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Rute 4

BLIVRE · Chapter 4/4

1E Boaz subiu à porta da cidade e sentou-se ali: e eis que passava aquele parente do qual havia Boaz falado, e disse-lhe: Ei, fulano, vem aqui e senta-te. E ele veio, e sentou-se.

2Então ele tomou dez homens dos anciãos da cidade, e disse: Sentai-vos aqui. E eles se sentaram.

3Logo disse ao parente: Noemi, que voltou do campo de Moabe, vende uma parte das terras que teve nosso irmão Elimeleque;

4E eu decidi fazê-lo saber a ti, e dizer-te que a tomes diante dos que estão aqui sentados, e diante dos anciãos de meu povo. Se houveres de redimir, redime; e se não quiseres redimir, declara-o a mim para que eu o saiba: porque não há outro que redima a não ser tu, e eu depois de ti. E ele respondeu: Eu redimirei.

5Então replicou Boaz: O mesmo dia que tomares as terras da mão de Noemi, hás de tomar também a Rute moabita, mulher do defunto, para que suscites o nome do morto sobre sua possessão.

6E respondeu o parente: Não posso redimir por minha parte, porque lançaria a perder minha propriedade: redime tu usando de meu direito, porque eu não poderei redimir.

7Havia já de longo tempo este costume em Israel na remissão ou contrato, que para a confirmação de qualquer negócio, o um se tirava o sapato e o dava a seu companheiro: e este era o testemunho em Israel.

8Então o parente disse a Boaz: Toma-o tu. E descalçou seu sapato.

9E Boaz disse aos anciãos e a todo aquele povo: Vós sois hoje testemunhas de que tomo todas as coisas que foram de Elimeleque, e tudo o que foi de Quiliom e de Malom, da mão de Noemi.

10E que também tomo por minha mulher a Rute moabita, mulher de Malom, para suscitar o nome do defunto sobre sua herança, para que o nome do morto não se apague dentre seus irmãos e da porta de seu lugar. Vós sois hoje testemunhas.

11E disseram todos os do povo que estavam à porta com os anciãos: Testemunhas somos. O SENHOR faça à mulher que entra em tua casa como a Raquel e a Lia, as quais duas edificaram a casa de Israel; e tu sejas ilustre em Efrata, e tenhas renome em Belém.

12E da semente que o SENHOR te der desta moça, seja tua casa como a casa de Perez, o que Tamar deu a Judá.

13Então Boaz tomou a Rute, e ela foi sua mulher; e logo que entrou a ela, o SENHOR lhe deu que concebesse e desse à luz um filho.

14E as mulheres diziam a Noemi: Louvado seja o SENHOR, que fez que não te faltasse hoje parente, cujo nome será nomeado em Israel.

15O qual será restaurador de tua alma, e o que sustentará tua velhice; pois que tua nora, a qual te ama e te vale mais que sete filhos, o fez nascer.

16E tomando Noemi o filho, o pôs em seu colo, e foi-lhe sua ama.

17E as vizinhas dizendo, a Noemi nasceu um filho, lhe puseram nome; e chamaram-lhe Obede. Este é pai de Jessé, pai de Davi.

18E estas são as gerações de Perez: Perez gerou a Hezrom;

19E Hezrom gerou a Rão, e Rão gerou a Aminadabe;

20E Aminadabe gerou a Naassom, e Naassom gerou a Salmom;

21E Salmom gerou a Boaz, e Boaz gerou a Obede;

22E Obede gerou a Jessé, e Jessé gerou a Davi.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Boaz formally settles the matter of redemption before the elders at the city gate, marrying Ruth after the closer relative declines the right. Ruth and Boaz have a son, Obed, grandfather of David.

Explanation

The scene at the city gate, where legal business and disputes were settled publicly before witnesses, shows Israel's communal legal system functioning with transparency — ten elders formally witness the transaction. The custom of removing a sandal to seal an agreement (v.7-8) was a symbolic gesture of transferring rights, whose exact origin even the Israelites of the time the book was written already regarded as an ancient custom. The end of the book reveals Ruth's genealogy as great-grandmother of King David, transforming this personal story of loyalty and providence into an essential part of Israel's royal line — and, according to the New Testament, also the line of Jesus Christ.

