Ruth 2:5

_THEN SAID BOAZ UNTO HIS SERVANT THAT WAS SET OVER THE REAPERS, WHOSE DAMSEL IS THIS?_ His servant that was set over the reapers - an overseer, whose special duty was to superintend the operations in the field, to supply provisions to the reapers, and pay them for their labour in the evening....

4-16 The pious and kind language between Boaz and his reapers shows that there were godly persons in Israel. Such language as this is seldom heard in our field; too often, on the contrary, what is immoral and corrupt. A stranger would form a very different opinion of our land, from that which Ruth would form of Israel from the converse and conduct of Boaz and his reapers. But true religion will teach a man to behave aright in all states and conditions; it will form kind masters and faithful servants, and cause harmony in families. True religion will cause mutual love and kindness among persons of different ranks. It had these effects on Boaz and his men. When he came to them he prayed for them. They did not, as soon as he was out of hearing curse him, as some ill-natured servants that hate their master's eye, but they returned his courtesy. Things are likely to go on well where there is...

Verse Ruth 2:5. _HIS SERVANT THAT WAS SET OVER THE REAPERS_] This was a kind of steward or hind who had the under management of the estate. Some think that an _officer_ of this kind is intended in the description given by Homer of the labours of a harvest field, as represented by Vulcan on one compartment of the shield which he made for Achilles: - Εν δ' ετιθει τεμενος βαθυληΐον· ενθα δ εριθοι Ἡμων, οξειας δρεπανας εν χερσιν εχοντες· Δραγματα δ' αλλα μετ' ογμον επμον επητριμα πιπτον εραζε, Αλλα δ' αμαλλοδετηρες εν ελλεδανοισι δεοντο. Τρεις δ' αρ' αμαλλοδετηρες εφεστασαν· αυταρ οπισθε Παιδες δραγμευοντες, εν αγκαλιδεσσι φεροντες,...

EXPOSITION IT is by way of introduction to the remaining narrative that the writer says:— RUTH 2:1 AND NAOMI HAD, ON HER HUSBAND'S SIDE, A FRIEND. The C'tib reading מְיֻדַּע (absolute מְיֻדָע) is much to be preferred to the K'ri מוֹדַע. But מְיֻדָּע is ambiguous in import. It primarily means _known_, _well-known_, _acquainted_, _an acquaintance _(see Job 19:14; Psalms 55:13; Psalms 88:8, Psalms 88:18). But as intimate acquaintances, especially in a primitive and compar

THEN SAID BOAZ UNTO HIS SERVANT THAT WAS SET OVER THE REAPERS,.... To direct them their work, what part each was to do, and to see that they did it well; to take care for provisions for them, and to pay them their wages when their work was done. Josephus t calls him αγροκομος, that had the care of the field, and all things relative to it; the Jews u say, he was set over two and forty persons, whom he had the command of: WHOSE DAMSEL IS THIS? to whom does she belong? of what family is she? whose daughter is she? or whose wife? for he thought, as Aben Ezra notes, that she was another man's wife; the Targum is, of what nation is she? perhaps her dress might be somewhat different from that of the Israelitish women. t Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 2. u Midrash Ruth, fol. 32. 1....

CHAPTER 2 GLEANING IN THE FIELD _ 1. Ruth gleaning in the field of Boaz (Ruth 2:1)_ 2. Grace shown to Ruth by Boaz (Ruth 2:4) 3. Ruth hears concerning Boaz (Ruth 2:18) Boaz comes now upon the scene. His name means “in Him is strength.” He is called “a mighty man of wealth.” As the kinsman-redeemer he is a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one in whom there is strength, the rich one. Ruth knows at first little of him and the coming relationship with the wealthy one. Boaz is related to Elimelech, whose name “my God is king” is typical of Israel's faith. Through Elimelech only Naomi (the nation Israel) has a claim on Boaz. And she can only lay claim through Ruth. Even so Israel has a claim on the ble

THE MEETING OF BOAZ AND RUTH. Naomi's kinsman quite a different word from the near kinsman (goë l) of Ruth 2:20 is introduced in Heb. words which sometimes denoted a wealthy man, and sometimes a valiant man, so that a peaceful farmer like Boaz is characterised in the same terms as warriors like Gideon and Jephthah (Judges 6:12; Judges 11:1). The name Boaz may mean in Him is strength. Ruth 2:2. It was a custom, and it became a law, in Israel that the poor, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow should be permitted to glean in the harvest fields (Deuteronomy 24:19

Ruth Meets Boaz Ruth 2:1-23 _Ruth Gleans in the Field of Boaz Ruth 2:1-7_ And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband'S, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. 3 And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. 4 And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee. 5 Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? 6 And the servant that was set ove

2:5 servant (e-6) Or 'young man.' also ver. 6, as Judges 19:3 and 9....

RUTH THE GLEANER 1. Boaz] ('quickness') was a kinsman of Elimelech's. We are not informed of the precise degree of relationship. Here and at Ruth 3:2 he is designated an 'acquaintance.' It is by no means certain that we are to think of him as a mighty man of wealth'; the phrase here employed sometimes points out a capable, active man (1 Kings 11:28; Nehemiah 11:14). The Targum is of course wrong in explaining it by 'a man strong in the Law'—an explanation which reminds us of Apollos, 'mighty in the scriptures' (Acts 18:24). 2, 3. Ruth will not sit with folded hands. Like any other poor person she has a right to glean ...