READING RUTH · 7 OF 9
A nearer redeemer
Boaz gives Ruth a serious answer, but the answer has a condition. Read the promise, the nearer relative’s place and the morning report without turning an expectation into an event.
In this lesson
Hear the whole answer
At the threshing floor, Ruth has asked Boaz to spread his garment’s corner over her because he is a go’el, a family redeemer. Rashi explains her words as a request for marriage connected with the family estate. Ruth’s first husband has died; Naomi, her mother-in-law, is also widowed. Boaz now answers.
Hashem, “the Name,” is our customary way of referring to God. Hesed is steadfast kindness expressed in what people do for one another. Notice that Boaz speaks about Ruth’s kindness, not only his own ability to help.
10. He said, “May Hashem bless you, my daughter. Your later kindness surpasses the first, in not going after the young men, whether poor or rich.
אַל תִּירְאִי כֹּל אֲשֶׁר תֹּאמְרִי אֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ
כִּי יוֹדֵעַ כָּל שַׁעַר עַמִּי
כִּי אֵשֶׁת חַיִל אָתְּ11. Now, my daughter, do not be afraid. Everything you say, I will do for you, for everyone at my people’s gate knows that you are a woman of worth.
12. Now, it is indeed true that I am a redeemer, but there is also a redeemer nearer than I.
אִם יִגְאָלֵךְ טוֹב יִגְאָל
וְאִם לֹא יַחְפֹּץ לְגָאֳלֵךְ
וּגְאַלְתִּיךְ אָנֹכִי חַי יְהוָה13. Stay tonight. In the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem. But if he does not wish to redeem you, I will redeem you, as Hashem lives. Lie down until morning.”
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
Eshet hayil, אֵשֶׁת חַיִל, means a woman of worth or strength. Boaz speaks of the community’s knowledge of Ruth. The town’s gate is also a place of public gathering; it will become the setting of the next scene.
Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, identifies the earlier kindness in verse 10 as Ruth’s care for Naomi. Her present request continues the concern for that bereaved family. Boaz’s praise belongs to this history, not a rule ranking everyone’s choice of spouse by age or wealth.
1. How does the “first” kindness connect this reply with the earlier story?
Rashi points back to Ruth’s care for her mother-in-law. Boaz had already spoken of that care in 2:11. His reply recognizes a continuing pattern of kindness; it does not introduce Ruth’s worth only when she asks him to marry her.
2. What must happen before Boaz carries out his own promise?
The nearer redeemer must have the opportunity to act. Boaz says that if this man will redeem, he should do so; if he does not wish to, Boaz will. Keep verse 11’s reassurance together with verses 12–13’s condition.
A worked method: promise is not completion
A learner writes, “Boaz says yes, so Ruth’s future is completely settled.” Use four labels to improve that account.
- Recognition: Boaz praises her kindness and worth (10–11).
- New information: a nearer redeemer exists (12).
- Condition: that man’s willingness determines who acts (13).
- Promise: Boaz binds his own undertaking with an oath, “as Hashem lives” (13).
The stronger account is: “Boaz takes Ruth’s request seriously and promises to act if the nearer redeemer declines. The next step must establish that man’s answer.” The promise matters precisely because we retain its terms.
3. Why is “Boaz refuses Ruth” also an inadequate summary?
He reassures her, praises her and undertakes to redeem her if the nearer man declines. A condition is not the same as a refusal. But neither is a conditional promise a report that the transaction has already occurred.
Related responsibilities, distinct Torah passages
The Torah, God’s teaching, gives a concrete example of family redemption in Leviticus 25:25: when a person becomes poor and sells ancestral property, a close relative comes to recover what was sold. Ancestral property is land held within a family’s inheritance. This helps explain the word go’el.
A different passage, Deuteronomy 25:5–10, concerns yibbum, the Torah’s provision for a deceased man’s brother to marry his widow when its conditions apply. Verse 5 begins with brothers and names “her husband’s brother.” That specific relationship is not interchangeable with every relative who can redeem land.
Ramban, Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman, explains Boaz’s story through a family practice of extending this concern to other inheriting relatives whom the Torah permits the widow to marry. He distinguishes that practice from the Torah’s particular brother-yibbum provision. Our tradition teaches the connection while preserving the legal distinctions.
Ramban on Genesis 38:8. Rashi on Ruth 3:12 likewise identifies Boaz as Elimelech’s nephew, not Mahlon’s brother.
4. Which distinction is lost in “Every go’el must marry any widow in the family”?
It merges property redemption with the Torah’s specific provision concerning a husband’s brother, and turns the family practice explained by Ramban into an unlimited command. Ruth’s scene joins concern for a widow and family continuity, but the relevant relationships and conditions still matter.
Rashi also draws attention to Boaz’s restraint in 3:13. Alongside an explanation emphasizing his assurance to Ruth, he brings our sages’ reading that Boaz’s oath commits him to intimacy only through marriage. This is a positive teaching about faithfulness to proper boundaries, not an invitation to add an unreported sexual encounter to the source.
5. Where does the explanation about Boaz’s inner struggle come from?
Rashi brings it as a teaching of our sages. The biblical verse quotes the oath and the instruction to remain until morning; Rashi explains their moral depth. We learn from that explanation while keeping its expanded account distinct from the verse’s quoted dialogue.
Return tomorrow
State Boaz’s promise with its condition. Explain why go’el is not simply another word for a husband’s brother. Then identify one new detail Ruth’s report gives Naomi and one matter still awaiting action.
9. Check your recall.
Boaz promises to redeem Ruth if the nearer redeemer does not wish to. Land redemption and the Torah’s brother-yibbum provision are related but distinct; Ramban explains the wider family practice in Boaz’s story.
Ruth reports Boaz’s concern that she not come empty-handed to Naomi. Naomi expects prompt action, but chapter 3 ends before the nearer redeemer’s decision. A serious promise and a completed event are not the same thing.
Return to the sources
- Ruth 3:10–18: reply, morning and report.
- Rashi on Ruth 3:10, 12–13: kindness, kinship and restraint.
- Leviticus 25:25 and Deuteronomy 25:5–10: distinguish the family responsibilities.
- Ramban on Genesis 38:8: Boaz and the wider family practice.