She’s a Moabite! (Ruth 2:6–7)

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⁶ The boy in charge of the reapers replied,

וַיַּ֗עַן הַנַּ֛עַר הַנִּצָּ֥ב עַל־הַקּוֹצְרִ֖ים וַיֹּאמַ֑ר

Why not simply say “the boy replied”? That would be enough to tip off your readers that נער and נערה are going to be words to pay attention to as the story proceeds. (Those who need a sneak preview of that are welcome to look here.) I am guessing that our author is reinforcing her assertion that this boy is in charge of the situation, or (more literally) נצב nitzav ‘in position’ to know what’s going on. The beginning of his reply makes it sound as if he indeed is.

“She’s a Moabite girl …

נַעֲרָ֤ה מֽוֹאֲבִיָּה֙ הִ֔יא

Blow me down! What’s a Moabite girl doing in Bethlehem? This is the second time in our chapter, and the third time in seven verses, that our author has repeated this phrase, twice in her own voice and now in the voice of this pipsqueak — excuse me, this young man who is in charge of the work gang harvesting Boaz’s barley fields. No one can say this nitzav isn’t on top of things! As my student Julie Hochhauser expressed it, he knows all about her, via “the 411.” That is, he knows what everybody knows — or perhaps (he thinks) everyone but Boaz: He calls her “a” Moabite girl, not “the” Moabite girl.

who came back with Naomi from Moab country.

הַשָּׁ֥בָה עִֽם־נָעֳמִ֖י מִשְּׂדֵ֥ה מוֹאָֽב׃

Another alternative for how the na’ar knows all this is that he has read ch. 1 of the book of Ruth. At the very least, the woman who wrote it is putting these words, all of which are repeated there, in his mouth. If we try to think ourselves into his position, he is has hit the “Moab” note twice, yet he has also said that Ruth herself has “returned” from Moab. True, she “returned” with Naomi, but she is very much the subject of this verb. (For the unusual grammar, see our previous discussion.)

You might imagine that this material is all here to get Boaz up to speed on the role he has (just) come to field to play. How can Boaz not know something that the whole city was abuzz with? True, that “whole city” was just the women. As my wife — a physical anthropologist, but with a strong background in cultural anthropology — tells me, if news spreads among the women in a culture like this, they decide when the men need to know about it.

She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves — behind the harvesters.’

וַתֹּ֗אמֶר אֲלַקֳטָה־נָּא֙ וְאָסַפְתִּ֣י בָֽעֳמָרִ֔ים אַחֲרֵ֖י הַקּוֹצְרִ֑ים

Eskenazi, in the JPS commentary, observes: