Rut 4:5 | TNotes | STEP | 4:5 your purchase ... requires that you marry Ruth (literally on the day you purchase ... you acquire Ruth ): In the Hebrew manuscripts that we have, the body of this verse reads I acquire, but a scribal correction in the margin reads you acquire, a difference of one letter. (The scribe believed you acquire was the original reading and that the body of the text contained an error.) Some interpreters believe the body of the Hebrew text ( I acquire ) is the original reading of the text, indicating that the marriage between Boaz and Ruth was already set to occur (see study note on 3:11). Most translators, however, believe that the marginal correction ( you acquire ) represents the original reading of the text because: (1) The scribe who made the marginal correction believed that you acquire was the original reading; (2) most ancient translations of Ruth, which predate our oldest copies of the Hebrew text, also read you acquire ; and (3) it is easy to envision that an earlier Hebrew scribe (working before our earliest manuscript copies) substituted I acquire —as it appears in 4:10 —in place of you acquire . • That way she can have children who will carry on her husband’s name and keep the land in the family: This sentence draws heavily on Deut 25:7 . Boaz connected the duties of a family redeemer (see study notes on Ruth 2:20; Lev 25:25) with the duties of a brother-in-law (Latin levir ) to provide an heir for a deceased brother (see Deut 25:5-10 for a description of levirate marriage; cp. Gen 38 ). There is no precise precedent for Boaz’s legal maneuver. The duty of the levir as stated in Deut 25:5-10 was not binding in this situation (neither Boaz nor the other kinsman was Elimelech’s brother, and Ruth was not Elimelech’s widow). Boaz was apparently using the spirit of the law concerning the go’el (family redeemer) to establish a moral, if not a legal, obligation to serve as levir and provide the deceased with an heir to inherit the land (see study note on Lev 25:25). The concepts of land ownership and provision for an heir were intimately connected in ancient Israel (cp. Num 27:1-11 ). Because Naomi was beyond childbearing age, Ruth, the widow of Elimelech’s son, would be the mother for such an heir. This maneuver apparently surprised the other kinsman (Ruth 4:6 ), but it is clear from what follows that Boaz’s argument, while perhaps novel, was accepted as valid.

a4:5►

b4:10►

cDeut 25:7►

dDeut 25:5-10►

eGen 38►

fDeut 25:5-10►

gNum 27:1-11►

hRuth 4:6►

‏ Ruth 4:5

4:5 ^a your purchase ... requires that you marry Ruth (literally on the day you purchase ... you acquire Ruth): In the Hebrew manuscripts that we have, the body of this verse reads I acquire, but a scribal correction in the margin reads you acquire, a difference of one letter. (The scribe believed you acquire was the original reading and that the body of the text contained an error.) Some interpreters believe the body of the Hebrew text (I acquire) is the original reading of the text, indicating that the marriage between Boaz and Ruth was already set to occur (see study note on 3:11). Most translators, however, believe that the marginal correction (you acquire) represents the original reading of the text because: (1) The scribe who made the marginal correction believed that you acquire was the original reading; (2) most ancient translations of Ruth, which predate our oldest copies of the Hebrew text, also read you acquire; and (3) it is easy to envision that an earlier Hebrew scribe (working before our earliest manuscript copies) substituted I acquire—as it appears in 4:10 ^b—in place of you acquire.

• That way she can have children who will carry on her husband’s name and keep the land in the family: This sentence draws heavily on Deut 25:7 ^c. Boaz connected the duties of a family redeemer (see study notes on Ruth 2:20; Lev 25:25) with the duties of a brother-in-law (Latin levir) to provide an heir for a deceased brother (see Deut 25:5-10 ^d for a description of levirate marriage; cp. Gen 38 ^e). There is no precise precedent for Boaz’s legal maneuver. The duty of the levir as stated in Deut 25:5-10 ^f was not binding in this situation (neither Boaz nor the other kinsman was Elimelech’s brother, and Ruth was not Elimelech’s widow). Boaz was apparently using the spirit of the law concerning the go’el (family redeemer) to establish a moral, if not a legal, obligation to serve as levir and provide the deceased with an heir to inherit the land (see study note on Lev 25:25). The concepts of land ownership and provision for an heir were intimately connected in ancient Israel (cp. Num 27:1-11 ^g). Because Naomi was beyond childbearing age, Ruth, the widow of Elimelech’s son, would be the mother for such an heir. This maneuver apparently surprised the other kinsman (Ruth 4:6 ^h), but it is clear from what follows that Boaz’s argument, while perhaps novel, was accepted as valid.