Matthew Henry on Ruth 2:4-16
Now Boaz himself appears, and a great deal of decency there appears in his carriage both towards his own servants and towards this poor stranger.
I. Towards his own servants, and those that were employed for him in reaping and gathering in his corn. Harvest-time is busy time, many hands must then be at work. Boaz that had much, being a mighty man of wealth, had much to do, and consequently many to work under him and to live upon him. As goods are increased those are increased that eat them, and what good has the owner thereof save the beholding of them with his eyes? Boaz is here an example of a good master.
1. He had a servant that was set over the reapers, Rut 2:6. In great families it is…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ruth 2:5
his servant that was set over the reapers--an overseer whose special duty was to superintend the operations in the field, to supply provision to the reapers, and pay them for their labor in the evening.
Adam Clarke on Ruth 2:5
His servant that was set over the reapers - This was a kind of steward or hind who had the under management of the estate. Some think that an officer of this kind is intended in the description given by Homer of the labors of a harvest field, as represented by Vulcan on one compartment of the shield which he made for Achilles: -
Εν δ' ετιθει τεμενος βαθυληΐον· ενθα δ εριθοι
Ἡμων, οξειας δρεπανας εν χερσιν εχοντες·
Δραγματα δ' αλλα μετ' ογμον επμον επητριμα πιπτον εραζε,
Αλλα δ' αμαλλοδετηρες εν ελλεδανοισι δεοντο.
Τρεις δ' αρ' αμαλλοδετηρες εφεστασαν· αυταρ οπισθε
Παιδες δραγμευοντες, εν αγκαλιδεσσι φεροντες,
Ασπερχες παρεχον· βασιλευς δ' εν τοισι σιωπῃ
Σκηπτρον εχων ἑστηκει επ' ογμου γ…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on Ruth 2:6
And the servant that was set over the reapers answered and said,.... Who had taken a great deal of notice of Ruth, and had conversed with her, and so was capable of giving answers to his master's question:
it is the Moabitish damsel that came back with Naomi, out of the country of Moab; perhaps he had not got knowledge of her name, and therefore only describes her by the country from whence she came; and by her coming from thence along with Naomi, when she returned from Moab, with whose name Boaz was well acquainted, and of whose return he had been informed; and perhaps had seen her in person, and even Ruth also, though he might have forgot her; the Targum makes the servant to add, that she…
