Why does the nearer kinsman withdraw after first agreeing to buy the field?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Booz says buying it also requires taking Ruth to raise the deceased kinsman’s name in his inheritance. The nearer man then says he must not cut off his own family’s posterity and willingly gives Booz his privilege.

Chapter breakdown

Booz goes to the gate and sits. Seeing the kinsman he previously named, he calls him by name to turn aside and sit a little while. He also seats ten elders of the city. Booz says Noemi, returned from Moab, will sell a parcel belonging to their brother Elimelech. Before those seated and the elders, he offers the nearer man possession by right of kindred: buy it if willing, or tell him if not, so Booz knows what to do. Only that man, first, and Booz, second, are near kinsmen. The man agrees to buy the field. Booz adds that buying from the woman requires taking Ruth the Moabitess, wife of the deceased, to raise the kinsman’s name in his inheritance. The man yields his right, saying he must not cut off his own family’s posterity, and willingly lets Booz use his privilege.

The account explains Israel’s former custom between kinsmen: when one yielded a right, he removed his shoe and gave it to his neighbor to make the grant sure, as testimony of cession. Booz tells the kinsman to remove his shoe; he immediately does. Booz calls the elders and all the people witnesses that he bought from Noemi all that belonged to Elimelech, Chelion and Mahalon, and took Ruth the Moabitess, Mahalon’s wife, to raise the deceased’s name in his inheritance so it is not cut off among family, brethren and people. The people at the gate and elders affirm their witness. They ask the Lord to make the woman entering his house like Rachel and Lia, who built Israel’s house, an example of virtue in Ephrata with a famous name in Bethlehem. Challoner separately explains Ephrata as another name for Bethlehem. They also ask that the house be like Phares’s, whom Thamar bore to Juda, through the seed the Lord gives Booz from this young woman.

Booz takes and marries Ruth, goes in to her, and the Lord gives her conception and a son. The women bless the Lord before Noemi for not leaving her family without a successor to preserve his name in Israel. They say he will comfort her soul and cherish her old age, being born of the daughter-in-law who loves her and is better to her than seven sons. Noemi takes the child into her bosom, carries him and nurses him. Her neighboring women congratulate her, say a son is born to Noemi and call him Obed, father of Isai, father of David. The generations are given in order: Phares begets Esron; Esron, Aram; Aram, Aminadab; Aminadab, Nahasson; Nahasson, Salmon; Salmon, Booz; Booz, Obed; Obed, Isai; and Isai, David.

The story inside

At the gate Booz presents the land to the nearer kinsman before ten elders. Initial agreement changes when the Ruth condition and the deceased’s name are stated, and the man willingly yields for his stated family reason. The shoe custom and removal precede Booz’s declaration to witnesses of purchase and marriage. Their response includes blessings linked to Rachel, Lia and Phares. Ruth bears a son, the women speak to Noemi about a successor and care in old age, and Noemi nurses him. The neighbors name Obed, and the closing genealogy traces each named generation from Phares to David.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The refusal follows a new stated condition. The nearer man first agrees to buy, then learns he must also take Ruth to preserve the deceased’s name. His reason names his own posterity; a desire for profit or an unwillingness to pay a cost is not supplied.
2
Witnesses and custom are recorded concretely. The source explains the shoe transfer custom and then narrates immediate removal, followed by the elders’ and people’s witness and full blessings. Those details do not require an invented court structure.
3
The ending names both care and ancestry. The women’s words connect the child with comfort for Noemi and Ruth’s love, and Noemi carries and nurses him. Every link from Phares to David remains, with the source’s Isai name.

Test your recall

What added condition changes the nearer man’s answer, what witnesses and custom follow, and how do Obed and the closing genealogy relate to David?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 28027–28057
Ruth Chapter 4 Upon the refusal of the nearer kinsman, Booz marrieth Ruth, who bringeth forth Obed, the grandfather of David. 4:1. Then Booz went up to the gate, and sat there. And when he had seen the kinsman going by, of whom he had spoken before, he said to him, calling him by his name: Turn aside for a little while, and sit down here. He turned aside, and sat down. 4:2. And Booz, taking ten men of the ancients of the city, said to them: Sit ye down here. 4:3. They sat down, and he spoke to the kinsman: Noemi, who is returned from the country of Moab will sell a parcel of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4:4. I would have thee to understand this, and would tell thee before all that sit here, and before the ancients of my people. If thou wilt take possession of it by the right of kindred: buy it, and possess it: but if it please thee not, tell me so, that I may know what I have to do. For there is no near kinsman besides thee, who art first, and me, who am second. But he answered: I will buy the field. 4:5. And Booz said to him: When thou shalt buy the field at the woman’s hand, thou must take also Ruth, the Moabitess, who was the wife of the deceased: to raise up the name of thy kinsman in his inheritance. 4:6. He answered: I yield up my right of next akin: for I must not cut off the posterity of my own family. Do thou make use of my privilege, which I profess I do willingly forego.
Lines 28059–28086
4:7. Now this in former times was the manner in Israel between kinsmen, that if at any time one yielded his right to another: that the grant might be sure, the man put off his shoe and gave it to his neighbour; this was a testimony of cession of right in Israel. 4:8. So Booz said to his kinsman: Put off thy shoe. And immediately he took it off from his foot. 4:9. And he said to the ancients, and to all the people: You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and Chelion’s, and Mahalon’s, of the hand of Noemi: 4:10. And have taken to wife Ruth, the Moabitess, the wife of Mahalon, to raise up the name of the deceased in his inheritance lest his name be cut off, from among his family and his brethren and his people. You, I say, are witnesses of this thing. 4:11. Then all the people that were in the gate, and the ancients, answered: We are witnesses: The Lord make this woman who cometh into thy house, like Rachel, and Lia, who built up the house of Israel: that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in Bethlehem: Ephrata.... Another name of Bethlehem. 4:12. And that the house may be, as the house of Phares, whom Thamar bore unto Juda, of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.
Lines 28088–28118
4:13. Booz therefore took Ruth, and married her: and went in unto her, and the Lord gave her to conceive, and to bear a son. 4:14. And the women said to Noemi: Blessed be the Lord, who hath not suffered thy family to want a successor: that his name should be preserved in Israel. 4:15. And thou shouldst have one to comfort thy soul, and cherish thy old age. For he is born of thy daughter in law: who loveth thee: and is much better to thee, than if thou hadst seven sons. 4:16. And Noemi taking the child, laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse unto it. 4:17. And the women, her neighbours, congratulating with her, and saying, There is a son born to Noemi, called his name Obed: he is the father of Isai, the father of David. 4:18. These are the generations of Phares: Phares begot Esron, 4:19. Esron begot Aram, Aram begot Aminadab, 4:20. Aminadab begot Nahasson, Nahasson begot Salmon, 4:21. Salmon begot Booz, Booz begot Obed, 4:22. Obed begot Isai, Isai begot David.