Boaz of Bethlehem
Son of Salmon and Rahab, worthy lord of the harvest in Bethlehem, and Kinsman-Redeemer (Goel) who spread his garment over Ruth the Moabite, paid the price at the city gate, and fathered Obed in the Messianic line.
A man of great wealth and noble character (Hebrew: gibbor chayil) in Bethlehem from the clan of Elimelech — and himself the son of Rahab of Jericho (Matthew 1:5) — Boaz spotted the Moabite widow Ruth gleaning behind his reapers during the barley harvest (Ruth 2:1–5). Rather than treating the foreigner with contempt, he commanded his young men not to touch her, invited her to dip her morsel in the wine at his own table, and secretly instructed his reapers: 'Pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean' (Ruth 2:8–16).
When Ruth lay at his feet on the threshing floor asking him to spread the corner of his garment over her as redeemer (Hebrew: Goel), Boaz went straight to the city gate of Bethlehem, legally purchased Elimelech's land and Mahlon's widow before the ten elders, and fathered Obed — becoming great-grandfather to King David and a luminous portrait of Jesus Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer (Ruth 3:9; Ruth 4:1–22; Matthew 1:5).
The Outsider's Harvest — Ruth in the Bethlehem Wheat Fields, Boaz's Favor & The Gentile Pentecost
Boaz welcomes Moabite outcast Ruth to his harvest table, foreshadowing the Holy Spirit falling on Gentile outsiders.
