Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Boaz, before the Judges, with the closer kinsman yielding his right, takes possession of the estate of the deceased Elimelech, and takes his daughter-in-law Ruth as wife, from whom he begets Obed, the father of Jesse, whose son was King David.
Vulgate Text: Ruth 4:1-22
1. So Boaz went up to the gate and sat there. And when he had seen the kinsman passing by, of whom mention had been made before, he said to him: Turn aside for a little while and sit down here, calling him by his name. He turned aside and sat down. 2. And Boaz, taking ten men from the elders of the city, said to them: Sit down here. 3. When they had sat down, he spoke to the kinsman: Naomi, who has returned from the region of Moab, will sell a parcel of land belonging to our brother Elimelech; 4. I wanted you to hear this, and to tell you before all who sit here and before the elders of my people. If you wish to possess it by right of kinship, buy it and possess it; but if it displeases you, tell me so, that I may know what to do. For there is no kinsman besides you, who are first; and me, who am second. And he answered: I will buy the field. 5. To whom Boaz said: When you buy the field from the hand of the woman, you must also take Ruth the Moabitess, who was the wife of the deceased, so that you may raise up the name of your kinsman in his inheritance. 6. He answered: I yield my right of kinship: for I must not destroy the posterity of my own family; you make use of my privilege, which I willingly declare myself to renounce. 7. Now this was the ancient custom in Israel among kinsmen, that if at any time one yielded his right to another, to make the concession firm, the man would remove his sandal and give it to the other. This was the testimony of the cession in Israel. 8. So Boaz said to his kinsman: Remove your sandal. Which he immediately took off his foot. 9. And Boaz said to the elders and to all the people: You are witnesses today that I have taken possession of all that belonged to Elimelech, and Chilion, and Mahlon, with Naomi handing it over; 10. and that I have taken Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, in marriage, so that I may raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance, lest his name be erased from his family and his brothers and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this matter. 11. All the people who were in the gate answered, and the elders: We are witnesses. May the Lord make this woman who enters your house like Rachel and Leah, who built up the house of Israel; may she be an example of virtue in Ephrath, and may she have a celebrated name in Bethlehem. 12. And may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the seed that the Lord shall give you from this young woman. 13. So Boaz took Ruth and received her as wife; and he went in to her, and the Lord granted her to conceive and bear a son. 14. And the women said to Naomi: Blessed be the Lord, who has not allowed the successor of your family to fail, and may his name be called in Israel. 15. And may you have one who consoles your soul and nourishes your old age. For he is born of your daughter-in-law who loves you; and she is much better for you than if you had seven sons. 16. And Naomi, taking the child, placed him in her bosom, and served as nurse and caretaker. 17. And the neighboring women, congratulating her and saying: A son is born to Naomi, called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 18. These are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; 19. Hezron begot Ram; Ram begot Amminadab; 20. Amminadab begot Nahshon; Nahshon begot Salmon; 21. Salmon begot Boaz; Boaz begot Obed; 22. Obed begot Jesse; Jesse begot David.
Verse 1: Boaz Went Up to the Gate
1. SO BOAZ WENT UP TO THE GATE. — For in the gate sat the judges before whom this matter of cession of the right of kinship had to be lawfully transacted.
CALLING HIM BY HIS NAME. — In Hebrew calling peloni almoni, which Cajetan translates, "sit here, such a one," namely the kinsman of the widow Ruth; the Septuagint has, "turn aside here, hidden one"; the Chaldean, "a man who hides his way," that is, who does not wish to be seen.
More accurately, peloni almoni literally means "such and such a one," or "a certain someone," as if to say: You, so-and-so, come here and hear me; for I have a matter to discuss with you. For thus we are accustomed to address strangers whose names we do not know; or if we know them, we do not wish to name them. Hence from peloni seems to be derived the Spanish fulano, the Greeks say deina, the Italians un tale, the French un quidam.
Moreover, Boaz seems to have addressed him by his actual name, but Scripture did not wish to express his name, because he was unworthy of being named: as one who refused to raise up the seed and name of his deceased brother. So Abulensis; for justly is his name buried in eternal oblivion, who allows the name of his brother and kinsman to be buried in the same.
Finally, almoni is derived from neelam, that is, "he was silent," because the name that is kept silent, as if mute, is not heard, and so to speak, falls silent; such a person is therefore called almoni. Likewise peloni is derived from pele, that is, "hidden" and "wonderful," because we wonder at things that are hidden. So Serarius.
