1 Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. He turned aside, and sat down.
Now it is true that I am a near kinsman; however there is a kinsman nearer than I.
If the man doesn't want to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.
then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place;
When I went forth to the city gate, When I prepared my seat in the street,
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come you to the waters, and he who has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks blamelessly. Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, And take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of hewn stone, But you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, But you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many your offenses, And how great are your sins-- You who afflict the just, Who take a bribe, And who turn aside the needy in the courts.
Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,' says Yahweh; 'for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,' says Yahweh.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ruth 4
Commentary on Ruth 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
In this chapter we have the wedding between Boaz and Ruth, in the circumstances of which there was something uncommon, which is kept upon record for the illustration, not only of the law concerning the marrying of a brother's widow (Deu. 25:5, etc.), for cases help to expound laws, but of the gospel too, for from this marriage descended David, and the Son of David, whose espousals to the Gentile church were hereby typified. We are here told,
Rth 4:1-8
Here,
Rth 4:9-12
Boaz now sees his way clear, and therefore delays not to perform his promise made to Ruth that he would do the kinsman's part, but in the gate of the city, before the elders and all the people, publishes a marriage-contract between himself and Ruth the Moabitess, and therewith the purchase of all the estate that belonged to the family of Elimelech. If he had not been (ch. 2:1) a mighty man of wealth, he could not have compassed this redemption, nor done this service to his kinsman's family. What is a great estate good for, but that it enables a man to do so much the more good in his generation, and especially to those of his own household, if he have but a heart to use it so! Now concerning this marriage it appears,
Rth 4:13-22
Here is,