Ruth 4:1

_THEN WENT BOAZ UP TO THE GATE, AND SAT HIM DOWN THERE: AND, BEHOLD, THE KINSMAN OF WHOM BOAZ SPAKE CAME BY; UNTO WHOM HE SAID, HO, SUCH A ONE! TURN ASIDE, SIT DOWN HERE. AND HE TURNED ASIDE, AND SAT DOWN._ Then went Boaz up to the gate - a roofed building, unenclosed by walls; the place where in ancient times, and in many Eastern towns still, all business transactions are made, and where therefore the kinsman was most likely to be found. No preliminaries were necessary in summoning one before the public assemblage; no writings and no delay were required. In a short conversation the matter was stated and arranged-probably in the morning, as people went out, or at noon, when they returned from the field....

1-8 This matter depended on the laws given by Moses about inheritances, and doubtless the whole was settled in the regular and legal manner. This kinsman, when he heard the conditions of the bargain, refused it. In like manner many are shy of the great redemption; they are not willing to espouse religion; they have heard well of it, and have nothing to say against it; they will give it their good word, but they are willing to part with it, and cannot be bound to it, for fear of marring their own inheritance in this world. The right was resigned to Boaz. Fair and open dealing in all matters of contract and trade, is what all must make conscience of, who would approve themselves true Israelites, without guile. Honesty will be found the best policy....

CHAPTER IV _Boaz gathers a council of the elders at the city gates, states_ _the case, and proposes to the nearest kinsman to redeem the_ _inheritance of Elimelech, and take Ruth to wife_, 1-5. _The kinsman refuses, and relinquishes has right to Boaz_, 6. _The manner of redemption in such cases_, 7, 8. _Boaz redeems the inheritance in the presence of the elders, and_ _of the people, who witness the contract, and pray for God's_ _blessing upon the marriage_, 9-12. _Boaz takes Ruth for wife, and she bears a son_, 13. The people's

The gate is the place of concourse, of business, and of justice in Oriental cities (see Judges 19:15 note; Genesis 34:20; Deuteronomy 16:18). HO, SUCH A ONE! - Indicating that the name of the kinsman was either unknown or purposely concealed 1 Samuel 21:2; 2 Kings 6:8....

EXPOSITION RUTH 4:1 AND BOAZ WENT UP, TO THE GATE, AND SAT THERE. He "went up," for the city stood, as it still stands, on a ridge (see on Ruth 1:1; Ruth 3:6). "And sat there," on one of the stones, or stone benches, that were set for the accommodation of the townsfolk. The gateway in the East often corresponded, as a place of meeting, to the forum, or the market-place, in the West. Boaz had reason to believe that his kinsman would be either passing out to his fields, or passing in from his threshing-floor, through the one gate of the city. AND LO, THE KINSMAN OF WHOM BOAZ HAD SPOKEN WAS PASSING; AND HE SAID, HO, SUCH A ONE I TURN HITHER AND SIT HERE. And he turned and sat down. Boaz

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 to call one to determine the affair he had in hand; so the Targum, "and Boaz went up to the gate of the house of judgment of the sanhedrim:'' AND SET HIM DOWN THERE; waiting for the person or persons passing by, with whom be chose to speak: AND, BEHOLD, THE KINSMAN OF WHOM BOAZ SPAKE CAME BY; the kinsman that was nearer than he, of whom he had spoke to Ruth, that if he would not redeem her, he would; a "behold" is prefixed to this, to observe the providence of God that ordered it so, that he should come that way just at the time Boaz was sitting...

CHAPTER 4 THE REDEMPTION AND MARRIAGE _ 1. The other kinsman (Ruth 4:1)_ 2. His refusal (Ruth 4:6) 3. Boaz's redemption (Ruth 4:9) 4. The marriage (Ruth 4:11) 5. Naomi's happiness (Ruth 4:14) 6. The ancestry of David (Ruth 4:18) And now the other redeemer, who cannot redeem, appears. Boaz sits in the gate and hails the one whom he knew as he passeth by. He calls him not by name but said, “Ho, such a one! turn aside, and sit down here.” If Boaz had not called

RUTH 4. RUTH'S MARRIAGE. Ruth 4:1. Instead of such an one! Boaz called the person's actual name, which the narrator either does not know or does not see any need for bringing into the story. Ruth 4:2. The elders of the city are called in as witnesses of an important transaction affecting the rights of a family. For selleth we ought to read hath sold. The point is that the property had passed out of the family's hands and required to be redeemed. Ruth 4:5. Here the meaning is entirely missed in our translation. Read, Thou buyest Ruth also (_cf._ Ruth 4:10). Marriage by purchase was the ancient Semitic practice, but no more is meant here than t

THE KINSMAN. Hebrew. _Goel =_ the next of kin, who has the right of redemption. See notes on Exodus 6:6, and Exodus 13:13....

_Ruth's marriage and descendants_ 1 _.Now Boaz went up_ He had decided to redeem Elimelech's estate if the next of kin refused the obligation; this is the primary meaning of the transaction about to be described. _went up_, i.e. from the threshing-floor; cf. _go down_Ruth 3:3, of the opposite direction. Bethlehem is situated on the summit of two knolls. _the gate_ where family law was administered, Deuteronomy 25:7; cf. Deuteronomy 3:11 _n_. Boaz knew that the Go'el would be passing out of the town in the morning. _Ho, such a one!_ A form of address indicating a definite person without expressly naming him; cf....