Ruth 2:5

5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in authority over the cutters, Whose girl is this?

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 went, and came and took up the heads of grain in the field after the cutters; and by chance she went into that part of the field which was the property of Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

4 And Boaz came from Beth-lehem, and said to the grain-cutters, The Lord be with you. And they made answer, The Lord give you his blessing.

5 Then Boaz said to his servant who was in authority over the cutters, Whose girl is this?

6 And the servant who was in authority over the cutters said, It is a Moabite girl who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab;

7 And she said to me, Let me come into the grain-field and take up the grain after the cutters. So she came, and has been here from morning till now, without resting even for a minute.