saying:“ Blessed by the LORD are you, my daughter! Your current ḥesed is even greater than your past one— because you have not gone after young men, be they poor or wealthy”( 3:10). That is, a younger woman like you should have sought a younger man for a husband. But you want to marry me. This is the greater ḥesed of Ruth. Boaz discerns that Ruth has all along been pursuing a plan: get to Bethlehem, find a wealthy kinsman of her late husband, Maḥlon, and get him to marry her.
Why? The fog clears in chapter 4. Elimelech and Naomi owned a field in Bethlehem, which they had to leave in others’ hands. The only way to perpetuate the name of a deceased Israelite would be“ to establish his name on his estate”
.( Only a well-heeled relative להקים שם המת ע ל נ ח ל ת ו( of the deceased could purchase the field for the family( technically“ redemption,” ge’ ulla). And if a relative would marry Ruth, in a quasi-levirate arrangement( wherein an heirless deceased’ s relative would marry his widow), the son of that marriage would inherit the family field— and then“ the name of the deceased would be established on his estate.” Boaz redeems the field, marries Ruth, and, with God’ s help, they have a son. That son is regarded as Maḥlon’ s heir, and the field will carry the name of Maḥlon.
Ruth faced many uncertainties in executing this plan— but the only way to accomplish it was to go against the odds and try. Only a handful of commentators got to the bottom of the mystery: Ruth migrated to Bethlehem out of love for her
118