Boaz and Ruth were married, and they later produced the forebear of David — who was the forebearer of Jesus. That this is a love story with eternal impact reveals why the book of Ruth was read each year to the children of Israel during the feasts of Israel. In the third chapter of this love story, Ruth approached Boaz with the request that he become her kinsman-redeemer.
This was not the bold move of an impatient single woman. This was a request guided by Naomi, who understood the legal obligations of family based on Deuteronomy — Boaz obeyed the law God gave in Deuteronomy. Instead he openly respected the law and his relative. And he won the bride! The cost, financially and emotionally, did not cause Boaz to hesitate.
Ruth 4 reveals that another relative was a close kinsman. Boaz enthusiastically married a woman from the wrong side of the tracks who had financial and emotional needs. Of course, all women bring needs into a marriage. A Man Worth Waiting For is a man who can handle your particular baggage. Boaz was a symbol of Jesus as our ultimate Kinsman-Redeemer, who brought us back from the enemy of our souls.
This fact transforms them from simple Moabite women to members of the royal family. According to Ruth Zuta , Ma h lon was worthier than Chilion. According to R. Meir Ruth Rabbah , Ruth did not convert during her marriage to Ma h lon, even though her husband could have converted her.
Zohar Hadash on Ruth fol. A different pattern appears in Ruth Rabbah , in which Ruth is perceived, from the outset, as faithful to Naomi and her way. Their very first walking together is understood as a discussion of the laws of conversion Ruth Rabbah and some of these very laws are even derived from the conversation of these two women BT Yevamot 47b. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Nor is it the way of Israel to go more than two thousand cubits on the Sabbath. The Amoraim of The Land of Israel Erez Israel vigorously opposed going to the Roman theater, an idolatrous venue, and the unbridled and licentious behavior that was rampant in the mixed cities.
The emphasis upon the prohibition of a man being alone with a woman is fascinating in light of the scene in the threshing floor, in which Naomi tells Ruth to transgress this prohibition.
Furthermore, the BT teaches that this ban was only imposed by the court of David after the episode of Amnon and Tamar Sanhedrin 21a. The latter had thirty sons and thirty daughters, and Bava Batra asserts that they all died in his lifetime.
This fact creates an analogy between Boaz and Naomi—a widow who lost her sons—and between him and Ruth—both have experienced loss of a spouse. Their second marriage and the birth of their son therefore constitute a healing for both, not only for Ruth. Ruth Rabbah also mentions Ibzan but does not identify him with Boaz.
The Book of Ruth does not mention that Boaz had a wife and children. It is highly unlikely that an important established man such as Boaz would have remained a bachelor until he married Ruth; consequently, the death of his first wife and children supports the Ibzan-Boaz identification. According to the midrash, Ruth was forty years old and not a young woman when Boaz married her, a fact that stresses the urgency of her desire to marry and bear children Ruth Rabbah ; BT Sabbath Shabbat b.
After Boaz and Ruth make their first acquaintance, Naomi advises Ruth to wait for him at night in the threshing floor. In the midrashic account, Ruth has reservations about such an act, but is nevertheless prepared to heed her mother-in-law, even if such behavior seems strange to her Ruth Rabbah ; Ruth Zuta Given the marriage themes in the book, I have wondered if they might have been part of the ancient Israelite marital vows or something similar. The poetry absolutely stands out there.
Any insight on this? I think this view is based on the fact that Boaz seems to be a wealthy and presumably middle-aged man. What are your thoughts about this? Thanks for your kind words and for following up on my recent posts with these questions. Let me begin with the one about Boaz. As I explain in my Joshua-Judges-Ruth study guide:. The other family guardian is initially willing to make this sacrifice. This explains why Boaz is the right husband for Ruth.
If he did have another wife, which is possible although again, not mentioned in the book, so we should not assume it , this would raise the further question of polygamy. We need to appreciate that in this culture, women were dependent on male relatives for provision and protection. So the commandment in the law of Moses for a close relative to marry a widow, even if he was already married himself, was a compassionate provision for her needs and those of her current and future children and dependents.
The Rev. Christopher R. Smith is an an ordained minister, a writer, and a biblical scholar. He was active in parish and student ministry for twenty-five years. He was a consulting editor to the International Bible Society now Biblica for The Books of the Bible, an edition of the New International Version NIV that presents the biblical books according to their natural literary outlines, without chapters and verses. His Understanding the Books of the Bible study guide series is keyed to this format.
He was also a consultant to Tyndale House for the Immerse Bible, an edition of the New Living Translation NLT that similarly presents the Scriptures in their natural literary forms, without chapters and verses or section headings.
He has a B. View all posts by Christopher R Smith. I say this because not too long after Ruth, David and Samuel both had many wives due to their standings as king. Unless that was something specifically for Kings. Thank you for your question. Glad in his heart that the famine was over in Israel, he sought rest after having thanked God and studied for a while in the Torah Tan. Ruth iii. Aroused out of his first sleep by Ruth, he was greatly frightened, as he thought that she was a devil; and he was convinced of the contrary only after touching the hair of her head, since devils are bald Tan.
When he perceived the pure and holy intentions of Ruth he not only did not reprove her for her unusual behavior, but he blessed her, and gave her six measures of barley, indicating thereby that six pious men should spring from her, who would be gifted by God with six excellences compare Isa.
Boaz fulfilled the promises he had given to Ruth, and when his kinsman the sources differ as to the precise relationship existing between them would not marry her because he did not know the Halakah which decreed that Moabite women were not excluded from the Israelitic community, Boaz himself married her Ruth R. Boaz was eighty and Ruth forty years old idem to iii. Buber, 55, below. The historical value of the genealogy Ruth iv. They suppose it to be the product of a tendency that existed at one period in post-exilic times, of finding a foreign origin for the most renowned families.
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