SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER

Ruth gleans the ears in the field of Booz, and is kindly received and fed by him. Returning home, she brings the leavings to Noemi, who tells her that Booz is her kinsman.

[1] Now her husband Elimelech had a kinsman, a powerful man, and very rich, whose name was Booz. [2] And Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother in law: If thou wilt, I will go into the field, and glean the ears of corn that escape the hands of the reapers, wheresoever I shall find grace with a householder that will be favorable to me. And she answered her: Go, my daughter. [3] She went therefore and gleaned the ears of corn after the reapers. And it happened that the owner of that field was Booz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. [4] And behold, he came out of Bethlehem, and said to the reapers: The Lord be with you. And they answered him: The Lord bless thee.[5] And Booz said to the young man that was set over the reapers: Whose maid is this?

[6] And he answered him: This is the Moabitess who came with Noemi, from the land of Moab, [7] And she desired leave to glean the ears of corn that remain, following the steps of the reapers: and she hath been in the field from morning till now, and hath not gone home for one moment. [8] And Booz said to Ruth: Hear me, daughter, do not go to glean in any other field, and do not depart from this place: but keep with my maids, [9] And follow where they reap. For I have charged my young men, not to molest thee: and if thou art thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of the waters whereof the servants drink. [10] She fell on her face and worshipping upon the ground, said to him: Whence cometh this to me, that I should find grace before thy eyes, and that thou shouldst vouchsafe to take notice of me a woman of another country?

[11] And he answered her: All hath been told me, that thou hast done to thy mother in law after the death of thy husband: and how thou hast left thy parents, and the land wherein thou wast born, and art come to a people which thou knewest not heretofore. [12] The Lord render unto thee for thy work, and mayest thou receive a full reward of the Lord the God of Israel, to whom thou art come, and under whose wings thou art fled. [13] And she said: I have found grace in thy eyes, my lord, who hast comforted me and hast spoken to the heart of thy handmaid, who am not like to one of thy maids. [14] And Booz said to her: At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. So she sat at the side of the reapers, and she heaped to herself frumenty, and ate and was filled, and took the leavings. [15] And she arose from thence, to glean the ears of corn as before. And Booz commanded his servants, saying: If she would even reap with you, hinder her not:

[16] And let fall some of your handfuls of purpose, and leave them, that she may gather them without shame, and let no man rebuke her when she gathereth them. [17] She gleaned therefore in the field till evening: and beating out with a rod and threshing what she had gleaned, she found about the measure of an ephi of barley, that is, three bushels: [18] Which she took up and returned into the city, and shewed it to her mother in law: moreover she brought out, and gave her of the remains of her meat, wherewith she had been filled. [19] And her mother in law said to her: Where hast thou gleaned today, and where hast thou wrought? blessed be he that hath had pity on thee. And she told her with whom she had wrought: and she told the man's name, that he was called Booz. [20] And Noemi answered her: Blessed be he of the Lord: because the same kindness [240] which he shewed to the living, he hath kept also to the dead. And again she said: The man is our kinsman.

[21] And Ruth said, He also charged me, that I should keep close to his reapers, till all the corn should be reaped. [22] And her mother in law said to her: It is better for thee, my daughter, to go out to reap with his maids, lest in another man's field some one may resist thee. [23] So she kept close to the maids of Booz: and continued to glean with them, till all the barley and the wheat were laid up in the barns.

A POWERFUL MAN, AND VERY RICH.--In Hebrew, this is איש גבור חיל, is gibbor chail, i.e., a man powerful and firm in strength. In the Seventy, this is a man who is strong in both body and soul or one mighty in wealth: for this too is signified by chail, and it is the more suitable meaning here. Booz was being groomed to marry Ruth, and in marriage, wealth tends to be an important consideration.

SHE GLEANED THE EARS OF CORN AFTER THE REAPERS.--As poor and hungry people do. When the grain has been harvested and collected into heaps, they gather the gleanings by picking up the fallen and left-over ears. This was not only permitted in the old law, but it was approved by God. Indeed, reapers were instructed to leave some ears on purpose, for collection by the poor: Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 9, and chapter 23, verse 22. When Antigonus succeeded Alexander the Great, he said, "Alexander reaped; I glean the ears." We too, after the harvest of so many Fathers and Doctors, are gleaners of their wisdom.

WHOSE NAME WAS BOOZ. -- According to Pagninus in Hebrew Names, בעז, Booz, means "in strength" or "strength in him," that is, "strong." That he was such a man is clear in verse 1. Hence the Auctor Imperfecti, in his first homily On Matthew, interprets Booz as prevailing. Likewise, the two pillars in the temple of Solomon were called Iachin and Booz, 3 Kings 7:21, i.e., stability and strength, as the Seventy interpret them in 2 Paralipomenon, chapter 3, verse 17.

4. HE SAID TO THE REAPERS: THE LORD BE WITH YOU. -- This means: May the Lord be present to you, work with you, bless you, strengthen you, and grant you success. One must expect and ask for a good harvest and every other good thing from God. So Varro, in book 1 On Agriculture: "And since the gods help those who do so, I will first invoke the twelve councillor-gods--not those urban gods, but those who are the special patrons of husbandmen: Jupiter, Tellus, Sol, Luna, Ceres, Liber, Robigus, Flora, Minerva, Venus, Lympha, and Bonus Eventus" [tr. Hooper].

Here for the first time in Scripture we find the greeting, "The Lord [be] with you." This formula was used by others after Booz, such as the prophet who was sent to Asa, the King of Juda, as he returned as victor with his army: "The Lord is with you, because you have been with him," 2 Paralipomenon, chapter 15. Afterwards, Gabriel greeted the Blessed Virgin with the words, "The Lord is with thee." Finally, the Church introduced it into the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office. See Bellarmine, On the Mass, book 2, chapter 16, and John Durant, On the Rites of the Church, book 2, chapter 15, and Bl. Peter Damian, Minor Works, 11. William of Mende writes in his Rationale, book 4, in the chapter On Greetings to the People: "Mutual greetings of this type indicate that the affection of the people and the priest should be the same. This is the sense: You are about to make prayers for us to the Lord; and since the Lord only hears and grants prayers that proceed from a good heart, we likewise pray for you, so that he, without whom there is no good thing, may be with your Spirit, and that he who is with you in speech may be in your heart and remain there." He continues: "It can also be said that in this response, the people refer themselves alone to the sacrificial act which the priest is about to perform; in this they should be totally elevated through the spirit and quite removed from all worldliness."

Likewise, Isidore Pelusiota says in book 1 of his Letters, 22: "The response of the people, 'And with thy spirit.' has this sense: You have given us peace, O Lord, i.e., mutual concord. Now give us peace, i.e., the same kind of relationship with you, which can in no way be sundered; so that, being at peace with your Spirit, which you put in us at the beginning of creation, we may never be separated from your love."

Finally, in the Council of Braga, canon 21: "We have decided that bishops and priests should not greet the people with different words, but rather in the same way: 'The Lord be with you.' as we read in the Book of Ruth."

With respect to the management of estates, when Booz visits his field and his harvesters, he teaches proprietors to make frequent inspections of their holdings and workers: "For under this apprehension, both overseer and laborers will be at their duties," says Cato [sic; Columella] On Agriculture, [Book 1] chapter 2 [tr. Ash]. Likewise, Pliny says in book 8, chapter 6 [sic, Book 18, chapter 8]: "Our ancestors said that the eye of the master makes the farm most fruitful," and Aristotle, in book 1 of Economics: "The best fertilizer is the the master's footprints."

AND THEY ANSWERED HIM: THE LORD BLESS THEE.-- Here you see the ancient, gracious formula of greeting and response. The master first greets his laborers kindly, saying: "The Lord be with you," and they dutifully respond with words that are different but have the same meaning: "The Lord bless you," i.e., the Lord likewise be with you and do good to you; may he fill you and prosper you with his blessings.

7. AND SHE DESIRED LEAVE (i.e., Ruth asked the man in charge of the reapers) TO GLEAN THE EARS OF CORN. -- According to the law, these ears belonged to the poor, and so Ruth could have collected them without asking. But she preferred to ask permission, in order to oblige the reapers and make them more generous in leaving ears for her.

10. AND WORSHIPPING,--i.e., showing him reverence by prostrating her body or bending her head.

[241] 12. TO WHOM THOU ART COME, AND UNDER WHOSE WINGS THOU ART FLED. -- By "wings," he means care, protection, providence, for chicks flee beneath the wings of a hen to be protected from harmful weather or from predatory birds. In the same way, we must fly to the "wings," i.e., to the protection, of God, that we may be defended from all evils of body and mind and from demons, as David says: "Protect me under the shadow of thy wings," Psalm 16:8, and "He will overshadow thee with his shoulders: and under his wings thou shalt trust," Psalm 90:4. Thus also Christ says to Jerusalem, "How often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?," Matthew 23:37. See my comment there. The Chaldee renders it thus: Because you have come in order to be a proselyte and to hide (or separate) yourself under the shadow of the glory of his majesty.

13. I HAVE FOUND GRACE IN THY EYES, MY LORD, -- because you have so kindly received and respected me. The Hebrew and Seventy have this verb in the optative mood: may I find favor. This is apposite, since she wishes and asks Booz to continue and extend the favor he has shown to her.

WHO HAST COMFORTED ME AND HAST SPOKEN TO THE HEART OF THY HANDMAID. -- Comfort has the same, or almost the same, meaning as speak to the heart, i.e., to speak words that are pleasing, agreeable, or delightful; to soothe, to flatter.

