Best known as the generous landowner of Bethlehem who became Ruth's kinsman-redeemer, marrying the Moabite widow and thus entering the ancestral line of David and ultimately of Jesus the Messiah (Ruth 2-4; Matt 1:5). The etymology is debated -- possibly 'in him is strength' or 'swiftness.' The name also designates the left-hand bronze pillar erected before Solomon's temple (1 Kgs 7:21; 2 Chr 3:17), perhaps inscribed as a memorial or bearing the meaning 'in strength.' The Septuagint of 2 Chronicles 3:17 renders it as ischus ('strength'), preserving this etymological thread. A minor Calebite descendant also bears the name (1 Chr 2:11-12).