Ruth 4:1

Up to the gate. As previously noted (see on ch. 3:3), Bethlehem is situated on a narrow ridge that projects eastward from the central mountain range. The ridge falls away abruptly in terraced slopes to deep valleys on the north, east, and south. Today these terraces are covered with rows of olive trees and interspersed with fig trees and vines. To reach the gate of the city, Boaz would leave the field where he had spent the night and ascend the slopes of the ridge. The city gate, probably the only opening in the wall, was the place where court sessions were held and where public business was transacted (see Deut. 21:19-21; cf. Ps. 127:5; Zech. 8:16). Jerome notes that “the judges sat in the gates that the country-people might not be compelled to enter the cities and suffer detriment. Sitting there, they [the judges] could meet the townsmen and the country-people as they left or entered the city; and each man, his business finished, could retire at once to his own house.”

Sat him down. The fact that Boaz sat in the gate probably made evident that he sought a judicial decision. Boaz proceeded to assemble a jury of the elders of the city, according to the law of Moses (Deut. 16:18).