Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ruth 4:11
And all the people that [were] in the gate, and the elders, said, [We are] witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
11. like Rachel and like Leah ] Gen 29:31 to Gen 30:24. May Ruth become the ancestress of a famous race! Dante ranks her fourth after Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, in Paradise; Parad. xxxii. 10 ff. For did build the house of Israel cf. Deu 25:9 and Gen 14:2; Gen 30:3 mg.
do thou worthily ] lit. ‘achieve might’; the phrase is sometimes rendered ‘do valiantly,’ e.g. Num 24:18, Psa 60:12; Psa 118:15 f.; but here it is used in a moral sense, cf. Rth 3:11. The reference is to Boaz, here and in the next sentence.
and be famous ] To obtain this meaning the Hebr. text (lit. ‘proclaim thou a name’) must be slightly altered to ‘and let thy name be proclaimed,’ cf. Rth 4:14. The LXX. favours this correction. How the wish was fulfilled is shewn in Rth 4:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
See the margin. There is something of a poetical turn in this speech of the elders, and something prophetic in the blessing pronounced by them. It is unique and obscure. The Greek Version (lxx) is unintelligible. Jerome seems to have had a slightly different reading, since he applies both clauses to Ruth. May she be a pattern of virtue in Ephratah, and have a name famous in Bethlehem. The meaning of be famous seems to be, Get thyself a name which shall be celebrated in Bethlehem, as the head of a powerful and illustrious house: literally it is, proclaim a name, i. e. cause others to proclaim thy name, as in Rth 4:14.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. We are witnesses.] It is not very likely that any writing was drawn up. There was an appeal made to the people then present, whether they had seen and understood the transaction; who answered, We have witnessed it. If any minutes of court were kept, then the transaction was entered probably in some such words as these: “On — day of —, Boaz bought the land of Elimelech from Naomi his widow, and took Ruth, her daughter-in-law, to wife; —, who had the nearest right, refusing to buy the land on the conditions then proposed.”
The Lord make this woman – like Rachel and like Leah] May thy family be increased by her means, as the tribes were formed by means of Rachel and Leah, wives of the patriarch Jacob!
Which two did build the house of Israel] We have already seen that ben, a son, comes from the root banah, he built; and hence eben, a stone, because as a house is built of stones, so is a family of children. There is a similar figure in PLAUTUS, Mostell. Act i., sec. 2, ver. 37.
___________________Nunc etiam volo
Dicere, ut homines aedium esse similes arbitremini.
Primum dum parentes fabri liberum sunt,
Et fundamentum liberorum substruunt.
“I would also observe, that ye men are similar to houses; ye parents are the fabricators of the children, and they are the foundation of the building.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Like Rachel and like Leah, amiable and fruitful. Those two are singled out, partly because they were of a foreign and heathenish original, and yet ingrafted into Gods people, as Ruth also was; and partly because of that singular fertility which God vouchsafed unto them above their predecessors, Sarah and Rebekah.
Rachel is placed before Leah, because she was his most lawful, and only intended, and chosen, and best beloved wife.
Build the house, i.e. increase the posterity. See Gen 16:2; Exo 1:21. Ephratah and Bethlehem, two names of one and the same place; of which See Poole “Rth 1:2“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. all the people and the elders,said, We are witnessesA multitude, doubtless from curiosity orinterest, were present on the occasion. There was no signing ofdeeds; yet was the transfer made, and complete security given, by thepublic manner in which the whole matter was carried on and concluded.
the Lord make the woman thatis come into thine house like Rachel and like LeahThis was theusual bridal benediction.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, we are witnesses,…. Both of the purchase of the estate by Boaz being legally made, and of the marriage of Ruth to him, the condition of the bargain:
the Lord make the woman that is come into thine house; not into his house, strictly and literally taken, the place of his habitation; for both he and she were now at the gate of the city, and as yet she was not introduced into his house; but by his marriage of her she was brought into his family, and was become a principal part of it, being his wife. This is a wish, prayer, or benediction of the elders, of one in the name of the rest, congratulating the married couple, and wishing them well; and particularly that the woman Boaz had married before them, as witnesses, might be
like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: the two wives of Jacob; the Targum adds, with twelve tribes; for though some of the tribes sprung from their maids, which they gave to Jacob, yet the children born of them were reckoned theirs by a moral estimation, as some express it. Rachel is set before Leah, though the youngest, and had the fewest children, because she was his first wife in his intention, and according to the covenant made with her father, though imposed upon and deceived; and she was his more lawful wife, and his most beloved one. By the children of these two, and their maidens, the house or family of Israel was built up, and became a great nation, consisting of twelve tribes, very numerous:
and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem; two names of one and the same place, Ge 35:19. These words seem to be directed to Boaz, particularly praying that he might continue to do worthy and virtuous actions, as well as increase in wealth and riches, power and authority, and retain his name and fame, and grow in credit and reputation among his fellow citizens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.
Rth. 4:11. We are witnesses. The business settled without lawyers or legal casuistry (A. Clarke). The Lord make. The birth of children looked upon as a direct interference of Providencea contribution to the fulfilment of the great promise whereon their hearts were set (E. Price). Like Rachel and like Leah. The two ancestresses of all true Israelites. Like Ruth they had left home for their husbands. The younger probably mentioned first not only as the favourite wife, but as connected with Bethlehem (Gen. 35:19; Jer. 31:15). Do thou worthily [manfully]. Lit. make thou strength or power. In Ephratah. Some distinguished Ephratah as the country, Bethlehem as the town (Bernard, Price). And be famous in Bethlehem. Lit. call a name. Get a name (Lange). Meant act the noble part (Morison). The real force of the whole phrase is Be thou influential in the growth of thy wealth, and be well spoken of as far as thy influence may be made to extend (E. Price). These words are prophetic, for thence came the birth of Him who has made Bethlehem famous in all the world (Theodoret).
