A distant descendent of Perez, son of Judah, into whose field Ruth happened to come to glean and who later, in marrying her, redeemed all those Naomi, widow of Elimelech, had lost. They became in the process great-grandparents of David (assuming that the biblical records available speak of direct father-to-son lineage). Matthew provides an interesting aside to Boaz's lineage, reporting Rahab as his mother (1:5); commentators are divided whether this should be taken as a historical fact (a very tight squeeze within the limits of chronological possibility) or whether Matthew was simply reporting a tradition extent in his time.
☰ Open Family Tree (Generation 9)
In leaving for Moab at the time of the famine, Elimelech had lost his inheritance in Bethlehem. When Naomi came back bereft of all things, she could only redeem her dead husband's inheritance if a next-of-kin would redeem (Hebrew, ga'al) them for her. To do this he (had to be a male) had to marry Elimelech's wife. But, Naomi, being too old for the role, he would have to marry her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth. It turned out that Boaz was not, in fact, the nearest next-of-kin for that role, which, depending on one's point of view, was either a privilege or a burden. It is apparent from the flow of the story that Boaz, even before the matter came up for consideration, had already developed a very high opinion of Ruth in her loyalty and devotion to her mother-in-law. When "invited" by Ruth (by uncovering his feet on the night at the threshing field (Ruth 3:9), he was already prepared for a response: "There is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than I" (v12). He had already done his homework, it seems.
Glad for the "invitation," Boaz, nonetheless, did the honourable thing and made arrangement to offer the nearer kinsman the right to redeem her first, thereby risking his own heart-felt desire. Despairing of losing his own estates the kinsman turned down the offer (4:6). Though any children born in the marriage would, in reality, be Boaz's children truly, legally they would be Mahlon's children. Depending on what other siblings and relatives Boaz had, this may or may not be important. Whatever the situation was, Boaz demonstrated he was a man of honour, doing what was right of him. Set against the background of the days of the judges, which the concluding sentence in the book of Judges characterizes in the expression, "in those days . . . "every man did what was right in his own eyes," the book of Ruth highlights that Boaz—and Ruth—did what was covenantly right. He may never have (though it was within the realm of possibility) lived to see that his actions would be "rewarded" generations later with the birth of Israel's greatest king as well as her Redeemer.
CONCORDANCE
Boaz is mentioned 27x in the Bible, three of which are in the NT:
Ruth 2:8 — So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field and don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls.
Ruth 2:11 — [At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She exclaimed, "Why have I found such favour in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?"] Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband--how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before.
Ruth 2:14 & 15 — At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don't embarrass her.
Ruth 2:19 — Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!" Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. "The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz," she said.
Ruth 2:23 — So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.
Ruth 3:2 — [One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for?] Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing-floor.
Ruth 3:7 — When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.
Ruth 3:16 — When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "How did it go, my daughter?" Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her [and added, "He gave me these six measures of barley, saying,`Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.'"]
Ruth 4:1 — Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down. Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. [Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.]
Ruth 4:5 — Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."
Ruth 4:8 — So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. [I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"]
Ruth 4:13 — So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.
Ruth 4:21 — [This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, . . . Nahshon the father of Salmon,] Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, [Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.]
1 Chron 2:11-12 — [Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, the leader of the people of Judah.] Nahshon was the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed and Obed the father of Jesse. [Jesse was the father of Eliab his firstborn; . . . and the seventh David.]
Matt 1:5 — [Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, . . . Nahshon the father of Salmon,] Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, [and Jesse the father of King David.]
Lk 3:32 — [Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, . . . the son of David,] the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, [ . . . the son of Perez, the son of Judah]
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