1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat
there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, “Come
over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. 2
Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.
Boaz went to the town gate and sat there. The ones allowed to sit at the town gate were
the elders and the petitioners. The
elders had to know the laws of the land and in the case of Israel, God’s
law. In 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 and on it
speaks of us going to law against other Christians. It states that we aren’t able to judge the
smallest matters between ourselves. What
a shame. Our ministers and elders should
be men of such great integrity and truth that no one would have any problem
going to them for a fair decision. If
there’s a problem in the church they should have enough Word in them to make a
good judgment. We’ve misapplied the Word
to the point now where the word judgment has a bad connotation. Shame on us.
Boaz did not enter into this judgment before the elders in
anger or fear but in faith. He didn’t
try to color the purpose of the meeting so it would go his way but broke it
down into it’s two parts and presented them.
The ten elders he had to sit together weren’t there to give judgment but
to stand as witnesses to the transaction.
No one would ever be able to say that Boaz kept part of the truth hidden
or tried to cheat his relative.
3 Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, “Naomi,
who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our
brother Elimelech.
This is part one.
Naomi was their brother Elimelech’s wife and stood to inherit all that
he owned. This sale of his properties
would leave her with enough money to survive and it would keep it in the family
/ clan setting. That was important. Remember that all the land in Israel belongs
to God first and is loaned perpetually to the individual tribes, clans and
families. Elimelech may have leased it
to someone else or have simply let it go fallow while he was away. At any rate, Naomi was the current owner
before God.
4 I thought I should bring the matter to your
attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and
in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But
if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it
except you, and I am next in line.” “I will redeem it,” he said.
As important as raising seed to continue Elimelech’s line
was, it was not as important as the land itself. The sin of Elimelech and his sons had cut off
his line from Israel. This sin was not
paid for by sacrifices or offerings. The
land was lost…unless… someone still living could bridge the gap between the men
in Naomi’s life and God. That person had
to be able to bridge that gap and provide an heir without sin or else
Elimelech’s line would be cut off. The
person who could do this would perform a tikkun,
a miraculous mending. That person was
Ruth. In this she was a type of Mary the
mother of Jesus.
The closer kinsman was unaware of this part of the redeemer
act. He thought it was simply a matter
of buying the lease back to return it to the family and clan. He was as wealthy as Boaz and did not mind at
all. He said that he could and would
redeem the land. Remember, to be a
kinsman redeemer you had to be able AND willing to perform as well as of near
enough kin to keep it in the family. Concerning
the land, he was able and willing.
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land
from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man’s widow, in
order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”
Boaz now lets him know that he would also be required to
marry the dead man’s widow and at the very least lay with her to produce an
heir and maintain the family connection to the property. Simply said, although the kinsman would pay
off the lease of the land, he would not take the land into his possession but
into Naomi and Ruth’s. Had it just been
in Naomi’s name he might have retained the right to farm the land and give
Naomi a stipend to keep her going. If he
took Ruth as a wife then he would have to keep these parts of his life and
finances separate.
The other man probably had a wife and children of his
own. His wife might not want him to
bring another woman into the family.
While there are numerous instances of a Jewish man marrying more than
one woman, those relationships were always somewhat strained between the
wives. In the case of Jacob, Leah
accused Rachel of stealing her husband from her. Those two had a lively battle over Jacob’s
affections during their life together.
This put a whole other light on Boaz’s proposal.
6 At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, “Then I
cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it
yourself. I cannot do it.”
He didn’t mind buying the land or even taking care of
Naomi. He was not willing to complicate
and possibly harm his own children’s inheritance by bringing another woman into
the marriage. It was acknowledged that
Ruth was a beautiful woman as well as humble and gracious. He was willing to do the first part but not
the second part. Consider that in Israel
there were wives and even concubines, but only the wives of the man could win
an inheritance for their children unless the man specifically willed them
something. This man already had heirs
and did not want to damage their standing.
This shows something of a lack of faith in God to protect his heirs.
7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the
redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his
sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions
in Israel.) 8 So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.”
And he removed his sandal.