Rth. 4:12. Like the house of Pharez [Gen. 38:29; 1Ch. 2:4; Mat. 1:3.] The second son of Judah (Num. 26:20) and one of the ancestors of Boaz. His family was more illustrious and numerous than that of his brother Zarah. Perez also was a son of Tamar, who, although a very different character than Ruth, resembled her in history in that she suffered injustice in having the rights of marriage withheld from her [see Lange in loco.]
Rth. 4:13. The Lord gave her. By a special blessing Boaz advanced in years (Wordsworth). A son. The kinsmans superstitious fears [see on Rth. 4:6] now shown to be groundless.
Rth. 4:14. Blessed be the Lord. Another rythmical sentence [cf. Rth. 1:16, p. 66; also cp. Luk. 1:46-55; Luk. 1:68-79, etc.] Not left thee this day without a kinsman [redeemer.] Thy grandson (Wordsworth). So Lange and Morison. Not so, Boaz (Speakers Com.). Obed would inherit the estate of Elimelech, and so he is the real goel of Naomi. The grammatical construction also points to Obed, the restorer, nourisher, &c., as well as the phrase this day. That his name may be. And may his name be (Lange).
Rth. 4:15. And he shall be [may he be] a restorer nourisher. Trueliterally in her case, true spiritually to all the world by Him who was born at Bethlehem of this seed according to the flesh (Theodoret). Better to thee than seven sons. Cf. 1Sa. 1:8; 1Sa. 2:5, for similar expressions. The women acknowledge now how far short the legal friendship of Israel towards Naomi has fallen in comparison with the self-sacrifice of the daughter of Moab (Lange). The prospect now presented of her becoming the tribe mother of a numerous and flourishing family (Keit).
Rth. 4:17. Her neighbours gave it a name. Besides this he doubtless received a name from his parents (Lange). This of the women continued and inserted in the family genealogy, because seen to be appropriate (ibid). Obed, servanti.e., of the Lord (Wordsworth, Gesen. Targ.) Because he served to gladden Naomis old age (Steele and Terry). Serving or worshipping (Eiliot). Must be understood in the sense of serving as a son [see Lange in loco] Obed in the sense of one that serves, harmonises well with the words in Rth. 4:15 (Bertheau.)
Rth. 4:18. Now these are the generations. The table presents ten names. A round number, suggesting, it may be, that unimportant ones have been omitted. The scribes were accustomed to do this both to ease their own labour of transcription, and to give additional emphasis to the names appearing in the received list (E. Price) [see Introduction, p. 4,
5.]. BOAZ. Not Mahlon, as might have been expected from the Levirate law. David. Why end with this name if the book were written, as Bertheau, Davidson, and others seem to think, long after the time of Solomon? Points possibly to a reason, if he were reigning as king.
Rth. 4:11-13
Theme.PRAYERS FOR POSTERITY AND PROSPERITY
Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion to others,
This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had taught her.
So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous spices,
Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with aroma.Longfellow.
The Lord make the woman, etc. And let thy home, etc. So Boaz took Ruth, etc.
Good wishes are to be regarded as prayers before God, but those of a people (all the people) as the effectual fervent prayer which availeth much (E. Price). Good to keep the heart in readiness, so as to resolve our common emotions of sympathy into benedictions as here. How long did this blessing rest over the house of Boaz?until Christ came? The best seal to a compact like this found in prayers like these which stretch out towards generations yet unborn.
I. We have the general truth taught here. That the love of posterity may be used of God and sanctified. How the Hebrew idea of children, a blessing from the Lord expresses itself in these devout prayers. Note. All natural emotions and tendencies may be worked by the Divine wisdom into the great scheme of Providence and grace (E. Price). The Incarnation, the direct issue and product of preceding conditions. God glorifying what is good in the race, the noble spirit of Boaz, the virtue of Ruth, the prayers of these devout Israelites, all leading upwards, onwards, toward the Christ that is to be.
(1) How wonderful!
(2) How suggestive! Who knows what His purposes may be through our children, if we are faithfully consecrating them to Him? Men make much of a pious ancestry. What if we look in the other direction, and have faith, and use the privilege of prayer aright?
II. The particular truth is taught here: That a Moabitess is thus introduced among the progenitors of our Lord Himself. Cf. Mat. 1:5. Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. A memorable fact. A Gentile woman thus rendered a constituent portion of the Redeemers genealogy (E. Price). Why?
(1) To indicate the heathen were not quite forgotten under the old dispensation severe and exclusive as it was (Ibid).
(2) To emphasise the fact that God has always appeared to work by what at some times might be regarded as contraries.
(3) To remove the suspicion from the sceptic that the Advent depended upon the mere natural course of events (Ibid).
(4) To keep the devout student lovingly and reverently dependent upon the unerring though mysterious will of the Most High (Ibid).
ThemeCHILDREN THE GIFT OF HEAVEN
E. Price on The seed which the Lord shall give thee.
The Jewish idea may be modified by us, that the number of children measures a mans felicity. Yet the truth, underlying it, continues with us: viz., that pious descendants are always the greatest blessings which the great Father can bestow upon us.
Do they not bind us to heaven by sanctified affections?
