Bible Word of the Day
Boaz (Kinsmen Redeemer, Husband of Ruth)
Meaning
Boaz was an Israelite man from Bethlehem who married Ruth the Moabite woman. Ruth was the daughter in-law of a Jewish woman named Naomi. Naomi, her husband and sons had travelled to Moab, where her sons married foreign women. Later, Naomi’s husband and sons died and she told her daughter in-laws to leave her and return to their families. Naomi, did this because she had no way to support, nor care for them. However, Ruth would not leave Naomi and she returned to Bethlehem with Naomi. Ruth was an honorable woman who following the laws of God gleaned from the fields to feed herself and her mother in-law.
By God’s sovereignty the field belonged to Boaz, who was a wealthy landowner who followed the Lord and honored God in both word and deed. He was also a kinsman of Naomi and therefore based on God’s law, Boaz had the right to marry Ruth and support her if he so chose to. As the story progresses Boaz married Ruth and extended the right of “levirate marriage” which allowed their son to carry on her deceased husbands name and inheritance. Boaz and Ruth were the great, great grandparents of King David of Israel.
“There was a relative of Naomi’s husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, ‘Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor.’ And she said to her, ‘Go, my daughter.’ Then she left, and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. Now behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, ‘The Lord be with you’ And they answered him, ‘The Lord bless you’ Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, ‘Whose young woman is this?’ Then Boaz said to Ruth, ‘You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women. Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.’ So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, ‘Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?’ And Boaz answered and said to her, ‘It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.'” (Ruth 2:1-11)