Ruth 4:3

3 And he saith to the redeemer, `A portion of the field which [is] to our brother, to Elimelech, hath Naomi sold, who hath come back from the fields of Moab;

Ruth 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 4:3

And he said unto the kinsman
That is, Boaz said to the kinsman he called to, and who sat down by him before the ten elders that were present:

Naomi, that is come again out of the land of Moab, selleth a parcel of
land;
meaning, that she was determined upon it, and was about to do it, and would do it quickly, and he had it in commission to propose it to a purchaser:

which was our brother Elimelech's;
not in a strict sense, but being akin to the kinsman and himself, and having been a neighbour of them all, and an inhabitant of the place, he is called their brother; though some Jewish writers ^F6 say, that he was in a strict sense a brother of Boaz and this kinsman, and that Tob, Elimelech, and Boaz, were brethren, and so Tob was reckoned the nearest kinsman, and had the first right to redeem, because he was the elder brother but this does not seem likely; (See Gill on Ruth 3:13).

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Midrash Ruth, fol. 34. 2.

Ruth 4:3 In-Context

1 And Boaz hath gone up to the gate, and sitteth there, and lo, the redeemer is passing by of whom Boaz had spoken, and he saith, `Turn aside, sit down here, such a one, such a one;' and he turneth aside and sitteth down.

2 And he taketh ten men of the elders of the city, and saith, `Sit down here;' and they sit down.

3 And he saith to the redeemer, `A portion of the field which [is] to our brother, to Elimelech, hath Naomi sold, who hath come back from the fields of Moab;

4 and I said, I uncover thine ear, saying, Buy before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people; if thou dost redeem -- redeem, and if none doth redeem -- declare to me, and I know, for there is none save thee to redeem, and I after thee.' And he saith, I redeem [it].'

5 And Boaz saith, `In the day of thy buying the field from the hand of Naomi, then from Ruth the Moabitess, wife of the dead, thou hast bought [it], to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance.'