How long was boaz and Ruth married?

Answer 1

Naomi knew Boaz was a relative:

Rth 2:20 "May the LORD bless Boaz!" Naomi exclaimed. "The LORD always keeps his promises to the living and the dead." And she went on, "That man is a close relative of ours, one of those responsible for taking care of us." [GNB]

Naomi also knew the Law about Levirite marriages :-

Deu 25:5 "If two brothers live on the same property and one of them dies, leaving no son, then his widow is not to be married to someone outside the family; it is the duty of the dead man's brother to marry her.

Deu 25:6 The first son that they have will be considered the son of the dead man, so that his family line will continue in Israel.

Deu 25:7 But if the dead man's brother does not want to marry her, she is to go before the town leaders and say, 'My husband's brother will not do his duty; he refuses to give his brother a descendant among the people of Israel.'

Deu 25:8 Then the town leaders are to summon him and speak to him. If he still refuses to marry her,

Deu 25:9 his brother's widow is to go up to him in the presence of the town leaders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face, and say, 'This is what happens to the man who refuses to give his brother a descendant.'

Deu 25:10 His family will be known in Israel as 'the family of the man who had his sandal pulled off.'

Boaz was most touched by Ruth's offer of Levirite marriage as her husband had died but left her childless and she was related to Boaz:-

Rth 3:10 And he said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my daughter: for thou hast shewed more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou followedst not young men, whether poor or rich. [KJ]

This is more understandable in a modern version:-

Rth 3:10 "The LORD bless you," he said. "You are showing even greater family loyalty in what you are doing now than in what you did for your mother-in-law. You might have gone looking for a young man, either rich or poor, but you haven't. [GNB]

The Bible does not say how old Ruth and Boaz were, but implies that Boaz is somewhat older than Ruth. However, according to Jewish tradition Boaz was then eighty years of age, and Ruth forty. (See Midrash Ruth, fol. 31. 4. & 34. 2.)

Answer 2

Ruth lived about 10 years in Moab after her marriage to one of Naomi's sons:-

Ruth 1

4 And they [Naomi's sons] took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.

Starting with ten-and-a-bit years, then adding a couple of weeks or month of travelling from Moab to Israel, and then adding about 2 months for the harvests of Barley in April and Wheat in May, with Boaz marrying Ruth after the threshing and winnowing of the wheat, makes this period roughly 11 years.

Answer 3

Following the story line it appears to be a matter of weeks or at most 2 months, not years: The journey by foot would take a few days, they arrived in the beginning of barley harvest, about the month of April and Ruth continued to glean in Boaz's fields till the end of wheat harvest,that followed right after the barley harvest. At that time Ruth stakes her claim on Boaz as her kinsman redeemer, and he takes care of all the legal matters the very next day, so legally she becomes his wife right there and then even though she is not present.

Answer 4

The bible does not mention the years.

Answer 5

30