Ruth 2:5

5 And Boaz said to his servant {in charge of the reapers}, "To whom [does] this young woman [belong]?"

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 So she went and came and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. And she happened [by] chance [upon] the tract of field {belonging to} Boaz, who [was] from the clan of Elimelech.

4 And look, Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, "[May] Yahweh [be] with you." And they said to him, "[May] Yahweh bless you."

5 And Boaz said to his servant {in charge of the reapers}, "To whom [does] this young woman [belong]?"

6 And {the servant in charge of the reapers} said, "She [is] a Moabite girl returning with Naomi from the countryside of Moab.

7 And she said, 'Please let me glean and let me gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.' So she came and remained from the morning up to now. {She is sitting for a little while in the house}."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the one standing over the reapers"