Ruth 2:5

5 And Booz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose this damsel?

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 gleaned in the field behind the reapers; and she happened by chance to come on a portion of the land of Booz, of the kindred of Elimelech.

4 And, behold, Booz came from Bethleem, and said to the reapers, The Lord with you: and they said to him, The Lord bless thee.

5 And Booz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose this damsel?

6 And his servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel who returned with Noemin out of the land of Moab.

7 And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather among the sheaves after the reapers: and she came and stood from morning till evening, and rested not a little in the field.