Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ruth 4:5
Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy [it] also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
5. thou must buy it also of Ruth ] The text is certainly wrong, for it gives a misleading sense; with a small change read as in Rth 4:10, Ruth also thou must buy, with Vulg., Pesh.; the LXX. gives both translations! Rendered strictly the whole sentence runs ‘What day thou buyest thou wilt have bought (perf.) Ruth also’; see Driver, Tenses, 124.
In primitive and semi-primitive societies women have no independent rights of their own; they are treated as part of the property of the family to which they belong. Hence ‘a wife who had been brought into her husband’s house by contract and payment of a price to her father was not free by the death of her husband to marry again at will. The right to her hand lay with the nearest heir of the dead’ (Robertson Smith, Encycl. Bibl., col. 4166). This was the old law in Arabia to the time of Mohammed, and that it prevailed with some modifications among the ancient Hebrews is shewn by the narrative in Genesis 38. (see on Rth 1:13 above), by the law of levirate marriage in Deu 25:5 ff., and by the present story, which implies that for the nearest kinsman to marry the widow was regarded as an act of compassion. It is important to notice that the law of Deu 25:5 ff, applies only to the case of brothers living together on the same estate; if one dies without a son, the survivor is bound to marry the widow. But neither the Go’el here, nor Boaz, was a brother of Ruth’s late husband; this, therefore, was not a levirate marriage. Again, in the Pentateuch (Leviticus 25.) the Go’el is not required to purchase the widow as well as the land of the dead kinsman, and it is clear that in the present case the Go’el did not consider that he was under an obligation to do so; he agrees to purchase the land ( Rth 4:4), but when he is told that this involves the purchase of Ruth, he withdraws his consent. At the same time we gather from his language in Rth 4:6, and from the applause of the people in the gate, that custom admitted the propriety of the double purchase. It was in fact a work of charity, going beyond the strict letter of the law but sanctioned by ancient usage, and thoroughly in keeping with the generous, kindly disposition of Boaz. The writer holds him up as an edifying example.
to raise up the name of the dead ] Again the law of levirate marriage furnishes a parallel; the object of such a marriage was ‘to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel’ Deu 25:7, as well as to prevent the estate passing out of the family. To leave behind no name in the community was considered a grave misfortune (cf. Rth 4:10); it meant that the dead was deprived of the reverence and service of posterity (cf. 2Sa 18:18). This feeling may be traced back to the religious instinct which prompted the worship of ancestors.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Observe the action of the Levirate law. If there had been no one interested but Naomi, she would have sold the land unclogged by any condition, the law of Levirate having no existence in her case. But there was a young widow upon whom the possession of the land would devolve at Naomis death, and who already had a right of partnership in it, and the law of Levirate did apply in her case. It was, therefore, the duty of the ga’al to marry her and raise up seed to his brother, i. e. his kinsman. And he could not exercise his right of redeeming the land, unless he was willing at the same time to fulfill his obligations to the deceased by marrying the widow. This he was unwilling to do.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Thou must buy it also of Ruth] More properly, Thou wilt also acquire Ruth. Thou canst not get the land without taking the wife of the deceased and then the children which thou mayest have shall be reputed the children of Mahlon, thy deceased kinsman.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The wife of the dead; according to the law, Deu 25:5; Mat 22:24, &c.
To raise up the name of the dead; to revive his name, which was lost and buried with his body, by raising up a seed to him, to be called by his name.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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 without marrying her; which, though no law obliged to, yet it seems to be a condition of the purchase annexed to it by Naomi, that she would sell it to no man, unless he would consent to marry Ruth, for whose settlement she had a great concern, having been very dutiful and affectionate to her; which is clearly intimated in the next clause:
to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance; and so Naomi had another end to answer thereby, not only to provide a good husband for her daughter-in-law, but to perpetuate the name of her son, agreeably to the design of the law in De 25:5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) What day . . .When the person had been bought out to whom Naomi had sold the land until the year of Jubilee should restore it to her family, there remained Naomis own claim on the land, and after wards that of Ruth, as the widow of the son of Elimelech. But further, this last carried with it the necessity of taking Ruth to wife, so that a child might be born to inherit, as the son of Mahlon, Mahlons inheritance.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Thou must buy it also of Ruth The estate of Elimelech would have been Chilion and Mahlon’s had they lived. Chilion’s widow had gone to her mother’s house in Moab, and perhaps married again, so that she had no legal claim on the property; but Mahlon’s widow, Ruth, had clung to Naomi, and therefore while she lived had a share with her mother-in-law in Mahlon’s inheritance. Naomi was too old to expect a husband, (Rth 1:12,) or to claim of her deceased husband’s kinsmen the duty of the levirate marriage. But not so Ruth, who was young and beautiful, and had a right to ask in marriage the man who redeemed the inheritance of Mahlon.
To raise up the name of the dead According to the law (Deu 25:6) the firstborn of the levirate marriage succeeded in the name of the deceased husband of his mother. Thus the family to whom the deceased belonged did not become extinct in Israel. See on Rth 4:10.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”
Then Boaz pointed out what this redemption involved. On the day that he bought the land he would have the responsibility of ‘raising up the name of the dead on his inheritance’, by begetting sons through the remaining womenfolk who were selling the land, in this case Naomi and Ruth, the wives of the deceased menfolk. That son would then take the name of the deceased (he would be ‘ben Mahlon, ben Elimelech’). Note that it is made quite clear here that Ruth, though a Moabitess, was now an essential part of Israel with certain rights of land ‘ownership’ of YHWH’s land. Thus the continual stress on her being a Moabite (not only in his use of the descriptive title, but also in comments continually made – Rth 2:6; Rth 2:11) is patently a part of the writer’s purpose. He wants to stress that the great King David was descended from a Moabite, and his purpose in this must have been in order to make clear that a foreigner, even a Moabite woman, could become an essential part of Israel (compare how he later describes her seed as ‘the seed which YHWH gives her’ – Rth 4:12).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rth 4:5. Thou must buy it also of Ruth This whole speech is rendered very confused by the present printed Hebrew text; but if we admit of some alteration from the best manuscripts, the passage will be cleared from obscurity, and when corrected will run thus: Rth 4:4. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it; but if thou wilt not redeem it, tell me, that I may know; for there is none but thee to redeem it, except myself, who am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it, Rth 4:5. Then said Boaz, on the day thou takest the land of the hand of Naomi, thou must also take Ruth the Moabitess. See Kennicott’s Dissert. vol. 1: p. 447 and Houbigant, who has made the same observation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rth 4:5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy [it] also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
Ver. 5. What day thou buyest the field. ] Here God is making provision for these two widows, his clients; maintenance for Naomi, and marriage for Ruth. Henceforth it shall be no more Marah, but, as heretofore, Naomi: and while Orpah lacked bread in her own country, Ruth is grown a great lady in Israel. “Who would not serve thee, O King of Nations?” &c.
To raise up the name of the dead.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
What day: Or rather, according to the emendations proposed by Houbigant and Dr. Kennicott, and which have been confirmed by a great many manuscripts since collated, and agreeably to the ancient versions, “In the day thou purchasest the land from the hand of Naomi, thou wilt also acquire Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of the dead,” etc. This is Boaz’s statement of the case to his kinsman, before the people and elders.
to raise up: Rth 3:12, Rth 3:13, Gen 38:8, Deu 25:5, Deu 25:6, Mat 22:24, Luk 20:28
Reciprocal: Mar 12:19 – If
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy [it] also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his {d} inheritance.
(d) That his inheritance might bear his name that is dead.