Boaz calls Ruth “my daughter,” even when they are lying together at night with Boaz’s feet uncovered. The whole book is about the levirate institution, and refracts again and again off the story of Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38. Ruth is a new Tamar, who was “more righteous” than Judah in securing a name for her dead husband(s). The difference in Ruth is that she finds a Judahite greater than Judah himself; Boaz volunteers to raise up seed for his “daughter,” and doesn’t need to be tricked into fulfilling his responsibilities. This is another sign that Ruth is about the redemption of the tribe of Judah.
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