Booz

BOOZ (Heb. Bô'az). - 1. - Ancestor of David and of the Messiah. He owned in Bethlehem the field in which the widow Ruth (v.) used to go to glean in order to support herself and her mother-in-law Naomi; moved by admiration for the woman's piety toward her mother-in-law, he showed her particular attentions (Ruth 2). When the kinship relations between the two families became known, B. married Ruth, and from their union was born Obed, the grandfather of David (Mt. 1:5), probably not in the immediate line. The marriage was arranged on the basis of the law of the levirate (v.), of which it nonetheless represents an interesting special case, because B. was gô'ēl not of the husband, but of Ruth's deceased father-in-law, from whom perhaps there had come to B. the duty (cf. Gen. 38:13) to marry the daughter-in-law. The newborn child, however, was legally the son of Naomi (Ruth 4:10-17).

2. - Name (in the Vulgate) of the left column of the porch of Solomon's temple, Heb. bô'az, perhaps for bê'ôz "in strength," referring to the temple (1 Kings 7:21; 2 Chron. 3:17). Giovanni Rinaldi