Ruth 2:3

3 abiit itaque et colligebat spicas post terga metentium accidit autem ut ager ille haberet dominum Booz qui erat de cognatione Helimelech

Ruth 2:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 2:3

And she went, and came
That is, she went out of the house where she was, and out of the city, and came into the field; though, according to the Midrash ^F16, she marked the ways as she went, before she entered into the field, and then came back to the city to observe the marks and signs she made, that she might not mistake the way, and might know how to come back again:

and gleaned in the field after the reapers;
when they had cut down and bound up the corn, what fell and was left she picked up, having first asked leave so to do:

and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz,
who was of the kindred of Elimelech;
the providence of God so ordering and directing it; for though it was hap and chance to her, and what some people call good luck, it was according to the purpose, and by the providence and direction of God that she came to the reapers in that part of the field Boaz, a near kinsman of her father-in-law, was owner of, and asked leave of them to glean and follow them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Midrash Ruth, fol. 31. 4. Vid. Jarchi & Alshech in loc.

Ruth 2:3 In-Context

1 erat autem vir Helimelech consanguineus homo potens et magnarum opum nomine Booz

2 dixitque Ruth Moabitis ad socrum suam si iubes vadam in agrum et colligam spicas quae metentium fugerint manus ubicumque clementis in me patris familias repperero gratiam cui illa respondit vade filia mi

3 abiit itaque et colligebat spicas post terga metentium accidit autem ut ager ille haberet dominum Booz qui erat de cognatione Helimelech

4 et ecce ipse veniebat de Bethleem dixitque messoribus Dominus vobiscum qui responderunt ei benedicat tibi Dominus

5 dixitque Booz iuveni qui messoribus praeerat cuius est haec puella