Boaz in rabbinic literature

Boaz in rabbinic literature.

Conduct

Boaz is identified by some ancient rabbis with the judge Ibzan of Bethlehem (Judges xii. 8). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] It is further said that he lost all his sixty children during his lifetime because he did not invite Manoah, Samson's father, to any of the marriage festivities in his house. [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] For, since Manoah was at that time without children, Boaz thought that he need not consider on such occasions a childless man who could not pay him back in kind (Talmud] , Bava Batra 91a). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] Boaz was a just, pious, and learned judge, and the custom of using the Divine Name in greeting one's fellow-man ( [Book of Ruth| 2.4) formulated by him and his "bet din" ("court [of] law") received the approval of even the heavenly "bet din" (Makkot. 23b; Yer. Ber. ix. 14c; Ruth R. to ii. 4). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ]

Being a pious man, Boaz on his first meeting with Ruth perceived her conscientiousness in picking up the grain, as she strictly observed the rules prescribed by the Law. [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] This, as well as her grace and her chaste conduct during work, induced Boaz to inquire about the stranger, although he was not in the habit of inquiring after women (Ruth Rabba to ii. 5; Talmud tractate Shabbat 113b). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] In the conversation that followed between Boaz and Ruth, the pious proselyte said that, being a Moabite, she was excluded from association with the community of God (Deut. xxiii. 4). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] Boaz, however, replied that the prohibition in scripture applied only to the "men" of Moab, and not to the "women". [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] He furthermore told her that he had heard from the Prophets that she was destined to become the ancestress of kings and prophets; and he blessed her with the words: "May God, who rewards the pious, also reward you" (Targum Ruth ii. 10, 11; Pesiḳ, ed. Buber, xvi. 124a). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] Boaz was especially friendly toward the poor stranger during the meal, when he indicated to her by various symbolic courtesies that she would become the ancestress of the Davidic royal house, including the Jewish Messiah (Ruth R. to ii. 14; Shab. 113b). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] As toward Ruth, Boaz had also been kind toward his kinsmen, Naomi's sons, on hearing of their death, taking care that they had an honorable burial (Ruth Rabba to 2.20). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3584 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ]

Boaz and Ruth

Although Boaz was the prince of the people, he himself supervised the threshing of the grain in his barn, in order to circumvent any immorality or theft, both of which were rife in his days (Tan., Behar, ed. Buber, viii.; Ruth Rabba to iii. 7). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3586 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] Glad in his heart that the famine was over in Israel, he sought rest after having thanked God and studied for a while in the Torah (Tan., l.c.; Targum Ruth iii. 7; and Ruth Rabba ib.). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3586 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] Aroused out of his first sleep by Ruth, he was greatly frightened, as he thought that she was a devil; and he was convinced of the contrary only after touching the hair of her head, since devils are bald (Tan., l.c.). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3586 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] When he perceived the pure and holy intentions of Ruth he not only did not reprove her for her unusual behavior, but he blessed her, and gave her six measures of barley, indicating thereby that six pious men should spring from her, who would be gifted by God with six excellences (compare Isaiah xi. 2; Sanhedrin 93b; Numbers Rabba xiii. 11; Ruth Rabba and Targum to Ruth iii. 15; the names of the six men differ in these passages, but David and the Messiah are always among them). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3586 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] Boaz fulfilled the promises he had given to Ruth, and when his kinsman (the sources differ as to the precise relationship existing between them) would not marry her because he did not know the Halakah which decreed that Moabite women were not excluded from the Israelitic community, Boaz himself married her (Ruth Rabba to iv. 1). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3586 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ] Boaz was eighty and Ruth forty years old (idem to iii. 10), but their marriage did not remain childless, though Boaz died the day after his wedding (Midrash Zutta, ed. Buber, 55, below). [ [http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1209&letter=B&search=Boaz#3586 JewishEncyclopedia.com - BOAZ ] ]

Notes