John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 12. And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah , etc.] Of whose tribe the Bethlehemites were, and were also of the house or family of Pharez, as appears from ( Ruth 4:18), etc. who was born to Judah of Tamar, one of another nation, as Ruth was, and from whom sprung a very numerous family, one of the five families of Judah; and they wish that the family of Boaz, by Ruth, might be as numerous; and if Boaz was the same with Ibzan, as the Jews say, though that wants proof, he had a very numerous offspring, thirty sons and thirty daughters, ( Judges 12:8,9) of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman ; by which it is plain Ruth was present, for they do, as it were, point to her, and that she was a young woman, though a widow: the Jews say she was forty years of age, as observed in ( Ruth 3:10) and the elders wish and pray he might have a numerous family of the children the Lord would give him by her; and this might be the rather expected of her, as being a young woman, yet only as the gift of God, as children are, ( <19C703> Psalm 127:3).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 9-12 - Men are ready to seize opportunities for increasing their estates, but few know the value of godliness. Such are the wise men of this world whom the Lord charges with folly. They attend not to the concerns of their souls, but reject the salvation of Christ, for fear of marrin their inheritance. But God did Boaz the honour to bring him into the line of the Messiah, while the kinsman, who was afraid of lessenin himself, and marring his inheritance, has his name, family, an inheritance forgotten.
Original Hebrew ויהי1961 ביתך1004 כבית1004 פרץ6557 אשׁר834 ילדה3205 תמר8559 ליהודה3063 מן4480 הזרע2233 אשׁר834 יתן5414 יהוה3068 לך מן4480 הנערה5291 הזאת׃2063