Verse 3: Naomi Will Sell a Parcel of Land
3. NAOMI WILL SELL A PARCEL OF LAND BELONGING TO OUR BROTHER ELIMELECH — his wife while he lived, now the widow of the deceased; "will sell," I say, both for her own support and for that of her daughter-in-law Ruth: for both were poor. For although wives did not succeed to the inheritance of their husbands among the Jews, or of other deceased kinsmen or relatives by marriage, yet from this passage it is gathered that they had the usufruct of their husbands' inheritance for life, and therefore could sell the same, but in such a way that the right of purchase pertained first to the kinsmen of the deceased husband, to whom the inheritance was to devolve after the death of the widow. Hence also the kinsman who wished to buy this inheritance, for example a field, was required to marry the widow left by the deceased, so as to raise up seed for him whose inheritance he had obtained. Moreover, it is probable that this field of Elimelech, during the time he was sojourning in Moab, had been leased to someone who paid an annual rent from its produce each year. So Abulensis, Lyranus, Fevardentius, and others.
Verse 6: I Yield My Right of Kinship
6. I YIELD MY RIGHT OF KINSHIP: FOR I MUST NOT DESTROY (in Hebrew, corrupt; so too the Septuagint) THE POSTERITY OF MY OWN FAMILY — as if to say: I have a wife, I have sons and daughters: I must support them so that they may propagate my family and name; therefore I do not wish to take a second wife, Ruth, lest I be forced to support her and her children as well, and thereby reduce or diminish the sustenance of my own children whom I have already begotten, and lest the sons, at least the firstborn, to be begotten from Ruth I beget not for myself but for another, namely to raise up seed and the name of her husband, who was my kinsman. Hence the Chaldean translates: I cannot claim it for myself for this reason, namely: because I have a wife, to whom I may not add another, lest perhaps quarreling arise in my house and I destroy my inheritance. You claim my right for yourself, because you have no wife, and I cannot claim it for myself.
Verse 7: The Man Would Remove His Sandal
7. THE MAN WOULD REMOVE HIS SANDAL. — This removal of the sandal was a civil ceremony; namely, it was a sign that the one removing his sandal was yielding his right, and just as he handed over his sandal, so too he handed over his right to the other kinsman, to buy the field of his deceased kinsman and to take his widow as wife.
Now this removal of the sandal was twofold: one as a punishment — for if a full brother refused to marry the wife of his brother who had died without children, and thus raise up seed for him, the law commanded in Deuteronomy chapter XXV, verse 9, that he be stripped of his sandal even against his will, and that someone spit in his face; which was a great punishment, insult, and disgrace. The other was as a sign of cession of right: for if someone was not a full brother of the deceased, but a relative in the second, third, or fourth degree, he was not bound by the law of Deuteronomy chapter XXV (for this concerns only full brothers) to marry the wife of the deceased to raise up seed for him; yet he was bound to the same by a certain propriety and custom; if however he did not wish or was unable to do this, he removed his sandal before the judges and handed it to the other kinsman; so that by this sign he indicated that he was resigning his right to him, both to buy the field of the deceased and to take his widow as wife.
Allegorically, St. Ambrose, Book III On Faith, chapter V: "He was prefigured," he says, "who was to come from the Jews — from whom Christ came according to the flesh — who would raise up seed for His kinsman, that is, the dead people, with the seed of heavenly teaching, for whom the spiritual prescriptions of the law presented the nuptial sandal of the Church to be joined to Him. Moses was not the bridegroom: for to him it is said, Exodus III: Remove the sandal from your feet, so that he might yield to his Lord. Joshua son of Nun was not the bridegroom. For to him also it is said, Joshua chapter V: Remove the sandal from your feet, lest because of the similarity of name he be believed to be the bridegroom. No other is the bridegroom, but Christ alone is the Bridegroom, of whom John said: He who has the bride is the bridegroom. Therefore from them the sandal is removed, but from Him it cannot be removed, as John said: I am not worthy to loosen the strap of His sandal. Therefore Christ alone is the Bridegroom, to whom that bride coming from the Gentiles — formerly destitute and hungry, but now rich with Christ's harvest — may be married, who may gather the sheaves of the fruitful crop and the leftovers of the word in the bosom of her inner mind, so that she may feed with new nourishment that widow exhausted by the death of her son, and that needy mother of a dead people, not abandoning the destitute widow and seeking new ones. Therefore Christ alone is the Bridegroom, who did not begrudge even the Synagogue the sheaves of His harvest."