This is the first time in the Bible that a shoe (sandal) was
given as a wedding license. Had he been
the ONLY possible kinsman redeemer and had denied Ruth she would have had every
right to receive the shoe herself and spit in his face. It would have been a great dishonor to
him. Because Boaz was willing and able
to do the part of the redeemer it was much less of a shame. Boaz redeemed Naomi and Ruth and their land
and even his relatives honor by taking Ruth as his wife.
9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the
people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property
of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon.
He now has promised to pay off the people leasing the land
and restore it to Naomi as well as restoring it to the name of any descendants
of those three men listed above. The
property belonged to Naomi even though someone else lived there. Once he paid them off she would live there
again.
10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s
widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property,
so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town
records. Today you are witnesses!”
In Genesis 38 we read about Tamar whose son Pharez was ten
generations away from David who would become the greatest king in Israel. Judah obtained her to be a wife for his son
Er. Er did evil in the sight of the Lord
and God killed him. Judah told Onan the
next son to be kinsman redeemer to raise up seed for his brother. As I stated in a previous lesson, Onan took
her as his wife but did not want to raise up seed for his dead brother (sibling
rivalry perhaps) and spilled his seed on the ground. He had the right to refuse and his brother’s
wife might have spit on his face but instead he had sex with her and at the
last instant stopped before getting her pregnant. God was angry with him for this deceptive sin
against Tamar and killed Onan.
Judah promised his youngest son but was terrified he might
die too and withheld him from her. A
frustrated Tamar went so far as to pretend to be a prostitute so she could have
a child by Judah for refusing to marry her off to his youngest son. Bear in mind that a woman of that day was
considered almost worthless if she couldn’t bear you an heir. She desperately wanted a child.
Boaz was thrilled to take Ruth as his wife. He was a man of noble character and the love
of God. He was comfortable with her
foreign origins because his own mother had been an ‘accursed foreigner.’ Very often those who come from other
countries or religions to serve God become the most diligent servants of God
and country. They have often come from
great grief or degradation and in God find rebirth and comfort. Ruth was just such a person and that passion
for God and humility toward her mother-in-law helped God choose her to be in
the lineage of David, Solomon and even His son Jesus.
11 Then the elders and all those at the gate said,
“We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home
like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have
standing in Ephrathah (Ephrath) and be famous in Bethlehem.
This first half of their blessing was a standard one. One of the primary responsibilities of any
family in Israel was to build Israel into a powerful and godly nation. They were to produce as many children as possible
so their nation could be powerful and they were required to train them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).
Ephrathah – or Ephrath – is an ancient name for Bethlehem
(Genesis 35:19). Rachel died on the way
there with Jacob and was buried near there.
Ephrathah can either be a positive or negative connotation. It means fruitfulness or an ash heap;
depending on its use. On the one hand it
could mean that they truly wanted his house to prosper and be as fruitful as
the house of Jacob. On the other,
Jacob’s favorite wife died in childbirth near there and many in the village
were not happy that Boaz was marrying a Moabite.
According to the Midrash (Lessons of the Rabbis), Boaz died
on the night after his wedding. He and
Ruth had only one night together but she became pregnant with Obed (“One who serves.”) Boaz had the understanding that only the men
of Moab would have been cursed by God, not the women. Whether or not it is true, the ancient
Rabbi’s believed it to be so. Some
writings of the ancient teachers of Israel say Boaz was in his 80’s when he
married Ruth. That is another reason he
is said to be a type of the Christ.
After redeeming Ruth, he died.
12 Through the offspring the LORD gives you by
this young woman, may your family be like that of Pharez, whom Tamar bore to
Judah.”
This last portion of the ‘blessing’ sounds like a typical
blessing. What it doesn’t say is that
Pharez was the illegitimate son of Tamar and her father-in-law Judah. I have mentioned before that it was
desperately important for a woman to be fruitful and bear many children for her
husband and tribe. Because her first two
husbands sinned against God she was barren and marked as a husband killer. Just like Israel is blamed for God’s actions
in history on Israel’s behalf (and hated by most of the nations on the earth),
Tamar was blamed for the death of Judah’s two sons who killed themselves by
their own sin.