Do they not sweeten home sympathies?
Do they not exemplify the advantages of that saintly education, they are supposed to be susceptible of?
Do they not become the best support of the declining years of a happy parent?
Do they not assure prosperity to a spiritual church? And do they not thus hand down the tradition of the faith unimpaired?
In this sense, then, blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them.
The man has acted both unselfishly and honourably in upholding the family custom of Israel. The public therefore, praise him and wish him good. Such applause is both desirable and profitable. The actions of a good man are fit subjects for praise. It stimulates us to higher deeds when we recognise nobleness in others. It encourages them in acts of generosity and honour. If any around us do wise, thoughtful, open-hearted, unselfish deeds, let us not fear to praise them.Braden.
What fame would be acquired in Israel by the kindness of Boaz to Ruth and Naomi? Was it to be hoped that his goodness and bounties to them would be known and praised among all the tribes? It is natural for men to think that the actions which they admire, should be known and admired by all. The hopes of these good women were, perhaps, more sanguine than the case could justify; and yet they were more than realised. The name of Boaz became famous through all Israel, and will continue famous among the Gentiles also, while the world lasts, because it is mentioned with honour in the Book of God. Both bad and good actions are often published to a greater extent, and continue longer to be known, than the doers or any of their friends expected.Lawson.
The godly are members one of another, therefore must needs have a fellow-feeling but let this be with them in lawful things, for charity rejoiceth not in iniquity. What joy can it be to a godly man to see his friend rich and in glory by usury, bribery, oppression, deceit and fraud?Bernard.
It is one of the grand aims of divine revelation to produce this state of mind [the habitual recognition of God]; and in the case of this people it evidently had produced it. Religion was an all-pervading life. It penetrated everywhere, like the sunlight. God was beheld as the Cause of causes; His Hand was visible in every occurrence; He was a felt Presence.Dr. A. Thompson.
Rth. 4:11
ThemeMANLINESS, ITS FIT AND PROPER SPHERE
The world waits
For help. Beloved, let us love so well,
Our work shall still be better for our love,
And still our love be sweeter for our work.Mrs. Browning.
Do thou worthily [manfully] in Ephratah and be famous [get a name] in Bethlehem.
The world wants men, always has done so; did so even thus early in its historymen who play the worthy, manful part. Such will always
(1) be well spoken of,
(2) desired and longed for,
(3) in the highest sense make the best of both worlds. Note.
(1) Honour, the respect and esteem of others, not to be despised as cynics would teach, rather to be sought for in legitimate ways as in the sight of God. [cf. Psalms 1, 112, Job 29, Pro. 4:8-9, etc.]
(2) To be truly a man and play the manly part includes all virtues, or should do so. (a) So on the gentler side. To be human is to be humane, and should be thus understood always. Note. Impossible to be noble in character without tenderness, gentleness, compassionateness, etc. (b) So on the sterner side. The root idea of the word virtue is strength. The strong man, self-contained, self-balanced, having the mastery over his passion, is the virtuous man. This seemingly the idea of the text, Act the part of a true man, a strong man. A right worthy exhortation for such an occasion.
I. The sphere of this manly part. At homein Ephratah, Bethlehem. Do good among thy own people [Eze. 18:18], be public-spirited, though to private disadvantage (Trapp). So in Christs charge to His disciples, these home claims and duties are not forgotten. Beginning at Jerusalem, He said. Note. Easy to ignore this aspect of dutylike Jonah, to flee to Tarshish from the Nineveh God has pointed out, but this is the Divine idea, Begin at home. Shine there, consecrate that. Return to thine own house and shew how great things God hath done unto thee (Luk. 8:39). Note. A difficult duty this always, as with Eli, Noah, Lot, Judah [cf. Genesis 38; Son. 1:6].
II. The results of this manly part. Be famous, etc. The two things linked together, the doing worthily and the fame that follows it. Note. All other ways of making a reputation valueless. Great reputations are to be obtained by great merits, by saying well and doing well, by wise speech and wise actions, by being useful and serviceable in our own day and generation. Note (a) A great name often not so much to be coveted, but a good name is better than precious ointment (Lawson). (b) The common and vulgar ideas of fame, glory, martial renown, etc., not encouraged here. It is fame won at home of which the text speaks.
Home is the most appropriate sphere for Christian usefulness. It is the place where true piety is ever tested, and false piety soonest put to the blush. It has the first claims upon the man of God, whatever his public position may be. And yet how often is this forgotten or ignored. Eli, priest of the Living God, can enter into the Holiest place and stand before the Shekinah glory in the manifested presence of Deity itself, and yet he cannot order his household aright, or protect the sanctuary of the Most High from the pollution of his children. But it is not so with the truly devout and consecrated spirit. As master, or as servant, in the workshop and in the counting house, it is there his Christ-like character shines to best advantage; it is there, by the quiet influence which belongs to every life, the noblest testimony is borne for God. The household is hallowed, the home life consecrated, the private walks sanctified, the neighbourhood blessed by the sweet and gentle aroma of a holy and heavenly life.B.
A name truly good is the aroma from a virtuous character. It is a spontaneous emanation from genuine excellence. It is a reputation for whatsoever things are honest and lovely, and of good report. It is such a name as is not only remembered on earth but written in heaven. Just as a box of spikenard is not only valuable to its possessor, but pre-eminently precious in its diffusion; so, when a name is really good, it is of unspeakable service to all who are capable of feeling its aspiration.Hamilton.
But there are deeds which should not pass away,
And names that must not wither, though the earth
Forgets her empire with a just decay.
