Boaz is introduced as a worthy man from the clan of Elimelech. He becomes the landowner in whose field Ruth gleans. His introduction is in Ruth 2:1.
The story introduces Boaz as a prominent relative of Naomi’s late husband. Ruth, identified as a Moabite, asks Naomi for permission to go into the fields to pick up leftover grain behind harvest workers, hoping to find someone who will look kindly on her. Ruth goes out and ends up in the portion of field belonging to Boaz. This scene follows the return of Naomi and Ruth to Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest (Ruth 1:22). The narrative now shifts from survival needs to a concrete plan for daily food, and it introduces a new character who is connected to Naomi’s family line.
Ruth 2:1–7 moves the story from famine survival to a workable way of getting food. The narrator tells the reader, before the characters act on it, that Naomi has a relative on her late husband’s side named Boaz, described as a prominent and well-resourced man (2:1). That advance notice signals that family ties and land ownership will matter.
A common mistake is to treat this as trivia. Names, places, numbers, and sequence details often carry memory, covenant identity, or narrative movement in the biblical story.
Start with Ruth 2:1, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
1Naomi had a kinsman of her husband`s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.