CHAPTER ONE

 

 

1:2:  “Elimelech” = Means, “My God is King.”  Great name.  Poor reaction to a famine.

 

“Mahlon” = Meaning, “disease,” and “Chilion” = Meaning, “to perish.”  Elimelech knew prophetically that they were going to die.

 

1:4:  “they took them wives of the women of Moab” = Here is my Deuteronomy 23:3 Note:  “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation” = This makes it hard to justify Ruth’s existence as an Israelite.  Here are the Generations: (1) BOAZ; (2) SALMON/RAHAB; (3) NAHSHON; (4) AMMINADAB; (5) RAM (ARAM); (6) JERAHMEEL; (7) HEZRON; (8) PHAREZ; (9) JUDAH.

 

The Bible often leaves out a name or two in the generations, which would get us to the number ten if we went all the way back to Judah, and or, counted Ruth.  However, these instructions were not given while Judah was alive, but most likely in about Aminadab’s time period.  However again, if we keep reading this verse, and we go to Nehemiah 13:1, which is an interpretation of this verse, we read that neither the Ammonite’s nor the Moabites were to “enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever.”  It is now impossible to justify the existence of Ruth as an Israelite “for ever.” However, if we read Numbers 31:7-9 & 17-18 and Deuteronomy 20:14, we can see that according to this directive from our Lord that the instructions in Deuteronomy and its clarification in Nehemiah only applied to “men and those women who had lain with men,” not unmarried women or children.

 

1:4:  “Orpah” = Meaning, “gazelle.”

 

“ten years” = For Ruth not to have children had to be ordained by God (see Ruth 4:13); otherwise their would be a different personage to have the inheritance.  But God wanted Obed to be the inheritor of this farmland.  And of course, then Jesse and David.

 

1:5:  “Mahlon and Chilion died also” = The “Targum” gives this reason for their deaths:  “because they transgressed the decree of the Word of the Lord, and joined in affinity with strange people, their days were cut off [meaning, ‘‘shortened”].  The Chaldee states:  “Their days were shortened, because they transgressed the Law in marrying strange wives.”

 

1:9:  “rest” = When the Jews spoke of a woman finding “rest” they referred to her as being married.  See Ruth 3:1.

 

1:12:  “hope” = The true understanding of the Biblical word “hope,” whenever it occurs in God’s Word, is:  “Hope is a reality that has not occurred yet.”

 

1:14:  “Ruth clave unto her” = Meaning to “stick to something” so drastically as to never let go, such as in Ezekiel 3:26 & 29:4.  The Hebrew word is “dabaq,” meaning “glue.”  In fact, the first time this word appears in Scripture is when Adam and Eve would become “one flesh,” in Genesis 2:24, i.e., “be joined.”

 

1:16:  “thy God my God” = What most people miss here is that these two verses are poetic.  If we break these verses down, it works out to be five couplets:

 

1) Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: 

2) for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:

3) thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

4) Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried:

5) the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. 

 

What is interesting about Hebrew poetry, is that when broken down into its couplets, often, the most significant one is the middle one.  Also, if you will notice in this particular poem, the first and last couplets are saying the same thing, i.e.:

 

1) “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee:”

 

5) “the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.”

 

Also, the 2nd & 4th are geography, i.e.:

 

2) “for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:”

 

4) “Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.”

 

Now we can see how the middle one stands out significantly, or even more so than we at first thought it did, because it is related to nothing in the other statements.  This brings its emphasis out tremendously.  In our English structure of language, and thus poetry, we think of emphasis as being placed in the final point; whereas Hebrew structure places it right in the heart of any discussion:

 

3) “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

 

You see, what Hebrew poetry does is to emphasize the main point by disassociating it to any of the other statements around it.  It very easily and quickly becomes our main focus, and is picked up as such very quickly.  What Christian, reading any type of literature, does not pick up upon the fact that this once heathen woman makes such a wonderful statement to our Christian ears:

 

3) “thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”

 

1:17:  “but death part thee and me” = This is where we get the last part of modern marriage vows:  “Till death do us part.”

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

 

2:2:  “go to the field” = Ruth knew or learned of the instructions about the gleaning of fields in Deuteronomy 24:19.

 

2:4:  “said unto the reapers, The LORD be with you.  And they answered him, The LORD bless thee” = Here is my Psalm 129:8 Note:  “Neither do they which go by say” = In other words, this custom has stopped.  They used to wish the presence and blessing of God with them, and upon their laborers, who returned the salutation, as may be seen with Boaz and his reapers (see Ruth 2:4).  Or rather more likely, the meaning is that the Psalmist prays that none should use this phrase in regard to all who hate Zion (see verse 5).  That they may have no such prosperity.  Either way, do not say this.  However, the tradition seems to have carried down to Christ’s time, for we have the people saying it to Jesus (Mat. 21:9).