The enslavers and the enslaved, their death and birth.
The high, the mountain majesty of worth
Should be, and shall, survivors of its woe,
And from its immortality look forth
In the suns face, like yonder Alpine snow,
Imperishably pure beyond all things below.
Byron.
Rth. 4:14-15
Theme.CONGRATULATIONS AND GOOD WISHES
The soul of music slumbers in the shell,
Till waked and kindled by the masters spell;
And feeling hearts, touch them but rightly, pour
A thousand melodies unheard before.Rogers.
Blessed be the Lord which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman.
The birth of a son and heir an important event always; more especially in an eastern household, and with one of the age and position of Boaz. A memorable day this, too, in the history of Israel. Another link added in the chain Christ-ward. The joy here an earnest of the joy hereafter, the barriers of national pride broken down in part; prophetic of that glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, goodwill towards men (Luk. 2:14). Note. First prayer here (Rth. 4:11) now praise. Blessed, etc.
In these congratulations there is
I. A glance at the new circumstances surrounding Naomi. As much our duty to rejoice with those who rejoice as to weep with those who weep. (a) We should enter into their plans (b), sympathise in their successes (c), rejoice especially at their unexpected prosperity, as here. Note
(1) We cannot help doing this if we encourage that which is good in ourselves. God made men to sympathise with each other, only that sin has made them selfish and envious.
(2) Mans duty is to respond to these Divinely implanted instincts. Our good wishes are not worth much unless they find utterance or expression in some way. Here the joy not only felt but avowed. The women are, as is usual in such times, full of expressive sympathy. That is quite a touch of nature.Braden.)
There is
II. A glance heavenward. The Lord, etc. The joy of the godly has this holy and religious expression naturally and always. Especially should we look upward in these moments of family rejoicing. Note. Whatever joy men may give us, praise is due to God, who thus makes them the instruments of his benefits.
Right again that this devout feeling should find expression. Is it that our homes are to be made glad with his gifts, and our hearts with the sunshine of his presence, and no sign be seen of the gladness which is there? A holy and profitable way of gossiping this; God praised and called upon (Trapp). Note. The blessings of the Old Testament generally of a material character (Kitto). Yet they are not the less often the source of spiritual joy (cf. Isaiah 23).
III. A glance toward the future. He shall be unto thee, etc. (Rth. 4:15). Why to Naomi especially? Are we not to see in this her reward for all the past? Note. (a) Those are to be comforted most by us who have been most humbled. They need it most, and we should be ready to speak the word of consolation. A poor Christian who has no word of congratulation for a time like this! (b) A joyous prospect may open suddenly even for the sorrowing and the aged. Call me not Naomi, she had said (Rth. 1:20). But God can send light at eventide. [See next outline].
E. Price on this:
ThemeA GOOD CHILD
Women do not always babble vain things. How quick are they to apprehend the modifications of our domestic life.
Study, then, the portrait of a good son, which they offer here.
God must have given him.
God adapts him to special needs.
God makes him felt as a comforter (Heb., a Redeemer).
God in him restores exhausted life.
God secures the true honour of the family.
And God thus nourishes old age, till it be resolved into heaven. Yes! God is in all!
Let parents pray, labour, and educate for this high end.
Let children see to it that their welcomed presence around the hearth may secure it.
And let our gossips even change their idle talk into kind congratulations and earnest prayers.
It would seem as if there was already a kind of joyous foretaste of the birth and infancy which, in after times, was to be for ever associated with the name of Bethlehem. It was the first appearance on the scene of what may by anticipation be called, even then, the Holy Family, for that child was Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David. Nor is it a mere genealogical connexion between the two generations. The very licence and independence of the age may be said to have been the means of introducing into the ancestry of David and of the Messiah an element which else would have been, humanly speaking, impossible. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation (Deu. 23:3; Ezr. 9:1; Neh. 13:1). This was the letter of the law, and, in the greater strietness that prevailed after the return from the captivity, it was rigidly enforced. But in the isolation of Judah from the rest of Israel, in the doing of every man what was right in his own eyes, the more comprehensive spirit of the whole religion overstepped the letter of a particular enactment.Stanley.
Rth. 4:15-16
ThemeYOUTH AND AGE
O thou bright thing fresh from the hand of God.
Nearer I seem to God when looking on thee;
Tis ages since He made His youngest star;
His hand was on thee as twere yesterday.Alexander Smith.
He shall be to thee a restorer of thy life, etc. And Naomi took the child, etc.
How often the children are messengers of God, bringing new life into the household as here. There is a fountain of love enclosed in the heart of the aged, and it only needs the tiny infant fingers of some dear ones child to unloose it. Note. The birth of a new spirit may come in the home with the new life. New consecration to God, new sympathy with all around. Children are a heritage from the Lord. (a) What sacredness should surround them, (b) what prayers ascend for them, (c) what blessedness be found in them! Note. If a man do not find his joy in the home, he will find his burden there.
Dwell on,
I. What the children expect from us. (a) Care, (b) attention, (c) protection, (d) love, (e) nurture and training. In the text Naomi seen as responding to these demands. Her name still descriptive of her character [cf. on Rth. 1:2, p. 14]. Must be doing something. Felt that she had a duty which was no burden but a pleasure. Took the child, etc. Note. (a) Whoever was once capable of true love preserves its power for ever after (Lange). And life all the way through finds a sphere for it. Even in old age, when the maternal instinct may have been thought to have almost died out, Naomi becomes a foster-mother. So generally. Grandchildren not loved less, but sometimes more than the children themselves. Note. (b) Love may grow more intense, even as the shadows of death begin to fall around. What a tribute to and foreshadowing of its immortality.
