What does Ruth 2:5 mean?

Boaz has come out of Bethlehem to check on the harvest of his barley fields. He has hired young men to cut the stalks and lay them in piles, and young women to gather the stalks and tie them into bundles. As he approaches his supervisor, he notices a young woman nearby whom he does not know.

In this extremely patriarchal country, a woman's identity is based on her father, husband, or son. The Proverbs 31 woman who can buy and tend her own land is rare. When Boaz asks, "Whose young woman is this?" he means who is her father or husband. The answer will place her on the appropriate rung of the social ladder.

As a landed and "worthy man" (Ruth 2:1) in a small town, it's likely that Boaz knows all the local families and their daughters. He may have even hired the female bundlers himself. He has heard of the young Moabite woman who accompanied Naomi into town, forsaking her family, culture, religion—everything familiar to her (Ruth 1:19). But he has apparently never seen Ruth. All he knows is that a young woman is waiting to the side next to his harvest supervisor.

The supervisor explains. She is the Moabite woman who came back with Naomi. It is uncertain whether it would have technically been required to permit Ruth to glean as she may not have fit the requirements of a "sojourner" (Leviticus 23:22; Deuteronomy 23:3–6), but she was certainly poor and Boaz understands the spirit of the law. Ruth's reputation has preceded her, and Boaz honors her sacrifice by making extraordinary concessions (Ruth 2:6–16).