Fun facts

  • The book's closing genealogy (Perez-Salmon-Boaz-Obed-Jesse-David) is repeated almost identically in Matthew 1:3-6, confirming Ruth, the Moabite, as one of the four women explicitly mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.
  • The elders' blessing comparing Ruth to Rachel and Leah, 'which two did build the house of Israel' (v.11), is remarkable because it publicly recognizes a foreign woman as worthy of comparison with the nation's founding matriarchs.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Rute 4:1Boaz sits down at the city gate, the place where legal business and judgments took place in public, and gathers ten elders as formal witnesses before dealing with the right of redemption in front of the closer relative.
  2. Rute 4:2Boaz gathers ten elders of the city to serve as official witnesses to the negotiation about to take place.
  3. Rute 4:3Boaz explains to the closer relative that Naomi is selling a piece of land that belonged to Elimelech.
  4. Rute 4:4Boaz offers him the first option to redeem that land, since he is the closer relative; only if he refuses would Boaz take on that role. The relative agrees at first.
  5. Rute 4:5Boaz clarifies an important condition: along with the land, whoever redeems it must also marry Ruth, to keep her dead husband’s line alive.
  6. Rute 4:6The closer relative gives up his right to redeem the land when he learns that the deal also includes marrying Ruth and raising up an heir in the name of her dead husband, something that would divide his own inheritance among more children, and so he backs out.
  7. Rute 4:7Taking off one’s sandal and handing it to the other party was the custom used in Israel to publicly seal a transfer of the right of redemption. It worked as a visible signature before witnesses, at a time when few formal documents existed.
  8. Rute 4:8Learning of this condition, the relative withdraws and formalizes his withdrawal by taking off his own sandal, according to the custom.
  9. Rute 4:9Boaz declares publicly, before the elders and the people, that he is taking on everything that belonged to Elimelech and his sons.
  10. Rute 4:10In marrying Ruth, Boaz explains that the goal is to keep the dead man’s name alive over his inheritance. The heir who is born will be legally counted as a continuation of the line of Mahlon, Ruth’s dead husband, not as Boaz’s son for purposes of inheritance.
  11. Rute 4:11The people and the elders confirm their role as witnesses and wish blessings on Ruth, comparing her to the matriarchs Rachel and Leah, founders of the people of Israel.
  12. Rute 4:12They also wish that Boaz’s offspring would be as numerous as that of Pharez, son of Judah and Tamar — another story of family continuity through unusual circumstances.
  13. Rute 4:13Boaz marries Ruth, and the Lord enables her to conceive and give birth to a son.
  14. Rute 4:14The women of the town celebrate with Naomi, thanking God for not leaving her without a redeemer, and wish fame for this newborn child.
  15. Rute 4:15They point out that this grandson will renew Naomi’s life and care for her in old age, praising Ruth as a daughter-in-law more valuable than seven sons — an enormous compliment by the standards of the time.
  16. Rute 4:16Naomi takes the child into her lap and begins caring for him as if she were his own nurse.
  17. Rute 4:17The son of Ruth and Boaz is named Obed and becomes the grandfather of David. The book’s closing genealogy deliberately links a Moabite great-grandmother to the line of Israel’s greatest king, a detail the Gospels repeat centuries later in the genealogy of Jesus.
  18. Rute 4:18A genealogy begins here linking Ruth’s story to the royal line, starting from Pharez, son of Judah.
  19. Rute 4:19This is the line connecting Judah to David: Hezron and Ram are just two links along the way, in a list of ten generations that ends with King David himself.
  20. Rute 4:20Nahshon, in this same line, is the very man who led the tribe of Judah in the wilderness, in the time of Moses — a direct ancestor of David, five generations before him.
  21. Rute 4:21Salmon fathers Boaz, and Boaz fathers Obed — closing the circle of the very story told in the book.
  22. Rute 4:22The line ends with Obed fathering Jesse, and Jesse fathering David — revealing that Ruth, the Moabite foreigner, is the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king.

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