II. What we expect of the children.
(1) They are to be the restorers of life and joy. He shall be, etc. Life intended to have this twofold, and reciprocal action and aspect. We do not give more than we get, if the true conception of Gods word and of our nature be carried out. Love brings its own reward.
(2) They are to be the supports of old age. And a nourisher, etc. The conditions will be reversed by-and-bye. Weakness coming on with us as strength grows with them. Then this new law is to come into operation. They are to succour and cherish in return for the past, as the trembling infirmities of second childhood claim us as their own. Beautiful, divine idea, which sin and selfishness may mar, but cannot altogether destroy! The old and the feeble never forgotten, but reaping then what they have sowed in the tears and joys, the sorrows and cares, and fond affections lavished upon childhood and infancy.
IMPROVEMENT.So the Church is to foster young converts. In return they will become sooner or later her strength and support. Note. Spiritual children bring a greater blessing to her than seven sons according to the flesh (Lange).
Children should nourish their old parents and supply their wants, . Storks and mice feed their dams when old; boughs incline and bend down towards the root; and in summer, receiving from the root leaves, flowers, and fruit, they let them fall again in winter to the fattening and nourishing of the root. Unkind and unnatural children are like kites, which, when grown strong expel their dams, and with their bills and wings beat them out of the nest.Trapp.
A certain Duke of Ormond who lost a virtuous son, the Lord Ossory, said that he would rather be the father of the dead Ossory, than of any living nobleman in England.Lawson.
It is one of the many fine points of the story, that its concluding sentences are almost wholly devoted, not to the young and happy wife and mother, but to Naomi, who had suffered so many calamities, and who, by the piety and resignation with which she bore them, had drawn Ruth from the frivolities of Moab. It is Naomi not Ruth, whom, the women, her neighbours, congratulate on the birth of Ruths son. In him they see Naomis goel Ruth already had hers in Boaz; and they pray that, as he grows up, he may restore her to her former happiness, and be the stay and gladness of her old age. But though they speak to Naomi, and pray for her, they do not utterly forget the singular virtue of Ruth. In the words, Thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, they pronounce on her an eulogy such as few strange women could have heard from Hebrew lips. It is because the boy is Ruths son, that he is Naomis goel; for how can he fail to love and cherish the woman whom his mother has loved with a love even passing the love of women.Cox.
Naomi is everywhere an image of the Church of Christ, which wins, confesses, and fosters through love. Men whose natural hearts are hostile to her, become her obedient children. When there is apostacy and misery in the Church it is for priests and preachers to repent, as Naomi did, and not to excuse themselves. And how greatly she sins, when she does not rightly foster, those who do come; exhibiting neither love nor wisdom, nor faith in her treatment of themthat too will one day be made manifest. Impatience is not in love; and a little money does not make amends for the coldness of consummate self-righteousness.Lange.
Of Boaz himself no warrior deeds are known, and yet the greatest of Israels heroes, the conqueror of Goliath [There is a tradition that Goliath descended from Orpah, as David from Ruth] sprang from him. He conquered himself, and on that account became the ancestor of Him who triumphed over sin and death. Similarly, Ruth had nothing but a heart full of love, and yet to her, once a daughter of Moab, there was given what neither Deborah nor Jael obtained, to become the Mother of Him by whom all the nations are redeemed.Ibid.
Rth. 4:19-22
ThemeLINKS IN THE CHAIN CHRISTWARD
How vain are all hereditary honours,
Those poor possessions from anothers deeds,
Unless our own just virtues form our title,
And give a sanction to our fond assumption.Shirley.
And they called his name Obed, etc. Now these are the generations, etc.
Not a dry list of names merely useless and cumbersome as the stones of the desert. These men lived, thought, played their part in life as we do now. Think of it. Then again the names themselves, not given haphazard, but from reasons, and with a motive. Obed, for instance, means a servant, and doubtless he was called so because of the part he was to play towards Naomi and towards God.
Suggests
I. The interest men take generally in genealogy.
(1) Natural. Few men insensible or careless with regard to their ancestry, especially if it has been one which has played a noble and dignified part.
(2) Allowed and encouraged by Scripture. The lineage of Israel for many reasons of especial and world-wide importance.
(3) May be useful as a stimulus and inspiration.
II. The interest men take in this particular record.
(1) Because of the men themselves. They were men of fame. Nahshon a prince in Israel; David the king, etc.
(2) Because they are links in the genealogy of Christ. It is interesting to notice the variety of rank and condition in the ancestry of the Saviour. Rahab the harlot. Ruth the gleaner. Boaz, possibly the judge. David the king. He who was bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, touches our race at every point, and claims kindred with it all. (A.Thomson). Note. How this illustrates the spiritual relationship to which Christ invites us.
(3) Because they are helps in the study, and attestation of prophecy and of character. How much history is condensed in such a list! Expand it, and what lessons are to be enforced! Here, for instance, Obed is called the son of Boaz after all, and not the son of Mahlon as might have been expected. Note. Laws and customs are often borne down by the force of circumstances and of public opinion. Is not this the reward of Boazthe reward of faith [cf. on Rth. 4:6]. His name stands here contrary to the usual custom, stands as it ought to do among the ancestors of Christ himself. [See also Introduction pp. 4, 5; and on Rth. 1:2, pp. 14, 15.]
