What did Boaz have in mind when he said to Ruth: “You have made this last kindness greater than the first …” (ESV)? And what did he really say to the nearer kinsman before the elders at the town gate? Was he simply laying out obligations to be undertaken by kinsmen, as was then commonly known? Or was his speech before the tribal authority solidly grounded on legal customs? This article takes a nuanced approach in reading these verbal exchanges, and explores how the book of Ruth intricately weaves together two separate ancient customs, to showcase the lived ḥeseḏ to others by the Biblical characters.
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