or family of Pharez, as appears from Ruth 4:18, c. who was born to Judah of Tamar, one of another nation, as Ruth was, and from whom sprung a very numerous family, one of the five families of Judah and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life,.... Of the joys, pleasures, and comforts of it, which she had been deprived of through the death of her husband and her two sons, ever since which she had lived a sorrowful life; all the comfort she had was from her daughter-in-law, and now a grandchild being born to her of her would be a means of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the women her neighbours gave it a name,.... Josephus says (q) Naomi gave it, by the advice of her neighbours; very probably on the eighth day when he was circumcised, and the neighbours were invited on that occasion, at which time it seems it was usual to give names to children, see Lu 1:59. The Romans gave names to females on the eighth day,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now these are the generations of Pharez,.... The son of Judah, by Tamar before mentioned, Ruth 4:12, for the intention of this genealogy is to confirm the truth of Jacob's prophecy, of Shiloh the Messiah coming from the tribe of Judah, Genesis 49:10 and therefore it begins with Pharez, well known to be the son of Judah, and ends with David, whose...