E. Price on this:
ThemeHERALDRY
What a vanity these genealogies really are, although called a science, forsooth! The pride of life is never more exemplified than when a bad man is seen poring over the long catalogue of, it may be, worthless predecessors. A relief, then, to study one, drawn out by God Himself, and suggesting the fondest hopes of men!
From Pharez to Davidwhat does the genealogical tree really suggest to us?
Why!
1. Our descent is only valuable as it stands related to Gods purpose in Christ Jesus. What would be the real worth of Davids name, if taken away from that of his great successor?
2. That Providence marvellously works up our little lives into the grand whole of His Counsel. Some of these names may in themselves be worthless, yet can they not break away from Gods overruling purpose!
And
3. Regarding the descent of David and of Christ the Lord as historical facts, the scheme of the Jewish Herald continually reminds us of our relation to, and gratitude for, the great and glorious Redeemer of menHimself the son of Adam!
Names go for something, when multiplied into that of Him, who is the Alpha and the Omega of all human events!
Obed a servant. It may be a remembrancer of duty. Just as the motto of the Prince of Wales is Ich Dien, I serve. Any way it is beautiful never to despise service. A Christian is to be meet for the Masters use. How many there are who are of no use in the world! Some dislike all service, and prefer the dainty hand that is never soiled, and the life that is never separated from selfishness.Statham.
Orpah, the child of sense, dismayed by the difficulties presented goes back again; Ruth, the child of the Spirit, persuaded of better things, presses through all obstacles onward to join the Israel of God, and to find rest at last where rest at first had seemed impossible. So the anonymous kinsman, fearing lest his name should be blotted out from Israel, his inheritance marred, his children called after another, misses the one opportunity of life and goes down to a nameless oblivion. Boaz, the man of nobler spirit, and larger faith, and keener insight is deterred by no fear, held back by no difficulty; and, contrary to custom, we find his name here as the father of Obed, in the genealogy of David and of Christ. Is it hard to read the moral of such a story? the moral which works itself out everywhere in the pages of Inspiration, and repeats itself today in the history of a thousand lives; that sense deceives and sight fails, and cunning defeats itself; that the law is fallible and the letter kills, while faith endures and love conquers: and that only in obeying those instincts which are of God, and which spring up in hearts open to His influence, is the safety and solution of human life. This is the victory of faith, which overcomes the world and finds its name written at last in the Lambs Book of Life for evermore.B.
O, Moab! out of thee shall come forth the unspotted Lamb which bears the sins of the world, and rules over the whole earth! From the rock of the wilderness, i.e., from Ruth, widowed by the death of her husband, Boaz derived Obed and from David came Christ.Jerome.
Much of Scripture, and still more of that which is written about Scripture, is but like the valley of dry bones to eyes of sense and sin. But if the Spirit, without whom there is no true understanding breathe upon it, whatever men say, it may live again, and that to the praise and glory of God.B.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(11) The Lord . . .In this way is the nuptial blessing invoked.
Is come.Rather, is coming.
Rachelthough the younger sister and the junior wifeis put first, probably from her death and burial having associated her with Bethlehem (see Gen. 35:16; Gen. 35:19). In this way, too, we should explain the prophecy of Jeremiah as applied by St. Matthew (Jer. 31:15; Mat. 2:18).
Build.From the Hebrew word to build are derived the words for son and daughter, thus a twofold aspect in the word sometimes appears as here. (See also Gen. 16:2; Gen. 30:3).
Do thou worthily.The Hebrew phrase (asah khayil) thus rendered, involves the notion of doing a thing with vigour and might. The khayil of a soldier is his valourof a land, its material resources, and (Pro. 31:10) the virtuous woman of the English Version is literally, woman of khayil. The good wish for Boaz here is that by his energy he may command continual prosperity.
Be famous.Literally, proclaim a name.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. All the people and the elders, said, We are witnesses “And thus,” says Clarke, “the business was settled without lawyers or legal casuistry. A question of this kind in one of our courts of justice, in these enlightened times, would require many days’ previous preparation of the attorney, and several hours’ arguing between Counsellor Botherum and Counsellor Borum, till even an enlightened and conscientious judge would find it extremely difficult to decide whether Naomi might sell her own land, and whether Boaz or Peloni might buy it! O glorious uncertainty of modern law!”
Like Rachel and like Leah The two wives of Jacob, who were accounted mothers of all the tribes of Israel. Gen 29:30.
Which two did build the house of Israel That is, bore him offspring to establish his name. “By a common oriental metaphor, house is transferred to a family and children; and whoever begets children is said to build a house. Hence , son, comes from the idea of building; that is, of begetting. The same metaphor is elegantly carried out in Plautus, Mostellaria, 1, 2, 37.” Gesenius. So in modern times great lineal families are designated by this word; as, house of Bourbon, house of Brunswick. The passage in Plautus to which Gesenius here refers is as follows: “Now this I will say, that ye men may be compared to buildings, as long as parents are chiefly builders of children, and the foundation of children they do lay,”
Do thou worthily Acquire power and influence.
Be famous Literally, Call out a name. That is, perpetuate thy name by means of a numerous posterity.
Ephratah Beth-lehem Different names of the same place, (Gen 35:19,) used here in the way of poetic parallelism.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rth 4:11
‘ And all the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses.”
Then all the people in the gateway gathered together with the elders, and declared ‘we are witnesses’. This parallels Boaz’s statement in Rth 4:9, ‘you are witnesses this day’, and combined with the twofold ‘you are witnesses’ in the Rth 4:9-10 it indicates a threefold, and therefore complete, testimony. From then on the legality of what Boaz was doing could not be questioned, for there would be many witnesses who could declare that he had acted rightly. The whole episode underlines his integrity, and his determination to do what was right, indicating why he was a chosen vessel of YHWH.
