Ruth — Chapter 4

Boaz went up to the gate and sat him down there. Judges sat at the gate so that countrypeople and strangers could easily approach and meet with them. Lapide on the unnamed kinsman called in Hebrew peloni almoni (\"such a one\"): his name is deliberately suppressed, as he was unworthy to be named — unwilling to raise up seed and name for his dead kinsman. Serarius: \"His name is justly buried in eternal oblivion who permits the name of his brother and kinsman to be buried in the same way.\"

Noemi was to sell the portion of the field that belonged to Elimelech. Lapide explains: although wives did not inherit from their dead husbands or other deceased kindred among the Hebrews, yet from this passage it is gathered that they had the usufruct of their husband's inheritance for life, and could thus sell it; but the right of purchase lay first with the kinsmen of the deceased husband, to whom the inheritance was to revert after the widow's death. And whoever of the kinsmen wished to buy the inheritance was bound also to take the deceased's widow as wife, so as to raise up seed for him whose inheritance he had obtained.

The nearer kinsman says: \"I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance.\" Lapide: he explains he already has a wife and children to support and provide for; he does not wish to bring home a second wife with her children to diminish the portion of those already born; moreover, the firstborn son from Ruth would be reckoned not his own but would be raised up for the name of the dead man. The Chaldean: \"I cannot take it for myself... because I have a wife; I cannot take another alongside her, lest there arise strife in my house and I corrupt my inheritance.\"

A man plucked off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour — the ceremony of shoe-removal was a political and legal sign. Lapide distinguishes two kinds of excalceation: (1) as punishment — if a man's own brother refused to marry his brother's childless widow, the law (Deut. 25:9) ordered him to be forcibly unshod and spat upon in the face, a great shame and ignominy; (2) as sign of cession of right — if the man was only a more distant kinsman (not a full brother), he was not bound by law but by custom, and if he chose not or could not fulfil the duty, he removed his shoe before the judges and handed it to the other kinsman, signifying that he resigned his right both to buy the field and to take the widow. St. Ambrose allegorically: \"It was signified that one from among the Jews was to come, of whom Christ is according to the flesh, who would raise up for his dead kinsman the seed of heavenly doctrine... Moses is not the Spouse — to him it is said 'Loose the shoe from thy feet' (Exod. 3). Jesus (Joshua) is not the Spouse — lest he be thought so from the similarity of the name (Jos. 5). Christ alone is the Spouse, of whom John said: 'He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.' To those others the shoe is loosed; to him it cannot be loosed, as John said: 'I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his shoe.'\"

Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chelion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. Boaz publicly declares before the elders and all the people at the gate his acquisition of all the estate of Elimelech and his two sons, so that the names of the deceased shall not perish from their family and from Israel.

Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren. Lapide: Boaz acted licitly, since Ruth was already a proselyte converted to Judaism. The Author of the Incomplete Work: \"Ruth married Boaz on account of the merit of her faith, because she despised her own people, land, and race, and chose Israel, and did not despise her mother-in-law who was both widow and pilgrim... And Boaz on account of the merit of his faith received her as wife, so that from such a sanctified marriage a royal race might be born — for Boaz, now constituted in age, took a wife not for himself but for God; not from passion of body but from the righteousness of the law.\"

The people and elders at the gate bless Ruth: \"The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel.\" Lapide: Rachel and Leah gave Jacob twelve sons who became the twelve tribes, the parents of all Israel, and hence are called Patriarchs. The Chaldean adds: \"in the twelve tribes.\"

And let thy house be like the house of Phares, whom Thamar bore unto Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. Lapide notes that just as Thamar the Canaanite, who was a foreigner, was brought into the genealogy of Juda and thus of the Messiah, so Ruth the Moabitess enters by the same providence.

So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife... and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Lapide: Boaz acted licitly because Ruth was already a proselyte. The Author of the Incomplete Work: \"Ruth, for the merit of her faith, married Boaz; for she had despised her own people, country, and kindred, and chosen Israel, and had not despised her mother-in-law, a widow and a pilgrim, led by desire for her people more than her own.\" Jerome (Epistle 95): \"See how great a merit it is to have given consolation to a forsaken one — from her seed Christ arises.\"

Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. The women of Bethlehem congratulate Noemi on the birth of her grandson Obed, whom she takes into her bosom and nurses. Lapide: in this act Noemi teaches the child to walk, to speak, to honour God, to obey his parents, to hear God's law, to flee shameful things and follow honest ones — for on childhood depends adolescence, manhood, and the whole life of man. Jerome (to Laeta, on the education of little Paula): \"If thou sendest me Paula, I myself pledge to be both her teacher and her foster-father; I shall carry her on my shoulders, as an old man form her babbling words — far more glorious than the philosopher of the Macedonian king, since I shall educate not a king destined to perish by Babylonian poison, but a handmaid and bride of Christ.\"

And the women, her neighbours, gave it a name, saying: There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Obed in Hebrew means \"serving, sustaining, supporting\" — named in hope that he would serve his parents in their old age and comfort their decline. Lapide compares the name to the Roman Scipio (Cornelius Scipio who bore his blind father like a staff). Alternatively Obed means \"one who serves/honours God.\" Lapide: \"Obed was pious both toward God and toward his parents, from whom David sucked his virtue and piety.\"

Salmon begot Booz; and Booz begot Obed. Lapide notes Salmon is not Salomon: the two names differ in their Hebrew spelling and meaning. Salmon in Hebrew = \"clothed\" or \"clothing\"; Salomon = \"peaceable.\" Salmon was the husband of Rahab the harlot (Jos. 2), who received the spies of Joshua.

Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. Jesse (Isai) in Hebrew = \"gift,\" or \"one who exists,\" or \"debtor.\" Lapide notes the chronological difficulty: from Salmon's entry into Canaan to the fourth year of Solomon is 440 years, yet only five generations are listed (Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David). Most probably, as in Matthew 1, certain intermediate and more obscure generations are omitted, with only the more illustrious named: Nahasson, because he was prince of the tribe of Juda at the entry into the Holy Land; Boaz, because he was husband of Ruth, whose history is here narrated; Obed, because from him was born Jesse the father of King David.