Bible Commentary

Ruth 4:1

The Pulpit Commentary on Ruth 4:1

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

And Boaz went up, to the gate, and sat there. He "went up," for the city stood, as it still stands, on a ridge (see on ; ). "And sat there," on one of the stones, or stone benches, that were set for the accommodation of the townsfolk.

The gateway in the East often corresponded, as a place of meeting, to the forum, or the market-place, in the West. Boaz had reason to believe that his kinsman would be either passing out to his fields, or passing in from his threshing-floor, through the one gate of the city.

And lo, the kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken was passing; and he said, Ho, such a one I turn hither and sit here. And he turned and sat down. Boaz called his kinsman by his name; but the writer does not name him, either because he could not, or because he would not.

The phrase "such a one," or "so and so," is a purely idiomatic English equivalent for the purely idiomatic Hebrew phrase פְלֹנִי אַלְמֹנִי. A literal translation is impossible. The Latin N.N. corresponds.

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