Rth 4:11-12
“YHWH make the woman who is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel, and do you worthily (or ‘powerfully’) in Ephrathah, and be renowned in Beth-lehem, and let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which YHWH will give you of this young woman.”
We are not told who spoke these words, but they were presumably spoken by one of the leading elders on behalf of all the people. It is a plea to YHWH on behalf of Boaz and his house. The initial plea is that Ruth, having come into Boaz’s house, will be as fruitful as Leah and Rachel who, together with their maidservants, came into Jacob’s house, and produced, the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel, thus laying the foundations for the multitude of the house of Israel. These women whom Jacob married were, although related to him, from outside the tribe, and came from a family which worshipped false gods. And yet God used them as builders of the house of Israel, just as He would now use Ruth. It is also a plea that Boaz may have many influential sons. And the attention then turns directly on Boaz with the desire that he will be prominent in righteousness (‘do — worthily’) or power (‘do valiantly’ – Psa 60:12), in Bethlehem Ephratha (see note on Rth 1:2), and that his house will be like the house of Perez, the son whom Judah begat through Tamar, and this as a consequence of the ‘seed which YHHW will give him’ through Ruth. This is preparatory to the final listing of the descendants of Perez in Rth 4:18-22 (which the chiasmus makes clear is an essential part of the book). The word for ‘worthily’ is chayil, which is used of Boaz in Rth 2:1 and of Ruth in Rth 3:11. Thus the virtues of both are to be reflected in their future lives. The writer may have intended us to see this as being finally fulfilled to the fullest extent in the life of David. So the basic plea is that Boaz will be both successful and fruitful, and will have sons who are equally prominent.
The plea that his house might be like the house of Perez almost certainly had in mind the fact that Perez could be seen as parallel to the son who would be born to Boaz and Ruth in that he was the eldest son born as a consequence of Judah impregnating Tamar when he was (unknowingly) acting as her near kinsman in begetting a son for her dead husband (Genesis 38). Furthermore while Tamar is not said to be a Canaanite, Judah certainly mistook her for a Canaanite harlot, and she was married to one of Judah’s sons who was born as a result of his marriage to a Canaanite. Perez was thus seen as the ‘son’ of a half-Canaanite. Yet this had not prevented his house being fruitful. Indeed, as we soon learn, it was so fruitful that it produced King David. (But this last fact would not, of course, be known to the elders. It was his birth through a near kinsman, and his foreign connections, that in their eyes paralleled what would happen to Ruth).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rth 4:11. The Lord make the womanlike Rachel, andLeah See Gen 24:60.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: (12) And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman.
It is easy to gather wherefore, in this blessing, the wives of the Patriarch Jacob are mentioned rather than those of Abraham or Isaac. Sarah had but Isaac in the covenant; and Rebekah but a Jacob. Her other son Esau rejected the blessing. Whereas Rachel, and Leah, were mothers to several’ of the tribes of Israel. Pharez, who descended from Judah, was the progenitor of the Bethlehemite.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rth 4:11 And all the people that [were] in the gate, and the elders, said, [We are] witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
Ver. 11. We are witnesses. ] And will be ready to help the truth in necessity. “A faithful witness will not lie,” saith Solomon. Among the Turks, those that bear false witness have their tongues shaved and washed in vinegar.
The Lord make the woman.
That is come into thy house.
Like Rachel and like Leah.
And do thou worthily in Ephratah.
And be famous a in Bethlehem.] Fame waiteth upon worth. The poets feign that Achilles’s sepulchre in Sigaeum is surrounded with green amaranth. Agesilaus, being asked how , renown, may be attained, answered, Si quis loquatur quae sunt optima, et faciat quae sunt honestissima. If a man set himself to say well and do well; but especially the latter. Cicero worthily preferreth Cato before Socrates, Quoniam huius dicta, illius facta laudantur, because the latter is famous for his sayings, the former for his doings.
a Heb., voca nomen. Chald., sis vocans tibi famam.
be famous = proclaim a name.
the Lord: Gen 24:60, Psa 127:3-5, Psa 128:3-6
Rachel: Gen 29:32-35, Gen 30:1-24, Gen 35:16-20, Gen 46:8-27, Num 26:1-65
build: Deu 25:9, Pro 14:1
do thou worthily: or, get thee riches, or power
Ephratah: Rth 1:2, Gen 35:16, Gen 35:19, Psa 132:6, Mic 5:2, Mat 2:6
be famous: Heb. proclaim thy name
Reciprocal: Gen 16:2 – obtain children Gen 23:11 – in the Gen 29:16 – was Leah Gen 30:3 – have children by her Gen 31:14 – Rachel Gen 48:9 – my sons Gen 48:19 – become Gen 48:20 – Israel bless Deu 6:7 – shalt talk Rth 2:4 – And they 1Sa 2:20 – blessed 1Ch 2:51 – Bethlehem Job 29:7 – General Isa 8:2 – I took Jer 29:22 – shall be Zec 8:13 – ye shall Mat 2:5 – General Luk 2:4 – unto
REDEMPTION AT THE GATE
All the people that were in the gate said, We are witnesses.
