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Texts -- Ruth 2:1 (NET)

Context
Ruth Works in the Field of Boaz
2:1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side of the family named Boaz . He was a wealthy , prominent man from the clan of Elimelech .

Pericope

NET
  • Rut 2:1-3 -- Ruth Works in the Field of Boaz

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The Book of Ruth is one of the most fascinating and important short stories that anyone has ever written. As a piece of literature it is almost perfect. The German poet Goethe called it "the loveliest complete work on a small...
  • I. Naomi's predicament ch. 1A. The deaths of Naomi's husband and sons 1:1-5B. Naomi's inability to provide husbands for Ruth and Orpah 1:6-14C. Ruth's profession of faith in Yahweh 1:15-18D. Naomi's weak faith 1:19-21E. Hope ...
  • As is often true in literature, the structure of the piece sometimes reveals the purpose of the writer. This is certainly the case in the Book of Ruth. The writer constructed the whole book with a chiastic (crossing) structur...
  • Chapter 1 in a sense prepares for chapters 2-4 that constitute the heart of the book. Chapter 1 presents a problem, but chapters 2-4 provide the solution. The key to the solution on the human level was the planning of Naomi a...
  • Chapter 2 has its own chiastic structure.41ARuth and Naomi (2:2-3)BBoaz and the reapers (2:4-7)CBoaz and Ruth (2:8-15a)B'Boaz and the reapers (2:15b-16)A'Naomi and Ruth (2:19-22)Boaz's conversation with Ruth is the focus of t...
  • The motif of God's providence, His working out His own plan through the circumstances of life, which runs through the Book of Ruth, is especially strong in this pericope.The writer introduced Boaz as a kinsman (lit. acquainta...
  • At the end of the day Ruth beat out and winnowed the grain she had gleaned. She had collected about three-fifths of a bushel of barley, "the equivalent of at least half a month's wages in one day"(v. 17).48Ruth also took the ...
  • Having obtained food and safety the two women could look beyond their immediate physical needs to their greater need. Whereas Ruth took the initiative in proposing a plan to obtain food (2:2), Naomi now suggested a plan to ge...
  • Ruth carried out Naomi's instructions exactly, further demonstrating her loyal love to her mother-in-law, and encouraged Boaz to pursue the possibility of marriage (vv. 6-9)."Note that the threshingfloor was a public place an...
  • The gate of cities like Bethlehem was the place where people transacted official business (cf. Gen. 19:1; 2 Sam. 15:2-6; 1 Kings 22:10; Amos 5:10, 12, 15)."In ancient cities the gate' was a short passageway through the thick ...
  • Probably the practice of standing on land one possessed led to the custom of using the sandal as a symbol of possession in land transactions (v. 7; cf. Gen. 13:17; Deut. 1:36; 11:24; Josh. 1:3; 14:9).80Most scholars believe t...
  • Saul ("Asked [of God],"cf. 8:10) came from good Benjamite stock. His father was a man of property and influence. The same Hebrew expression, gibbor hayil, translated "valor,"describes Boaz in Ruth 2:1 and King Jeroboam I in 1...
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