Moreover, for "his sandal" the Chaldean translates narteke, that is, his sheath, or rather his glove. Perhaps both were done, namely that the one yielding his right and possession would remove his sandal, and at the same time his glove, and hand it to the other, signifying by this sign that he was resigning his right to him. For thus even now in some places a right is resigned by means of a glove. For this sign of resignation is fitting and, as it were, natural. Or formerly this resignation was made by a sandal, but later by a glove. Hence the Jews now make their contracts and transfers by the handing over of a cloth, which they call the "purchase of the sudar," that is, of the handkerchief, as Rabbi Elias testifies. Abulensis and Serarius treat these matters at length; Christians, however, take possession of an inherited house by receiving the keys, and of a field by the placing of the feet upon it.
Verse 11: Like Rachel and Leah
11. WHO BUILT UP THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL — that is, they bore the sons, descendants, and grandchildren of Jacob the Patriarch, who by another name was called Israel by God, that is, "prevailing with God," because wrestling with the Angel of God he prevailed over him, Genesis chapter XXXII. For Rachel and Leah, the wives of Jacob, bore twelve sons, from whom the entire house, that is, the stock and family of Israel, was propagated and wonderfully multiplied. Hence the Chaldean adds: in twelve tribes, because these twelve sons of Jacob were the fathers of the twelve tribes, and therefore Patriarchs.
Verse 13: Boaz Took Ruth as Wife
13. SO BOAZ TOOK RUTH AND RECEIVED HER AS WIFE. — He did this lawfully, because she was already a proselyte and converted to Judaism. For that law, Deuteronomy XXIII, commanding that no Moabite enter the assembly of God, concerns men only, not women, as Abulensis teaches. St. Augustine answers differently in his Questions on Deuteronomy, Question LV: "The question," he says, "is how Ruth, who was a Moabitess, from whom the flesh of the Lord also takes its origin, entered the assembly of the Lord. Unless perhaps this mystically prophesied that she would enter, in that it says 'unto the tenth generation.' For ten generations are counted from Abraham, when there was also Lot, who begot the Moabites and Ammonites," Genesis XIX and XXXVII. And these generations are: "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Perez, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, whose son was Boaz."
This response is ingenious, but not genuine. For in Deuteronomy it adds: "forever." Morally, hear the author of the Opus Imperfectum, Homily 1 on Matthew: "Ruth," he says, "by the merit of her faith married Boaz, because she despised her own nation, and land, and race, and chose Israel, and did not despise her mother-in-law, a widow and a stranger at the same time, led by desire for her people more than her own; she rejected the gods of her fathers and chose the living God. Again, Boaz by the merit of his faith took her as wife, so that from such a sanctified marriage a royal race might be born. For Boaz, being advanced in years, did not take a wife for himself but for God; not on account of bodily passion, but on account of the justice of the law, to raise up seed for his kinsman; more fervent in religion than in love: old in age but young in faith; and therefore perhaps he was named 'in virtue,' or 'virtue prevailing in him.' For he who according to his age is fit to enter marriage is praiseworthy and worthy of renown because he is in virtue; but he who is now beyond the age of marriage, and has received from religion the strength to enter marriage, like this Boaz, he is praiseworthy and renowned, because he exists in virtue, and the virtue of such a man is in him." St. Jerome, Epistle 25: "See," he says, "what great merit it was to have provided comfort from one's stock. From her seed Christ is born."
Verse 16: Naomi as Nurse and Caretaker
16. AND NAOMI, TAKING THE CHILD, PLACED HIM IN HER BOSOM AND SERVED AS NURSE AND CARETAKER — teaching the child to walk, to speak, to worship God, to obey his parents, to hear the law of God, to flee what is shameful, to follow what is honorable, to practice beneficence toward all, to harm no one, to aspire to heaven, etc.; for upon childhood depends adolescence, manhood, and one's entire life. Therefore the right education of children is of the utmost importance for their salvation as well as for the good of the Commonwealth. Hence St. Jerome, in the Epistle to Laeta, concerning her little daughter Paula, who was the granddaughter of St. Paula, writes thus: "If you send Paula to me, I promise to be both her teacher and her nurse; I shall carry her on my shoulders; I, an old man, shall form her stammering words; much more glorious than the philosopher of the world, because I shall not be educating a king of Macedon about to perish from Babylonian poison, but a handmaid and bride of Christ to be offered to the heavenly kingdom."