Rth 4:11
I. It was a solemn moment when Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelechs. Moreover, Ruth have I purchased to be my wife that the name of the dead be not cut off from the gate of this place. We would like to have known more of how this sweet mother builded her house; but when, as a widow, already she was known in the gate as a virtuous woman, there is little doubt that afterwards in her own home she enjoyed the fruit of her hands, and her own works praised her in the gates. Most of all had she the right to give thanks in the gate as she carried her little Obed to the well his grandson loved and longed to drink of. This we are sure of, that she never forgot that day at the gate when she was bought back.
II. In the answer of the elders to Boaz there is a word for mothers of all time.The Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel. For we are builders; our work never ceases, and, unlike a building, never comes to an end until the Master-builder takes a block for finer workmanship above. We are builders, and have to keep our eye on high. A child was taken by a master-mason to a high scaffolding of a new house to get a view that would be impossible again, because slates would take the place of the workmans planks. In case of giddiness his word was always, Keep looking up.
III. We are builders, and our buildings have gates, and our help is sure, for the Lord supplements as He inspects us.David, in one of his closing psalms in his little praise-book within the psalm book, gives us encouragement. He has been ransacking nature for tongues to praise Gods goodness. He has spoken of the stars, the clouds, and the wild beasts, and in his flight he gives Jerusalem and Zion a word which in a narrow and limited sense all mothers can claim, for we are working at the same building. He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.
Illustrations
(1) Cornelia, the mother of twelve children, refused Ptolemys crown after she became a widow, that she might devote herself to the training of her sons; and this was the inscription the Romans put on her statue, Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi. And nearer home our own Princess Alice might be called the model and martyr of motherhood. She writes thus: I always think that in the end children educate the parents. For their sakes there is so much one must do; one must forget oneself if everything is as it ought to be. It is doubly so if one has the misfortune to lose a precious child. Rckerts lovely lines are so true (after the loss of two of his children):
Now unto you the Lord has done what we had wished to do;
We would have trained you up, and now tis we are trained by you.
With grief and tears, O children, do you your parents train,
And lure us on and up to you, to meet in heaven again.
(2) It casts a side light on this loosing of the shoe to know that it is still done in our western islands. In the outer Hebrides, when a crofter has been elected constable, he takes off his shoes and stockings, and taking his bonnet in his hand, and, bowing low and reverently, he declares on honour, in presence of earth and heaven, in presence of God and men, that he shall be faithful to his trust. The feet are bared in order to bring the man into contact with the earth of which he is made, and to which he returns.
(3) There are hundreds who will take up religion for the profit of it, but who dont care to saddle themselves with its duties. If religion is a little addition to their respectability, or a little guarantee of their professional integrity, or a warrant of ultimate safety in the next world, they are all for religion; but when it is the expenditure of thought, labour, or money, when it makes a strong and lasting claim upon mans whole love, and attention, and conduct, then they will have none of it. But the kinsmans refusal opens the way to the fulfilment of Boazs wishes. Ruth is not there to pluck off the kinsmans shoe and to spit in his face: those rough ceremonies have passed into desuetude; but the custom prevails of taking off the shoe, and giving it in token of a transference of rights. This was the custom, says the historian: plainly intimating that this custom had ceased at the time he wrote. So he narrates the old custom with the glee of an antiquary, and tells how the kinsman handed Boaz his shoe in sign that he gave over his claim; and how Boaz calls the ten grave aldermen and the crowd to witness that now all rights in the land and in Ruth the Moabitess have become his. And then the good-natured people, who know and respect Boaz, wish him every happiness; and so the little court breaks up.
(4) The story of Ruth is unsurpassed for charm and tenderness. Slightly modernized, it would take high rank to-day as a short story. It is first of all an idyll of sound, strong, womanly character. Ruth has the self-devotion, the reverence, the industry, the modesty, the courage, and the ready obedience which entered into typical Hebrew womanhood. Again it stands for the truth, so sorely needing enforcement, at least in post-exilic times, among the Jews, that those of foreign birth might exhibit such character as well as those of their own nationality. It also undermines the intolerance often felt by Jews for outsiders by showing that Ruth, although a Moabitess, was recognized as a true servant of Jehovah, wedded to an influential Hebrew, and in time became the ancestress of King David. As a plea against intolerance it is very effective; as a picture of the social life of the Judges era it is beautiful and artistic; as a study in womanly ideals it is interesting; as a plea for sincere and simple faith it is effective.
(5) Trust God with your life. He is working out His own plan. He will not fail; be not discouraged. He will do as He pleases among the armies of heavens and the inhabitants of the earth. Pharez was the ancestor of the family settled in Bethlehem. It is curious to hear his name again, and to find it appearing twice in this story. It seems as though our families stand together for evermore, for better or worse. Trees from root to quivering leaf. Rivers from fountain to sea. So the sweet episode finishes. The door closes upon these twain. The tiny babe lies in Naomis bosom. The women who had mourned lend themselves to the gladness of the hour and rejoice. Gods stories end sweetly, if not always here, at least hereafter.
Rth 4:11. Rachel and Leah Amiable and fruitful. These two are singled out, because they were of a foreign original, and yet ingrafted into Gods people, as Ruth was; and because of that fertility which God vouchsafed unto them above their predecessors, Sarah and Rebecca. Rachel is placed before Leah, because she was his most lawful and best beloved wife. Which two did build the house of Israel Were blessed with a numerous posterity. They do not mention the two handmaids, because the former were Jacobs principal wives, whose servants bare children not for themselves, but their mistresses.
4:11 And all the people that [were] in the gate, and the elders, said, [We are] witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in {g} Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
(g) Ephratah and Bethlehem are both one.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes