Audela

Boaz

The kinsman redeemer of Bethlehem

Also written: Booz (Greek form, Matthew 1:5)

Place in the genealogy

  • Matthew · name 12 · Abraham forward to JesusFrom Abraham to David: the promiseBorn 'of Rachab'.
  • Luke · name 46 · Jesus back to AdamFrom Jesse back to Abraham

Where Scripture records this person

  • He protects Ruth in his field and orders that she be allowed to glean freely.
  • The threshing floor, and his promise to act as redeemer if the nearer kinsman will not.
  • He redeems the field and takes Ruth as wife, before witnesses at the gate.
  • Named in Judah's line.

Who this person is in Scripture

Boaz is a landowner in Bethlehem, described as a mighty man of wealth. His first recorded words are a blessing on his workers. He notices a foreign widow gleaning in his field, learns what she has done for her mother-in-law, and takes deliberate steps to protect and provide for her before she has asked him for anything.

When Ruth does ask, at the threshing floor, he answers carefully and lawfully: there is a nearer kinsman, and that man must be given his right first. Boaz settles the matter publicly at the gate, buys back the family land, and marries Ruth. Their son Obed is David's grandfather.

Family, as Scripture gives it

Father
Salmon
Mother
Rahab, according to
Spouses
Ruth
Children
Obed

How Scripture connects this person to Christ

  • The of Ruth pays for what he did not lose, takes a foreigner as his own, and secures a family's future. Scripture gives Israel that picture long before Christ, though Ruth itself does not say so.

What this teaches

  • Boaz acts within the law of God rather than around it, and the law turns out to be wide enough to a Moabite widow.
  • His kindness is practical: food, safety, standing and a home, not sentiment.

Read further in Scripture

  • The redemption of family land, which Boaz carries out.
  • The standing of Moabites, which makes Ruth's welcome remarkable.

Read in the Bible

Back to the genealogy of Jesus