TOM · The Owner's Manual · Old Testament

Ruth 4

Chapter 4 in 30 seconds

Boaz goes to the town gate and calls over the closer relative, Mr. So and So. He wants the field until he hears that Ruth comes with it, so he takes off his sandal and backs out. Boaz marries Ruth, and the women of the town name their baby Obed. And Obed? He is King David's grandfather.

Tap a color to hide it

In this chapterThe Big QuestionThe Missing Generations · after verse 22 The Big QuestionWho Wrote Ruth? · after verse 22

Boaz Redeems Ruth

¹Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

RUTH 4:1[NOTE]THE GATE was the town courthouse, where the elders settled business. Boaz calls the other man peloni almoni, a Hebrew way of saying Mr. So and So. The man who would not keep a dead man's name alive does not get his own name in the book.

²Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

³And he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the land of Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴I thought I should inform you that you may buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do so. But if you will not redeem it, tell me so I may know, because there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.”

“I will redeem it,” he replied.

⁵Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and also from Ruth the Moabitess, you must also acquire the widow of the deceased in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.”

⁶The kinsman-redeemer replied, “I cannot redeem it myself, or I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I cannot redeem it.”

⁷Now in former times in Israel, concerning the redemption or exchange of property, to make any matter legally binding a man would remove his sandal and give it to the other party, and this was a confirmation in Israel. ⁸So the kinsman-redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.”

RUTH 4:7[NOTE]A custom so old the writer had to explain it. Compare Deuteronomy 25:9, where the widow pulls off the sandal.

⁹At this, Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon. ¹⁰Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to raise up the name of the deceased through his inheritance, so that his name will not disappear from among his brothers or from the gate of his home. You are witnesses today.”

RUTH 4:9[FORESHADOW]Boaz the kinsman redeemer buys back the land and takes Ruth as his wife → EPH 1:7; GAL 4:4-5

¹¹“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May Yahweh make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. ¹²And may your house become like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring Yahweh will give you by this young woman.”

Boaz Marries Ruth

¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And when he had relations with her, Yahweh enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

¹⁴Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer. May his name become famous in Israel. ¹⁵He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”

RUTH 4:14[NOTABLE]Naomi came home empty, 1:21. Now she has a redeemer, and Ruth is better than seven sons.

¹⁶And Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a nurse to him. ¹⁷The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse, the father of David.

RUTH 4:17[ARCHAEOLOGY]On the Tel Dan Stele
RUTH 4:17[NOTABLE]The last surprise: a Moabite widow's baby is King David's grandfather, in the line of the Messiah.

The Line of David// Matthew 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38

¹⁸Now these are the generations of Perez:

Perez was the father of Hezron,

RUTH 4:18[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → MT 1:3-6
RUTH 4:18[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → LK 3:31-33

¹⁹Hezron was the father of Ram,

Ram was the father of Amminadab,

²⁰Amminadab was the father of Nahshon,

Nahshon was the father of Salmon,

²¹Salmon was the father of Boaz,

Boaz was the father of Obed,

²²Obed was the father of Jesse,

and Jesse was the father of David.

The Big Question

The Missing Generations

Ten Names from Perez to David

Ruth 4:18 to 22 · Numbers 1:7 · Matthew 1:3 to 6 · Joshua 2

THE LIST: Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, David, 4:18 to 22. The same line is in 1 Chronicles 2:5 to 15, Matthew 1:3 to 6 and Luke 3:31 to 33.
THE MATH: Nahshon led the tribe of Judah in the wilderness, Numbers 1:7, so his son Salmon was alive when Israel entered the land. David was born about 1040 BC. By the early date for the Exodus, that leaves more than 350 years for just four men: Salmon, Boaz, Obed and Jesse. By the late date, it leaves about 170 years.
RAHAB: Matthew 1:5 says Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, the woman of Jericho, Joshua 2. If Rahab was really Boaz's mother, then Ruth's story happened early in the days of the judges.
AN OLD JEWISH GUESS: The Talmud says Boaz was the same man as Ibzan of Bethlehem, a judge who had thirty sons and thirty daughters, Judges 12:8 to 10. The Bible does not say so.
WHY THE LIST IS HERE: The story could have ended at 4:17. The list ties Ruth back to Perez and Tamar in Genesis 38 and forward to King David, so the reader sees that a small family story was part of God's big plan.