Verse 17: They Called His Name Obed
17. THEY CALLED HIS NAME OBED. — Obed in Hebrew means serving, sustaining, supporting, says Pagninus. They called him "Obed," therefore, as if wishing and auguring that this son would serve his parents, now advanced in labor and age, with his duties, and would comfort and sustain their old age. Hence in verse 15 they say of him: "Who may console your soul and nourish your old age." So Josephus, Serarius, and others. Thus among the Romans there was one called Scipio, because he as a younger man served his elderly and half-blind parent, like a walking stick (scipio) upon which the parent leaned as he walked. For Obed in Hebrew means the same as scipio or "support" in Latin. Hence the mother of Tobias, chapter V, 23, calls her son "the staff of old age." Moreover, Cornelius surnamed Scipio, from whom the patrician Scipio family took its origin, bore his father who lacked sight in place of a walking stick, which grammarians call a scipio: hence the surname Scipio was given to him, which then attached to his descendants, says Macrobius, Book I, chapter IV. Again, Obed in Hebrew also means worshipping, namely God, as Fevardentius says from the Chaldean: for Obed was pious both toward God and toward his parents, as was Jesse his son, from whom David drew his virtue and piety.
You will say: This son should rather have been called Mahlon, because seed was being raised up for him. Abulensis answers, Question LXXXV: "It would have been fitting for the son who was born first from the later marriage to be assigned the name of the deceased, provided that the one who married the deceased's wife was his true and proper brother, but not if he was only a brother improperly speaking, that is, merely a kinsman."
Allegorically, Boaz represents Christ; Ruth, the Church gathered from the Gentiles. Read the author of the Opus Imperfectum, Homily 1 on Matthew.
For the moral sense, see Hugo, Dionysius, Fevardentius, Serarius, and especially Louis de la Puente in the first part of his Spiritual Guide, where he draws beautiful and unique moral lessons from the words and deeds of Ruth.
Verse 21: Salmon Begot Boaz
21. SALMON BEGOT BOAZ, AND BOAZ BEGOT OBED. — Arias in the Apparatus of the Royal Bible, in the treatise On Hebrew Names, thinks that Salmon is the same as Solomon, but he is mistaken: for Salmon is written with sin, while Solomon is written with shin. Again, Solomon in Hebrew is called Shelomoh and has the final letter He; Salmon however has the final letter Nun. Finally, Salmon in Hebrew means "clothed" or "clothing"; Solomon however means "peaceful." So Serarius.
Verse 22: Obed Begot Jesse, Jesse Begot David
22. OBED BEGOT ISAI (who is Jesse), ISAI BEGOT DAVID. — Jesse in Hebrew means gift, or existing, or debtor.
Note: Salmon was the husband of Rahab, who betrayed Jericho to the Hebrews, Joshua II. From Rahab and Salmon, that is, from the entry of the Hebrews into Canaan to the fourth year of Solomon, 440 years elapsed, as is gathered from 3 Kings VI, 2; for from the 480 years counted there, 40 must be subtracted, which elapsed from the entry of the Hebrews in their wandering through the desert until the entry into Canaan. Therefore in these 440 years there were only five generations. For Salmon begot Boaz, Boaz begot Obed, Obed begot Jesse, Jesse begot David, David begot Solomon. Hence some think that each of the first four, namely Salmon, Boaz, Obed, and Jesse, begot at the age of one hundred, to make up the 440 years mentioned. So Abulensis, Serarius, Dionysius, Cajetan, here Salmeron, Barradius, and Maldonatus on Matthew I. But this seems forced and invented out of necessity. More simply, Lyranus, Rabbi Solomon, Genebrardus, Catharinus, Jansenius, and Salianus posit three men named Boaz, all of whom are contained under this one name of Boaz; just as in Matthew I, under the name of Jechoniah are contained both Jehoiakim the father and Jehoiachin the son, about which more presently. Thus Salianus distributes this series of generations, volume II, at the year of Deborah and Barak 21. Salmon at the entry into Canaan, when he married Rahab, was about thirty-four years old; she was about 25. After other children born from her, he begot at the age of sixty the first Boaz of this name; from the total of 440 years, therefore, which are counted from the entry into Canaan to the laying of the temple's foundations, 26 years must be subtracted. The first and second Boaz begot at age 65, the third at seventy. Obed, likewise Jesse, at 70; add to these the 70 years of David's life and four of Solomon's reign, and you will arrive at exactly 440 years.
