Q. Was Boaz a single man, a widower or already married when he took Ruth to be his wife?

A. Boaz could have had a first wife and family, although the text does not say so. He could have been a widow, or he could have redeemed Ruth - herself a widow - as another wife. The story takes place during the period of the Judges when plural marriage was quite normal and was often proscribed when a man died childless and his brother was expected to assume the duty of marrying his widow to raise up a son to inherit his estate (the Law of Levirate).

Because he was already a landowner with apparently large holdings, it is logical to presume that Boaz was not a young man. Mature men were expected to marry and have children, so it is more likely than not than he had done so. The absence of another wife in the story may be explained by the possibility that he was a widow, or that his first wife is simply unimportant to the story, which focuses on the lineage of King David. (For those who believe that Yah'shus's/Jesus' father Joseph was previously married, the same principle applies.)

Jewish tradition indeed holds that Boaz has a large family before meeting Ruth. In one rabbinical commentary he is identified with the Judge Ibzan (Judges 12) who had 60 children - obviously with more than one wife. Another tradition says that Boaz was 80 years old when he married Ruth, age-gap marriages being not uncommon in those days owing to a high mortality rate amongst women in child-bearing.

The story of Ruth indicates that Boaz was a well established figure in Bethlehem and there is nothing to indicate that he was a young man. It is likely, therefore, that he had already been married and was a widower or was already plurally married with one or more wives.