Ruth 4:1

1 Boaz went to the city gate and sat there until the close relative he had mentioned passed by. Boaz called to him, "Come here, friend, and sit down." So the man came over and sat down.

Ruth 4:1 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 4:1

Then went Boaz up to the gate
In the middle of the day, as Josephus ^F4 says, to the gate of the city, where people were continually passing and repassing to and from the country, and where he was most likely to meet with the person he wanted to see and converse with, and where courts of judicature were usually held, and where it was proper to call one to determine the affair he had in hand; so the Targum,

``and Boaz went up to the gate of the house of judgment of the sanhedrim:''

and set him down there;
waiting for the person or persons passing by, with whom be chose to speak:

and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by;
the kinsman that was nearer than he, of whom he had spoke to Ruth, that if he would not redeem her, he would; a "behold" is prefixed to this, to observe the providence of God that ordered it so, that he should come that way just at the time Boaz was sitting there, and waiting for him; who perhaps was going into his field to look after his threshers and winnowers, as Boaz had been:

unto whom he said, ho, such an one;
calling him by his name, though it is not expressed; which the writer of this history might not know, or, if he did, thought it not material to give it, some have been of opinion that it is purposely concealed, as a just retaliation to him, that as he chose not to raise up seed to his kinsman, to perpetuate his name, so his own is buried in oblivion; though it might be done in his favour, that his name might not be known, and lie under disgrace, for refusing to act the part he ought according to the law to have done; hence the plucking off the shoe, and spitting in his face, were done to such an one by way of contempt and reproach. The words are "peloni almoni", words used by the Hebrews of persons and places, whose names they either could not, or did not choose to mention, which two words are contracted into "palmoni" in ( Daniel 8:13 ) . The name of this man was "Tob" or "Tobias", according to some Jewish writers, (See Gill on Ruth 3:13), to him Boaz said,

turn aside, and sit down here; and he turned aside, and sat down;
instead of going right forward, as he intended, about his business, he turned on one side as he was desired, and sat down by Boaz.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 9. sect. 4.

Ruth 4:1 In-Context

1 Boaz went to the city gate and sat there until the close relative he had mentioned passed by. Boaz called to him, "Come here, friend, and sit down." So the man came over and sat down.

2 Boaz gathered ten of the older leaders of the city and told them, "Sit down here!" So they sat down.

3 Then Boaz said to the close relative, "Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, wants to sell the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.

4 So I decided to tell you about it: If you want to buy back the land, then buy it in front of the people who are sitting here and in front of the older leaders of my people. But if you don't want to buy it, tell me, because you are the only one who can buy it, and I am next after you." The close relative answered, "I will buy back the land."

5 Then Boaz explained, "When you buy the land from Naomi, you must also marry Ruth, the Moabite, the dead man's wife. That way, the land will stay in the dead man's name."