Ruth 4:1-22 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ruth 4:1-8

Here, 1. Boaz calls a court immediately. It is probable he was himself one of the elders (or aldermen) of the city; for he was a mighty man of wealth. Perhaps he was father of the city, and sat chief; for he seems here to have gone up to the gate as one having authority, and not as a common person; like Job, Job 29:7-25 We cannot suppose him less than a magistrate in his city who was grandson to Nahshon, prince of Judah; and his lying at the end of a heap of corn in the threshing-floor the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ruth 4:9-12

Boaz now sees his way clear, and therefore delays not to perform his promise made to Ruth that he would do the kinsman's part, but in the gate of the city, before the elders and all the people, publishes a marriage-contract between himself and Ruth the Moabitess, and therewith the purchase of all the estate that belonged to the family of Elimelech. If he had not been (Ruth 2:1) a mighty man of wealth, he could not have compassed this redemption, nor done this service to his kinsman's family.... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ruth 4:13-22

Here is, I. Ruth a wife. Boaz took her, with the usual solemnities, to his house, and she became his wife (Ruth 4:13), all the city, no doubt, congratulating the preferment of a virtuous woman, purely for her virtues. We have reason to think that Orpah, who returned from Naomi to her people and her gods, was never half so well preferred as Ruth was. He that forsakes all for Christ shall find more than all with him; it shall be recompensed a hundred-fold in this present time. Now Orpah wished... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:1

Then went Boaz up to the gate ,.... In the middle of the day, as Josephus F4 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 4. 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:2

And he took ten men of the elders of the city ,.... Who were such, not merely in age but in office, who were the heads of thousands, fifties, and tens; ten of whom were a quorum to do business in judiciary affairs, to determine such matters as Boaz had propose, as to whom the right of redemption of a brother and kinsman's widow, and her estate, belonged, and who were the proper witnesses of the refusal of the one to do it, and of the other's doing it and from hence the Jews F5 Misnah... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:3

And he said unto the kinsman ,.... That is, Boaz said to the kinsman he called to, and who sat down by him before the ten elders that were present: Naomi, that is come again out of the land of Moab, selleth a parcel of land ; meaning, that she was determined upon it, and was about to do it, and would do it quickly, and he had it in commission to propose it to a purchaser: which was our brother Elimelech's ; not in a strict sense, but being akin to the kinsman and himself, and having... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:4

And I thought to advertise thee ,.... To give him notice of it; or "I said" F7 ואני אמרתי "et ego dixi", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.; ; he said in his heart and mind, purposing to do it; or he said it to Ruth, promising her that he would do it: saying, buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people ; or before those that sat there, even the elders, as witnesses of the purchase: if thou wilt redeem it, redeem it : for it was redeemable by a near kinsman... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:5

Then said Boaz ,.... In order to try the kinsman, whether he would abide by his resolution, he acquaints him with what he had as yet concealed: what day thou buyest the field of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead ; the wife of Mahlon, who was dead, the eldest son of Naomi, and so his widow, Ruth the Moabitess, had the reversion of the estate; wherefore the purchase must be made of her as well as of Naomi, and the purchase could not be made of her... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:6

And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself ,.... On such a condition, because he had a wife, as the Targum suggests; and to take another would, as that intimates, tend to introduce contention into his family, and make him uncomfortable; so Josephus says F8 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 4. , he had a wife and children, for that reason it was not convenient for him to take the purchase on such a condition: lest I mar my own inheritance ; he considered, that as he had a wife and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:7

Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming ,.... It is a custom, and not a law, that seems here referred to, when an estate was bought and sold; not the law in Leviticus 25:25 , though that respects the redemption of an estate by a near kinsman, yet no such manner was enjoined as here practised afterwards, made mention of; nor the law in Deuteronomy 25:5 which does not concern the redemption of estates, nor a kinsman's marrying the widow of a deceased kinsman,... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ruth 4:1-8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ruth 4:9-12

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ruth 4:13-22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:1

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:3

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:5

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:6

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ruth 4:7

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