From these calculations you see that it is probable that the first Boaz was born in the tenth year of Othniel; the second in the 35th year of Ehud; the third in the 20th year of Barak, and that he married Ruth and begot Obed in the seventh year of Tola; and that Jesse was born in the first year of Samson, and begot David at the beginning of the eleventh year of Samuel.
If however anyone prefers to say that Salmon, Boaz, Obed, and Jesse each begot at the age of one hundred, rather than dare to add two additional men named Boaz to the one in Sacred Scripture, let him say that similar examples exist from that era, and even from later ages. For St. Servatius, bishop and patron of Maastricht, lived 373 years, as Sigebert testifies in the Chronicle. John of the Times is celebrated in the Histories as having lived 300 years. Maffei, Book XI of the Indian History, likewise assigns 300 years to a certain Indian. But these are prodigies and, as it were, miracles, which occurred in only one case; here however one must assert that this longevity occurred in four men succeeding one another in continuous generation, which is unheard of; especially since David their descendant circumscribes human life in his age to 70 years: "The days of our years are seventy years in themselves," Psalm 89. Moreover, frequently in Scripture generations and the names of some ancestors are omitted, as in Matthew chapter I, 3, where it says: "And Joram begot Uzziah." For Joram begot Ahaziah; Ahaziah begot Joash; Joash begot Amaziah; Amaziah begot Uzziah. Likewise in verse 11: "And Josiah begot Jechoniah," where Jechoniah stands for two persons, namely Jehoiakim or Jeconia, and Jehoiachin or Jechoniah; that is, Josiah begot Jeconiah, and Jeconiah begot Jechoniah. The argument is further supported by the fact that in these 440 years, which elapsed from Salmon to Solomon, in the other tribes there were not five but far more generations.
Take one clear example out of many: 1 Chronicles VI, 33. Going back from Heman, who was a singer in the time of David, up to Korah, who lived in the time of Moses and, rebelling against him, was swallowed up by the earth, Numbers XVI, eighteen generations are counted. For it says thus: "Heman the singer, son of Joel, son of Samuel, son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai, son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah, son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Abiasaph, son of Korah." Count the phrase "son of" repeated eighteen times, and you will see that eighteen generations are listed here.
Therefore it is probable that here likewise some generations are passed over, and some intermediate descendants who were less notable are omitted, while only the more illustrious are named, such as Nahshon, because he was the prince of the tribe of Judah at the entry into the holy land, and married Rahab; Boaz, because he was the husband of Ruth, whose history is woven here; Obed, because from him was born Jesse, who was the father of King David.
Finally, the Rabbis in the Yuchasin, page 10, relate that Ruth, when she married Boaz, was 40 years old, and then lived for a very long time: "For she was still alive," they say, "in the time of Solomon, and at his side, together with Bathsheba, she sat on the royal throne." Likewise they say her son Obed lived 400 years, but these things seem incredible, and therefore fabricated.
Tropologically, St. Chrysostom, Homily 4 on Matthew: "Such a Boaz," he says, "from such a wife Ruth — what kind of son did he beget? Obed, who is interpreted as 'obedient.' But nowadays those who choose riches and not character, beauty and not faith — and what is usually sought in prostitutes, they desire in their spouses — for this reason they do not beget sons obedient either to themselves or to God, but rebellious both against themselves and against God, so that their children are not the fruit of their just union, but the fitting punishment for their irreligion. But this Obed, who was called 'obedient,' what did he beget? Jesse, that is, 'refreshment'; for Jesse in Latin is called refreshment. For truly whoever is obedient to God and to his parents, with God providing, begets such children by whom he is refreshed, since he who honors his father will be honored by his sons; but those who are rebellious either against God or against their parents, in begetting they beget not refreshment for themselves but sorrows, so that from their sons they receive what they did to their parents."
Chrysostom adds that Obed was perhaps so called because at his birth the Hebrews were subject to the Philistines, from whom they were freed by Samuel, under whom Jesse the son of Obed lived; and therefore he was called Jesse, that is, "refreshment."