Commentaria in Ruth
Chapter 4. Synopsis of the Chapter
Booz, before the Judges, the nearer kinsman yielding his right, takes possession of the estate of the dead Elimelech, and receives his daughter-in-law Ruth as wife, by whom he begets Obed, the father of Jesse, whose son was David the king.
1. Then Booz went up to the gate, and sat there. And when he saw the kinsman going by, of whom he had spoken before, he said to him, calling him by his name: Turn aside for a little while, and sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. 2. And Booz, taking ten men of the ancients of the city, said to them: Sit ye down here. 3. And when they were sitting, he spoke to the kinsman: Noemi, who is returned from the country of Moab, will sell a parcel of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech; 4. which I would have thee to know, and tell thee before all that sit here, and the ancients of my people. If thou wilt take it by the right of kindred, buy it, and possess it; but if it please thee not, tell me so, that I may know what I have to do. For there is no near kinsman besides thee, who art first, and me, who am second. But he answered: I will buy the field. 5. And Booz said to him: When thou shalt buy the field of the woman’s hand, thou must take also Ruth the Moabitess, who was the wife of the deceased, to raise up the name of thy kinsman in his inheritance. 6. He answered: I yield up my right of kindred: for I ought not to cut off the posterity of my own family; use thou my privilege, which I profess I willingly give up. 7. Now this was the manner of old in Israel between kinsmen, that if at any time one yielded his right to another, that the grant might be sure, the man put off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour. This was a testimony of the cession in Israel. 8. Booz therefore said to his kinsman: Put off thy shoe. And he immediately took it off from his foot. 9. And he said to the ancients and to all the people: You are witnesses this day, that I have possessed all that were Elimelech’s and Chelion’s and Mahalon’s, of the hand of Noemi; 10. and have taken to wife Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance, lest his name be cut off from his family, and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this thing. 11. All the people that were in the gate, and the ancients, answered: We are witnesses; the Lord make this woman, who cometh into thy house, like Rachel and Lia, who built up the house of Israel; that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in Bethlehem. 12. And may thy house be as the house of Phares, whom Thamar bore to Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman. 13. So Booz took Ruth, and married her; and went in unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive and to bring forth a son. 14. And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not suffered thy family to want a successor, that his name should be preserved in Israel. 15. And mayest thou have one to comfort thy soul, and cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter-in-law, who loveth thee; and is much better to thee than if thou hadst seven sons. 16. And Noemi taking the child, laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse to it. 17. And the women, her neighbours, congratulating with her, and saying: There is a son born to Noemi, called his name Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David. 18. These are the generations of Phares: Phares begot Esron; 19. Esron begot Aram; Aram begot Aminadab; 20. Aminadab begot Nahasson; Nahasson begot Salmon; 21. Salmon begot Booz; Booz begot Obed; 22. Obed begot Isai; Isai begot David.
1. BOOZ WENT UP TO THE GATE—for there sat the judges before whom this case of the cession of the right of kinship was lawfully to be conducted.
CALLING HIM BY HIS NAME.—In Hebrew, calling peloni almoni, which Cajetan renders, sit down here, such a one, namely the kinsman of the widow Ruth; the Septuagint, turn aside hither, hidden one; the Chaldee, a man who is hidden from his way, that is, who does not wish to be seen.
It is more true that peloni almoni literally signifies such a one, a certain individual, as if to say: Thou, such and such a one, come hither and hear me; for I have business to treat with thee. For so we are wont to call strangers whose names we do not know; or, if we know them, do not wish to name them. Whence from peloni seems to be derived the Spanish fulano; the Greeks say, the Italians un tale, the French un quidam. Moreover Booz seems to have addressed him by his name, but Scripture did not wish to express his name, because he was unworthy to be named: since he would not raise up the seed and name of his dead brother. So Abulensis; for justly is his name buried in eternal oblivion, who allows the name of his brother and kinsman to be buried in the same way.
Finally almoni is derived from neelam, that is, he was dumb, because one whose name is passed over in silence is, as it were, mute and not heard; and, so to say, grows dumb; such a one is therefore called almoni: peloni is said likewise, from pele, that is, hidden and wonderful, because we wonder at things that are hidden. So Serarius.
3. NOEMI WILL SELL A PARCEL OF LAND THAT BELONGED TO OUR BROTHER ELIMELECH—she, his wife while he lived, now the widow of the deceased; she “will sell,” I say, as much for herself as for her daughter-in-law Ruth, to feed her: for both were poor. For although wives did not succeed among the Jews to the inheritance of their husbands, or of other dead kinsmen or relations, yet it is gathered from this place that they had the use and fruits of their husbands’ inheritance for life, and so could sell it, but in such a way that the right of buying belonged first to the kinsmen of the dead husband, to whom the inheritance was to pass after the death of the widow. Hence whichever of the kinsmen wished to buy this inheritance, for example a field, had to take to wife the widow left by the dead man, that he might raise up seed to him whose inheritance he had obtained. Moreover it is likely that this field of Elimelech had been let to someone, at the time when he was sojourning in Moab, who paid a yearly rent from its fruits each year. So Abulensis, Lyranus, Fevardentius and others.
6. I YIELD UP MY RIGHT OF KINDRED: FOR I OUGHT NOT TO CUT OFF (in Hebrew, to corrupt. So also the Septuagint) THE POSTERITY OF MY FAMILY—as if to say: I have a wife, I have sons and daughters: I ought to feed them, that they may propagate my family and name; wherefore I do not wish to bring in a second wife, Ruth, lest I should have to feed her too with her children, and so take away or lessen the maintenance of those whom I have already begotten, and beget sons, at least a first-born, from Ruth, not for myself but for another, namely to raise up seed and name for her husband, who was my kinsman. Whence the Chaldee renders: I cannot claim it for myself on this ground or pretext; because I have a wife, and I have no power to take another, lest strife perhaps arise in my house, and I corrupt my inheritance. Claim thou my possession for thyself, because thou hast no wife, and I shall not be able to claim it for myself.