Ruth 2:5

5 And Boaz saith to his young man who is set over the reapers, `Whose [is] this young person?'

Ruth 2:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:5

Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers,
&c.] To direct them their work, what part each was to do, and to see that they did it well; to take care for provisions for them, and to pay them their wages when their work was done. Josephus ^F20 calls him (agrokomov) , that had the care of the field, and all things relative to it; the Jews ^F21 say, he was set over two and forty persons, whom he had the command of:

whose damsel is this?
to whom does she belong? of what family is she? whose daughter is she? or whose wife? for he thought, as Aben Ezra notes, that she was another man's wife; the Targum is, of what nation is she? perhaps her dress might be somewhat different from that of the Israelitish women.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 2.
F21 Midrash Ruth, fol. 32. 1.

Ruth 2:5 In-Context

3 And she goeth and cometh and gathereth in a field after the reapers, and her chance happeneth -- the portion of the field is Boaz's who [is] of the family of Elimelech.

4 And lo, Boaz hath come from Beth-Lehem, and saith to the reapers, `Jehovah [is] with you;' and they say to him, `Jehovah doth bless thee.'

5 And Boaz saith to his young man who is set over the reapers, `Whose [is] this young person?'

6 And the young man who is set over the reapers answereth and saith, `A young woman -- Moabitess -- she [is], who came back with Naomi from the fields of Moab,

7 and she saith, Let me glean, I pray thee -- and I have gathered among the sheaves after the reapers; and she cometh and remaineth since the morning and till now; she sat in the house a little.