Ruth 4:2

2 And he taketh ten men of the elders of the city, and saith, `Sit down here;' and they sit down.

Ruth 4:2 Meaning and Commentary

Ruth 4:2

And he took ten men of the elders of the city
Who were such, not merely in age but in office, who were the heads of thousands, fifties, and tens; ten of whom were a quorum to do business in judiciary affairs, to determine such matters as Boaz had propose, as to whom the right of redemption of a brother and kinsman's widow, and her estate, belonged, and who were the proper witnesses of the refusal of the one to do it, and of the other's doing it and from hence the Jews

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 gather, that the blessing of the bride and bridegroom at their marriage is not to be done by less than ten persons:

and said, sit down here, and they sat down;
and so made a full court.

F5 Misnah Megillah, c. 4. sect. 3. T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 7. 1. Midrash Ruth, fol. 35. 1.

Ruth 4:2 In-Context

1 And Boaz hath gone up to the gate, and sitteth there, and lo, the redeemer is passing by of whom Boaz had spoken, and he saith, `Turn aside, sit down here, such a one, such a one;' and he turneth aside and sitteth down.

2 And he taketh ten men of the elders of the city, and saith, `Sit down here;' and they sit down.

3 And he saith to the redeemer, `A portion of the field which [is] to our brother, to Elimelech, hath Naomi sold, who hath come back from the fields of Moab;

4 and I said, I uncover thine ear, saying, Buy before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people; if thou dost redeem -- redeem, and if none doth redeem -- declare to me, and I know, for there is none save thee to redeem, and I after thee.' And he saith, I redeem [it].'

5 And Boaz saith, `In the day of thy buying the field from the hand of Naomi, then from Ruth the Moabitess, wife of the dead, thou hast bought [it], to raise up the name of the dead over his inheritance.'