Pharez (also written Parez, Perez, Peretz) means “breaking
forth.” His twin brother Zerah left
Israel soon after the Exodus. His family
were offended by losing firstborn status to Pharez. Historically, they founded the city now
called London and were a large presence in the kingship of Ireland. Zerah’s descendants as well as Pharez’s came
from Judah and were both a nation of kings.
The prophecy of Judah said that the scepter would not depart from
Judah. Both his sons by Tamar became kings.
The short sighted of Biblical study say Boaz was cursed
because he sinned by marrying Ruth and died.
Those who understand biblical prophecy and how God has worked throughout
Israel’s history know that Boaz was both redeemer and a prophetic view of how
God has always worked in history. His
life with Ruth may have been short, but he produced the needed heir to continue
God’s scarlet thread of redemption through history. The blessing bore fruit.
David’s Genealogy
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then
he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a
son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise
be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May
he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and
sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is
better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
In a very real way Ruth’s son was both a miracle and the
redeemer of Naomi’s family line. Without
Obed, God’s plan for Israel might have come to a screeching halt. You might say that God could have used some
other child to produce David the King and a future for Israel, but God does
what He has planned and not because nothing else could work. It was His plan before history began for Ruth
to bear Obed for Boaz, Naomi and the future of Israel.
Of all the millions of children born to the nation of Israel
over the centuries, how many are unremembered by any but God. Anyone familiar with Israel or their history
is familiar with the name Boaz, Obed, Jesse and David. When King Saul saw David, he asked his
general, “Whose son is he,” as David went after Goliath (1 Samuel 17:55). Abner did not know and when the answer came
it would have troubled Saul. The son of
Zerah would not have mattered but the son of Pharez, the “one who breaks forth”
would have been a problem. David was a
threat to Saul’s kingship.
16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap
and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.”
And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Try reading this another way. “Then Israel took the church of Jesus Christ
and laid them in her lap and the women said, “Israel has born a son; the son of
God. They should have provided
nourishment for his body.” The name Obed
means ‘servant.’ The church should be
the servant of the whole world. Israel
is our parent. We should be close and
caring to one another; they offering us their wisdom and knowledge and we
bringing that knowledge to the entire world.
18 This, then, is the family line of Pharez: Pharez
(1) was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron (2) the father of Ram, Ram (3) the
father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab (4) the father of Nahshon, Nahshon (5)
the father of Salmon, 21 Salmon (6) the father of Boaz, Boaz (7) the
father of Obed, 22 Obed (8) the father of Jesse, and Jesse (9) the
father of David (10).
The importance of the numbers here is that Pharez (1) was an
illegitimate child. No son of his until
the tenth generation could be a leader or member of the congregation of
Israel. David (10) was the tenth in line
and finally qualified to be a part of the congregation of Israel. What a blessing to the nation that God’s plan
was flowing along perfectly and the next king, David, would be the beginning of
a line that would NEVER end.
According to tradition, the book of Ruth was written by
Samuel. Many scholars say this cannot be
true. Personally, I prefer to go with
tradition rather than scholars. Scholars
read someone’s writing and say, “It just doesn’t sound like them,” forgetting
that a writer is someone who is ‘moved’ to write. It is more emotional than intellectual. Because of this a true writer will often
change writing styles to fit his subject, audience and purpose. The Prophet Isaiah is said by ‘scholars’ to be
written by at least three or four authors.
The problem with this is that Jesus himself has said that all of Isaiah
was written by Isaiah.
Samuel wanted the nation of Israel to know why David ought
to be king and why even though everyone knew the family was under the curse of
illegitimacy that curse was lifted by the time David came. We often develop attitudes for or against
something because of history, beliefs, what we’ve heard or been taught, or just
because of a feeling. David was not
widely received as king for quite some time.
Without the book of Ruth to smooth the way it may never have taken
place. Samuel knew he was to be
king. Samuel anointed Saul with a small
vial of oil (1 Samuel 10:1) but David with a horn of oil (1 Samuel 16:1). This alone showed that Samuel knew David
would have the greater anointing, the horn denotes strength.
Ruth provided a bridge through her servanthood and
grace.
Are you a bridge in anyone’s life?
