Boaz

Overview

Boaz appears in the book of Ruth as a prominent Judahite landholder in Bethlehem during the period of the judges. He is introduced as a man of standing from the clan of Elimelech, receives the Moabite widow Ruth with unusual generosity, protects her as she gleans, and finally acts as a family redeemer by acquiring Elimelech’s land and marrying Ruth. The child born from this marriage, Obed, becomes the grandfather of David. In Christian Scripture Boaz is also included in the genealogies of Jesus, while a later and distinct use of the name appears in the naming of one of the two bronze pillars of Solomon’s temple.

Biblical shape

Bethlehemite landowner, protector of Ruth, family redeemer, husband of Ruth, ancestor of David Introduction as a man of standing: Boaz is introduced as a relative of Naomi’s deceased husband Elimelech and as an ish gibbor hayil, a phrase that can denote wealth, social standing, and honorable capacity. Ruth gleans in Boaz's field: Ruth happens upon the field of Boaz while gleaning for food for herself and Naomi. Boaz greets his workers with piety, notices Ruth, commands the young men not to trouble her, gives her water and food, and instructs his reapers to…. The threshing-floor encounter: Naomi instructs Ruth to approach Boaz at the threshing floor. Ruth asks Boaz to spread his wing over her, language that recalls protection and covenantal care. The city-gate redemption: Boaz gathers elders at the city gate and presents the matter of Naomi’s land and Ruth’s widowhood to a nearer kinsman. Marriage to Ruth and birth of Obed: Boaz marries Ruth, and the Lord grants conception. Their son Obed is celebrated by the women of Bethlehem as a restorer of Naomi’s life and becomes the father of Jesse and grandfather of David.

Key passages

• Ruth 2:1
• Ruth 2:2-23
• Ruth 3:2
• Ruth 3:7-18
• Ruth 4:1-13
• Ruth 4:17-22
• 1 Chronicles 2:11-12
• Matthew 1:5
• Luke 3:32
• 1 Kings 7:21

Theological significance

In the book of Ruth, Boaz appears as a Bethlehemite landowner of standing who greets Ruth’s gleaning with protection and provision, then fulfills the role of go’el by redeeming Elimelech’s land and marrying Ruth, thereby fathering Obed, ancestor of David (Ruth 2–4). Second Temple Judaism largely preserved him within the Davidic genealogy: 1 Chronicles 2:11–12 and Matthew 1:5 make him a named link in the line that culminates in David and, for Christians, Jesus. Patristic interpreters read him less as a historical individual than as a moral and typological figure: Jerome, in his Hebrew questions and commentary traditions, emphasized the plain sense of the genealogy, while Augustine, in City of God 17, treated the Ruth narrative as part of the providential history of Christ’s ancestry. Ecumenical Consensus: Jewish and Christian interpreters have generally read Boaz as a righteous Bethlehemite whose generosity, legal integrity, and kinship responsibility preserve Naomi’s family and bring Ruth into Israel’s story.

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