 

2:12:  “LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust” = Apparently it is well known that Ruth has given her life to the “God of Israel.”

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

 

3:1:  “rest” = See my Ruth 1:9 Note.

 

3:3:  “floor” = Better, the “threshing floor.”  This would be where Boaz would be “winnowing,” meaning, “to blow a current of air through grain in order to remove the chaff.”

 

3:4 & 9:  “skirt” = Back in the days of Ruth, the “hem” of a garment was the identity of a person and great importance was attached to its meaning.  Just as our Lord had “the children of Israel” place a ribbon of “blue” (Exo. 26:4; 28:33; 36:11; 39:24; Num. 15:38-39) on the “hem” of their garments to signify that they belonged to Him and that they kept His Commandments, so it was that in those days a nobleman would take the “hem” of his garment and impress it on a seal, for each important person’s “hem” had its own particular design.  Thus, it was that Ruth was asking Boaz to place his “seal” of approval upon her actions in expressing her desire to marry him.  Just as the woman with an issue touched of Christ’s “hem,” Matthew 9:20, so she was expressing the fact (in representation) that she was touching the place of Christ’s authority.

 

3:9:  “kinsman” = The Hebrew is, “Ga-al,” really meaning, “Kinsman-Redeemer.”  Which has connotations towards our Lord.  God can redeem anyone.

 

3:11:  “a virtuous woman” = This Hebrew phrase only appears three times in Scripture.  Twice in Proverbs and then here.  It most likely is therefore possible that when Solomon, the writer of Proverbs, mentions “a virtuous woman,” he is using Ruth, his Great, Great, Grandmother as his example.

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

 

4:1:  “such a one” = The Hebrew word that the author of the Book of Ruth (Samuel) uses here is, “ploniy,” meaning, “a specified person.”  It is notable that the author (Samuel) does not expose this kinsman’s real name.  He either does so to protect the family line from embarrassment of this redeemer’s behavior, or to avert the judgment that was due the family line because of this behavior, or some other reason all together.  The fact that the author (Samuel) uses “Orpah’s” name, even though some may condemn her behavior, indicates that he is definitely protecting this man’s name, whom Boaz most knew, and whose name Boaz most likely used when he called him at the city gate.

 

4:3:  “our brother Elimelech’s” = Here is where we identify the close relativeness of Boaz and this “kinsman.”  The “kinsman” is most likely Boaz’s older brother.  Which is also why the older brother would inherit all of Ruth’s ex-husband’s property, “of Naomi,” verse 5.  Therefore, see my Ruth 4:10 Note and the end of Ruth 3:9 where even Ruth identifies Boaz as “a near kinsman.”

 

This relative could have been the ancestor of the Messiah.  God’s kindness in not mentioning his name is merciful.  On the other hand, such a loss this “kinsman” may never live down.  Hebrew names are so very important.  The fact that the first redeemer is never mentioned means he gave up the right of redeemer-ship.

 

4:7:  “former time in Israel. . . plucked off his shoe” = These instructions are found in Deuteronomy 25:9-10.  See my Introduction Commentary on this verse.

 

4:10:  “Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance” = Because of the brother’s wife instructions in Deuteronomy 25:5-6, Boaz most likely is a brother-in-law.

 

4:12:  “let they house be like the house of Pharez” = No Jewish house would want their lineage to be like Pharez’s, for he was a “bastard” (see the account in Genesis, Chapter 38).  Thus, the lineage of the Coming Messiah was at risk.  And Deuteronomy 23:2 makes it clear that “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.”  But there is a clarification if we continue reading, “even to their tenth generation.”  Therefore, if we look at the genealogy after Pharez, the tenth generation brings us to king David.  Thus, the lineage of the Messiah is cleared and ready to substantiate its right to the be a legitimate lineage of the Coming Messiah.

 

4:13:  “the LORD gave her conception” = According to Ruth 1:4 (see my Note there), God held back her conception for “ten years” of her first marriage.  Rest in the purposes of God.  Boaz is old, yet bears a child.  Abraham is old, yet has a child.  Judah has three sons who have relations with Tamar.  But only by Judah does Tamar become pregnant.  Whatever God has for you, trust in Him.

 

4:17:  “David” = Until 1993 A.D., with the discovery of the now famous, “Tel Dan Inscription,” king David could not be historically justified.  The excavation was led by Avraham Biran, but it was the team’s surveyor, Gila Cook, who noticed the inscription on a basalt stone in secondary use in the lower part of a wall.  Written in the ninth-century B.C. Aramaic, it was part of a victory stele commissioned by a non-Israelite king mentioning his victory of “the king of Israel” and the “House of David.”

 

According to Deuteronomy 23:2:  “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation.”  So, if we count the generations listed in verses 18-22, Pharez being a “bastard” because he was conceived by Tamar with her father-in-law Judah (Gen. 38:13-39), we come up with 10, David being the end of the Law of God.