The Missing Generations · Every View

Matthew 1:8 · Genesis 5 · Genesis 11:10 to 26 · Genesis 49:10

VIEW 1: SOME NAMES ARE SKIPPED: Bible family lists often skip generations, and father of can mean ancestor of. Matthew 1:8 skips three kings of Judah, which helps him count fourteen generations, 1:17. Lists of ten names, like Genesis 5 and Genesis 11, may be built to be easy to remember. So the list gives the famous names, not every one.
VIEW 2: THE LIST IS COMPLETE: Others say every name is there, and these men had sons late in life. Boaz was clearly older than Ruth, 3:10. With the late date for the Exodus, four generations is easier to fit.
VIEW 3: RAHAB AS AN ANCESTOR: Some say Matthew means Rahab was an ancestor of Boaz, not his own mother, the way father can mean ancestor. Others say Matthew means she really was his mother, and that fits the skipped names view.
THE SAME LIST, FOUR TIMES: Ruth, 1 Chronicles 2, Matthew 1 and Luke 3 agree on these names, with small differences. Luke calls Salmon Sala, calls Ram Arni, and adds a name, Admin.
WHAT ALL AGREE ON: The point of the list is that David came from Perez, the son of Judah, the tribe that would hold the scepter, Genesis 49:10. God was keeping His promise across hundreds of years, one ordinary family at a time.

The Big Question

Who Wrote Ruth?

The Traditional View

Ruth 1:1 · 4:7 · 4:17 to 22 · 1 Samuel 16:1

THE BOOK DOES NOT SAY: Ruth never names its writer. What we know comes from tradition and clues in the book.
THE TALMUD: An old Jewish teaching in the Talmud, Bava Batra 14b, says Samuel wrote the book that bears his name, Judges and Ruth.
CLUES IN THE BOOK: It starts In the days when the judges ruled, 1:1, looking back on those days. It explains a custom from former times, 4:7. It ends with David's name, 4:17 and 4:22, so it was written after David was born, and many think after he was famous. It never mentions Solomon, so many traditional scholars think it was written in David's time.
WHERE IT SITS: English Bibles put Ruth right after Judges, like the old Greek Bible. The Hebrew Bible puts it in the third section, the Writings, as one of five short scrolls read on special days each year. Ruth is read at Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks.
WHY IT WAS WRITTEN: To show that David's family came from God's hidden kindness, and that a foreign woman who trusted Yahweh was welcomed into His people.

Who Wrote Ruth? · Every View

Ruth 4:18 to 22 · 1 Chronicles 2:5 to 15 · Ezra 9 to 10 · Nehemiah 13:23 to 27

VIEW 1: EARLY, IN DAVID'S TIME: Samuel or someone close to David's court wrote it, to show that David's family was God's choice. Supporters point to the old style of its Hebrew and to the fact that Solomon is never named.
VIEW 2: LATE, AFTER THE EXILE: Many scholars date it to the 500s or 400s BC, pointing to a few later Hebrew words and the way it explains old customs. They think its welcome of a Moabite answered the strict rules about foreign wives in Ezra and Nehemiah's day.
VIEW 3: AN OLD STORY WRITTEN DOWN LATER: Some say the story was told for generations and written down later, and that the family list in 4:18 to 22, which matches 1 Chronicles 2, was added at the end.
WHAT ALL AGREE ON: Whoever wrote it was a master storyteller. God never speaks and does no miracles in the book, yet the reader ends knowing God was in every step, from a famine in Bethlehem to the birth of a king.

Ruth 4

Boaz Redeems Ruth

Boaz Marries Ruth

The Line of David// Matthew 1:1–17; Luke 3:23–38

See the whole Bible light up in color.

Frequently asked questions