Easton's Bible Dictionary Alacrity. (1.) The husband of Ruth, a wealthy Bethlehemite. By the "levirate law" the duty devolved on him of marrying Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:1-13). He was a kinsman of Mahlon, her first husband. (2.) The name given (for what reason is unknown) to one of the two (the other was called Jachin) brazen pillars which Solomon erected in the court of the temple (1 Kings 7:21; 2 Chronicles 3:17). These pillars were broken up and carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Jachin and Boaz The names of two brazen columns set up in Solomon's temple (1 Kings 7:15-22). Each was eighteen cubits high and twelve in circumference (Jeremiah 52:21, 23; 1 Kings 7:17-21). They had doubtless a symbolical import. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia BOAZ bo'-az (bo`az; Booz; "quickness" (?) Ruth 2-4 1 Chronicles 2:11, 12; Matthew 1:5 Luke 3:32): (1) A resident of Bethlehem and kinsman of Elimelech, Naomi's husband. In Ruth 2:1 he is described as a gibbor chayil, a phrase which can mean either "a mighty man of valor" or else "a man of position and wealth." The latter is probably the sense in which the phrase is applied to Boaz (compare 1 Samuel 9:1). He had fields outside the town, and to them Ruth went to glean. Boaz noticed her and extended special kindness and protection to her, bidding her remain with his female workers, and charging the men not to illtreat her, and also giving her of the reapers' food at mealtime. Boaz awoke one night and found Ruth lying at his feet. He praised her virtue, and promised to take charge of her if her dead husband's next-of-kin failed to do so. He laid her case before the next-of-kin, and finally redeemed the family property himself and bought as well the right to take Ruth in marriage. The son of Boaz and Ruth was Obed, father of Jesse, and grandfather of David. 1 Chronicles 2:11, 12 makes Boaz a descendant of Hezron, and so probably a chief of the Hezronite clan in Bethlehem. Jewish tradition identifies Boaz with Ibzan (Judges 12:8-10). Boaz "is set before us as a model of piety, generosity and chastity" (H. P. Smith, Old Testament History, 398). He found virtue and rewarded it. HPM, sections 501-8, gives a picture of the life of "a well-to-do landed proprietor of central Palestine," much of which could aptly be taken as a description of Boaz. (2) The name of one of the two bronze pillars erected in front of Solomon's temple, the other being Jachin (1 Kings 7:21 2 Chronicles 3:17). See JACHIN AND BOAZ; TEMPLE. David Francis Roberts JACHIN AND BOAZ ja'-kin (yakhin, "he shall establish"; bo`az, "in it is strength," 1 Kings 7:15-22 2 Kings 25:16, 17; 2 Chronicles 3:15-17 Jeremiah 52:17): These were the names of the two bronze pillars that stood before the temple of Solomon. They were not used in supporting the building; their appearance, therefore, must have been solely due to moral and symbolic reasons. What these are it is not easy to say. The pillars were not altar pillars with hearths at their top, as supposed by W.R. Smith (Religion of the Semites, 191, 468); rather they were "pillars of witness," as was the pillar that witnessed the contract between Jacob and Laban (Genesis 31:52). At difficulty arises about the height of the pillars. The writers in Kings and Jeremiah affirm that the pillars before the porch were 18 cubits high apiece (1 Kings 7:15 Jeremiah 52:21), while the Chronicler states that they were 35 cubits (2 Chronicles 3:15). Various methods have been suggested of reconciling this discrepancy, but it is more probable that there is a corruption in the Chronicler's number. On the contruction of the pillars and their capitals, see TEMPLE. At the final capture of Jerusalem they were broken up and the metal of which they were composed was sent to Babylon (2 Kings 25:13, 16). In Ezekiel's ideal temple the two pillars are represented by pillars of wood (Ezekiel 40:49). W. Shaw Caldecott

Multi-Version Concordance Boaz (25 Occurrences) Matthew 1:5 Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse. (WEB ASV BBE YLT NAS NIV) Luke 3:32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, (WEB WEY ASV BBE NAS NIV) Ruth 2:1 Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:3 She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:4 Behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, "Yahweh be with you." They answered him, "Yahweh bless you." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:5 Then said Boaz to his servant who was set over the reapers, "Whose young lady is this?" (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Don't go to glean in another field, and don't go from here, but stay here close to my maidens. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:11 Boaz answered her, "It has fully been shown me, all that you have done to your mother-in-law since the death of your husband; and how you have left your father and your mother, and the land of your birth, and have come to a people that you didn't know before. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:14 At meal time Boaz said to her, "Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar." She sat beside the reapers, and they reached her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left some of it. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:15 When she had risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, "Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don't reproach her. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:19 Her mother-in-law said to her, "Where have you gleaned today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who noticed you." She showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, "The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 2:23 So she stayed close to the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 3:2 Now isn't Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens you were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing floor. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 3:7 When Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. She came softly, uncovered his feet, and laid her down. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 3:16 When she came to her mother-in-law, she said, "How did it go, my daughter?" She told her all that the man had done to her. (See NIV) Ruth 4:1 Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by; to whom he said, "Ho, such a one! Turn aside, sit down here." He turned aside, and sat down. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 4:5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance." (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 4:8 So the near kinsman said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." He took off his shoe. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 4:9 Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, "You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 4:13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh gave her conception, and she bore a son. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) Ruth 4:21 and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) 1 Kings 7:21 He set up the pillars at the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called its name Jachin; and he set up the left pillar, and called its name Boaz. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) 1 Chronicles 2:11 and Nahshon became the father of Salma, and Salma became the father of Boaz, (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) 1 Chronicles 2:12 and Boaz became the father of Obed, and Obed became the father of Jesse; (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV) 2 Chronicles 3:17 He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz. (WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)