Ruth 2:4: A Glimpse of Godly Culture
- Dr. Dilday
- Aug 20, 2019
- 1 min read
Verse 4:[1] And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, (Ps. 129:7, 8; Luke 1:28; 2 Thess. 3:16) The LORD be with you. And they answered him, The LORD bless thee.
[He came] Boaz was keeping that which Cato prescribes in Concerning Agriculture[2] 1:1, Spare not thy pains to oversee (Menochius).
[The Lord be with thee] It was the custom to pray good things for those laboring, Psalm 126:5, 6; 129:8. See what things are on Luke 1:28 (Grotius). That is to say, the Lord be near to you. For the goodness of the harvest and of whatever other thing is to be hoped for and asked from God (Lapide).
The LORD be with you, etc.: They expressed and professed their piety, even in their civil conversation and worldly transactions; which now so many are ashamed of, and call it hypocrisy or vain ostentation thus to do.
[1] Hebrew: וְהִנֵּה־בֹ֗עַז בָּ֚א מִבֵּ֣ית לֶ֔חֶם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר לַקּוֹצְרִ֖ים יְהוָ֣ה עִמָּכֶ֑ם וַיֹּ֥אמְרוּ ל֖וֹ יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהוָֽה׃
[2] De Re Rustica.
Matthew Henry: 'Kind and pious salutations were interchanged between Boaz and his reapers.
(1.) He said to them, The Lord be with you; and they replied, The Lord bless thee, Ruth 2:4. Hereby they expressed, [1.] Their mutual respect to each other; he to them as good servants, and they to him as a good master. When he came to them he did not fall a chiding them, as if he came only to find fault and exercise his authority, but he prayed for them: "The Lord be with you, prosper you, and give you health and strength, and preserve you from any disaster." Nor did they, as soon as ever he was out of hearing, fall a cursing him,…