Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 10. Moabitess. The sons of Elimelech were excused in taking such women to wife, on account of necessity, and to avoid the danger of incontinence, which is a greater evil. Booz was under another sort of necessity, and was bound to comply with the law; ( Calmet.) so that he was guilty of no sin, as Beza would pretend. Tirinus.—Some also remark, that the exclusion of the people of Moab from the Church of God, regarded not the females, (Saint Augustine q. 35, in Deut. Serar. Tirinus. and so forth) particularly if they embraced the true religion. According to the Rabbins, Obed should have been accounted a Moabite, as they say children follow the condition of their mothers: but we need not here adopt their decisions.—People. Hebrew “and from the gate of his place.” In the assemblies, the legal son of Mahalon would represent him, though he was also considered as the son of Booz, at least if the latter had no other, as was probably the case.