Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Ruth · About this commentary
At the Gate
Ruth 4:1-4
1 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. Boaz said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down. · WEB
The midnight conversation moves to the most public place in town, and Boaz opens with the offer most likely to be accepted.
Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. The gate was where legal business was done, and the move from a dark threshing floor to the town's public bench is the point of the verse. Nothing about this will be arranged quietly.
The other redeemer comes by, and Boaz calls him over — the Hebrew address is a placeholder, something like so-and-so, so the man who declines to preserve a dead man's name is himself left without one in the record. Ten elders are seated as witnesses.
Then Boaz opens the case, and the order of his disclosure is worth watching. He mentions the land first: Naomi is selling the parcel that belonged to our brother Elimelech. Redeeming family land was a recognized duty Leviticus 25:25 and, for a man with means, a straightforward acquisition.
He presents it plainly and puts the man's right first — if you will redeem it, redeem it; there is no one besides you, and I am after you. The reply is immediate: I will redeem it. Everything Boaz wants is now at risk, and he has arranged the risk himself.
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