WHO AM NOT LIKE TO ONE OF THY MAIDS (In Hebrew, שפכות, sephacoth, i.e., handmaids).-- Behold the admirable humility of Ruth, who made herself inferior to all of Booz's handmaids--the handmaid of handmaids--and so was worthy to be his wife. In the same way, the Blessed Virgin, when she said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word," was worthy to become the mother of God. The nuns of the order that is commonly called l'Annonciade, which was founded by Blessed Joan, the daughter of Louis XI and the wife of Louis XII, kings of France, call their superior the Mother Handmaid, and St. Francis wished that the superiors of his order be called Ministers, in order to fulfill the command of Christ: "He that is the greatest among you shall be your servant," Matthew 23:11.

DIP THY MORSEL IN THE VINEGAR.-- Note the frugality of these times, when workers had no sauce or condiment but vinegar; by dipping bread into it, they made themselves a meal. Vinegar refreshes men when they are working in the heat; it tones their muscles, increases their strength, and removes infection. To this day, Italians in the countryside eat a morsel of bread dipped in vinegar mixed with water. "Wine," says Pliny in book 23, chapter 1 [sic; chapter 27], "even when it has lost its vinous properties, still retains some medicinal virtues. Vinegar possesses cooling properties in the very highest degree, and is no less efficacious as a resolvent." A little later he adds, "Taken by itself it dispels nausea and arrests hiccup, and if smelt at, it will prevent sneezing" [tr. Bostock and Riley]. Raschi says, "Vinegar is pleasant on hot days."

AND SHE HEAPED,-- Ruth, as Booz gave to her and heaped on her breast, as both the Hebrew and the Seventy have it. She herself gathered what Booz or his assistant generously gave to her.

TO HERSELF FRUMENTY.-- In Hebrew, frumenty is קלי, cali, ἄλφιτον, which is toasted spelt or barley. This is made as follows, according to Cato, On Agriculture, chapter 108 [sic; paraphrased from Pliny, Natural History, 18.14.73]: "The barley was first steeped in water, and then left a night to dry. The next day they parched it, and then ground it in the mill, and kept it for many days" [tr. Bostock, adapted]. Hear what Seneca says in Letter 111 [sic, 110]: "Learn to be content with little, and cry out with courage and with greatness of soul: 'We have water, we have porridge; let us compete in happiness with Jupiter himself'" [tr.] Likewise, in Letter 18: "For though water, barley-meal, and crusts of barley-bread, are not a cheerful diet, yet it is the highest kind of pleasure to be able to derive pleasure from this sort of food" [tr. Gummere].

AND TOOK THE LEAVINGS -- of the food and the corn meal home to Noemi, her mother-in-law, in order to feed her; verse 18. See how dutiful Ruth is, and so Booz loves and promotes her and takes her as his wife. In this way we see that dutiful persons are loved and promoted to great things.

20. BECAUSE THE SAME KINDNESS WHICH HE SHEWED TO THE LIVING, HE HATH KEPT ALSO TO THE DEAD. In other words, just as Booz was kind to Elimelech, her husband, and his sons, Mahalon and Chelion, as being related to him, while they lived, so now he continues to do good to them when they are dead by being kind to their wives who survive them, namely me, Noemi, and you, Ruth, and by feeding and supporting them.

THE MAN IS OUR KINSMAN. -- In the Hebrew text, these words are added: And he is for our redeemers, or vindicators, i.e., one of those who have the legal right to free us from deprivation, to restore our fortunes, and to rescue the name of my husband and sons from death and oblivion by raising up seed and offspring for them in the manner described in Leviticus, 25:25.

Note: The Hebrew for kinsman is גואל, goel, i.e., redeemer, in a triple sense: of land, of a wife and one's inheritance, and of the reputation of one who has been wronged. Of land, for if a farm was sold by someone to a stranger, a kinsman of the seller had the right to redeem the property by paying the selling price to the buyer. Of a wife, because if someone died without children, a kinsman had the right, or rather the obligation, to marry his wife in order to raise up children for him; thus he redeemed and ransomed, as it were, his wife along with his inheritance. Of reputation, because if someone was killed by another, it was the duty of a kinsman to avenge him and to pursue his killer to the death by bringing him before the judges for the homicide. In this way he would restore to the victim his right, i.e., his reputation and innocence.

22. IT IS BETTER FOR THEE, etc., TO GO OUT TO REAP WITH HIS MAIDS, -- not to reap, but to join the reapers in order to glean the fallen ears, as is indicated in verse 15 and following. Hence, the Hebrew does not have to reap. There are accordingly no grounds [242] for the interpretation of Abulensis, who would have Noemi say: I encourage you, Ruth, my beloved daughter-in-law, to devote yourself to Booz by harvesting his grain for free and without pay, that you may win him over more easily and pave the way for marriage with him.