Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Matthew 1:5

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Seest thou that it was not for few nor small causes that he brought to our remembrance the whole history concerning Judah? For this end he hath mentioned Ruth also and Rahab, the one an alien, the other an harlot, that thou mayest learn that He came to do away with all our ills. For He hath come as a Physician, not as a Judge. …

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 3 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

Some believe Rachab to be that Rahab the harlot who received the spies of Jesus son of Nave [i.e. Joshua son of Nun]. She saved them, and was herself saved as well. He mentions her to show that just as she was a harlot, so, too, was the congregation of the nations, for they went whoring in their practices. But all those who accepted the spies of Jesus, that is, the apostles, and were convinced by their words, were saved from among the nations. And Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

But how did Ruth who was an alien marry a man that was a Jew? and wherefore in Christ's genealogy did His Evangelist so much as mention a union, which in the eye of the law was bastard? Thus the Saviour's birth of a parentage not admitted by the law appears to us monstrous, until we attend to that declaration of the Apostle, The Law was not given for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. (1 Tim. …

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Jerome

Ruth the Moabitess fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah, Send forth, O Lord, the Lamb that shall rule over the earth, out of the rock of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion. (Is. 16:1.)

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗

Thomas Aquinas

Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab. Here are mentioned fathers born after the entry into the promised land. For Salmon was fathered in the desert and entered the promised land with Joshua; he took as his wife Rahab, a prostitute, from whom Boaz was born. Boaz means strong: "O Lord, my strength and my stronghold" (Jer 16:19). Rahab, however, means hunger or width, and signifies the Church, because beatitude is related to that hunger: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall have their fill" (Mt 5:6). …

Commentary on Matthew ↗