Boaz in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Explained in margin 1 Kings 7:15-21, "in it (is) strength." Others, fleetness. 1. Of Bethlehem: Elimelech's (Naomi's husband's) kinsman. When the next of kin to Ruth, Naomi's daughter-in- law, declined to do the part of redeemer (god) (See BLOOD) of the inheritance of her deceased husband Mahlon (compare Deuteronomy 25:5-10), Boaz did so by marrying her, though much her senior (Rth 3:10). Their son Obed was grandfather of David. There being no objection to an Israelite's marriage with a Moabitess marks an early date (contrast Ezra 9). David's descent from Ruth the Moabitess accounts for the intimacy of David with the king of Moab, so that it was with him he left his father and mother in his flight from Saul (1 Samuel 22:3-5); an undesigned coincidence between the books of Samuel and Ruth, a mark of genuineness (compare Psalm 27:10). In the genealogy (Rth 4:18-22) several, at least three, generations must be inserted, as the list there only allows ten generations for 850 years, and only four for the 450 years between Salmon and David. 2. The name of one of the two brass pillars in Solomon's temple porch, on the left, as Jachin was on the right. The difference of the height as given in 1 Kings 7:15; 1 Kings 7:21; 2 Chronicles 3:15, arises from the height in one place including, in the other place excluding, the ornament which united the shaft to the chapiter (compare Jeremiah 52:17-21). The pillars, which were hollow, were broken up and carried to Babylon at the fall of Jerusalem before Nebuchadnezzar.