Dictionaries :: Boaz

Boaz:

alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By the "levirate law" the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the Moabitess (Rth 4:1-13). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband.

(2.) The name given (for what reason is unknown) to one of the two (the other was called Jachin) brazen pillars which Solomon erected in the court of the temple (1Ki 7:21; 2Ch 3:17). These pillars were broken up and carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

Boaz:

or Booz, in strength

Boaz:

bo'-az (bo?az; Booz; "quickness" (?)Ru 2-4; 1Ch 2:11,12; Mt 1:5; Lu 3:32):

(1) A resident of Bethlehem and kinsman of Elimelech, Naomi's husband. In Ru 2:1 he is described as a gibbor chayil, a phrase which can mean either "a mighty man of valor" or else "a man of position and wealth." The latter is probably the sense in which the phrase is applied to Boaz (compare 1Sa 9:1). He had fields outside the town, and to them Ru went to glean. Boaz noticed her and extended special kindness and protection to her, bidding her remain with his female workers, and charging the men not to illtreat her, and also giving her of the reapers' food at mealtime. Boaz awoke one night and found Ru lying at his feet. He praised her virtue, and promised to take charge of her if her dead husband's next-of-kin failed to do so. He laid her case before the next-of-kin, and finally redeemed the family property himself and bought as well the right to take Ru in marriage. The son of Boaz and Ru was Obed, father of Jesse, and grandfather of David. 1Ch 2:11,12 makes Boaz a descendant of Hezron, and so probably a chief of the Hezronite clan in Bethlehem. Jewish tradition identifies Boaz with Ibzan (Jud 12:8-10).

Boaz "is set before us as a model of piety, generosity and chastity" (H. P. Smith, Old Testament History, 398). He found virtue and rewarded it. HPM, sections 501-8, gives a picture of the life of "a well-to-do landed proprietor of central Palestine," much of which could aptly be taken as a description of Boaz.

(2) The name of one of the two bronze pillars erected in front of Solomon's temple, the other being Jachin (1Ki 7:21; 2Ch 3:17).

Written by David Francis Roberts

See JACHIN AND BOAZ

See TEMPLE

Boaz: 1. An Ancestor of Jesus

Mat 1:5; Luk 3:32

History of,

Rth 2; 3; 4.

Boaz: 2. One of the Bronze Pillars of the Temple

1Ki 7:21; 2Ch 3:17

Boaz:

(fleetness).

(1.) A wealthy Bethlehemite kinsman to Elimelech the husband of Naomi. He married Ruth, and redeemed the estates of her deceased husband Mahlon (Ruth 4:1). Boaz is mentioned in the genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:5). (B.C. 1250, but there is great difficulty in assigning his date.)

(2.) The name of one of Solomon's brazen pillars erected in the temple porch. SEE [JACHIN]. It stood on the left, and was eighteen cubits high (1 Kings 7:15; 21; 2 Chronicles 3:15; Jeremiah 52:21).