BOOZ (Heb. Bô'az). - 1. - Ancestor of David and of the Messiah. He owned at Bethlehem the Ruth (v.), in order to support herself and her mother-in-law Noemi, went to glean; admiring the woman’s devotion toward her mother-in-law, he showed her particular kindness (Ruth 2). When the kinship relations between the two families became known, B. married Ruth, and from their union Obed was born, ancestor of David (Mt. 1, 5), probably not in the direct line. The marriage was arranged levirate (v.), of which it nevertheless represents an interesting particular case, because B. was gô'êt not of Ruth’s husband, but of her deceased father-in-law, from whom perhaps the duty (cf. Gen. 38, 13) of marrying the daughter-in-law had passed to B. The newborn child, however, was legally the son of Noemi (Ruth 4, 10-17).
2. - Name (in the Vulgate) of the left-hand column of the pronaos of the Solomonic temple, Heb. bô'az, perhaps for bê'ôz “in strength,” referring to the temple (I Reg. 7, 21; II Par. 3, 17). Giovanni Rinaldi