Editing Boaz (section)

===Boaz and Ruth===
[[File:Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld- Ruth im Feld des Boaz.jpg|thumb|''Ruth in Boaz's Field'' by [[Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld]], 1828]]
Although Boaz was the prince of the people, he personally supervised the threshing of the grain in his barn, in order to circumvent any immorality or theft, both of which were rife in his days (Tan., Behar, ed. Buber, viii.; ''Ruth Rabba'' to iii. 7).<ref name=je/> Glad in his heart that the famine was over in Israel, he sought rest after having thanked God and [[Torah study|studied]] for a while in the ''Torah'' (Tan., l.c.; Targum ''Ruth'' iii. 7; and ''Ruth Rabba'' ib.).<ref name="je" /> Aroused out of his first sleep by Ruth, he was greatly frightened, as he thought she was a devil; and he was convinced of the contrary only after touching the hair of her head, since devils were believed to be bald (Tan., l.c.).<ref name="je" /> When he perceived Ruth's pure and holy intentions he not only did not reprove her for her unusual behavior, he blessed her and gave her six measures of barley, indicating thereby that six pious men should spring from her, who would be gifted by God with six excellences (cf. {{Bibleverse||Isaiah|11:2|kjv|}}; ''Sanhedrin'' 93b; ''Numbers Rabba'' xiii. 11; ''Ruth Rabba'' and ''Targum to Ruth'' iii. 15; the names of the six men differ in these passages, but David and the Messiah are always among them).<ref name="je" /> Boaz fulfilled the promises he had given to Ruth, and when his kinsman (the sources differ as to the precise relationship existing between them) would not marry her because he did not know the ''[[halakah]]'' which decreed that Moabite women were not excluded from the Israelitic community, Boaz himself married.