Redeemed: Act III Filled! Ruth 4 Dan Olinger Sunday Morning, April 9, 2017 Introduction Ruth 4 In our time in the book of Ruth, we ve seen death deprive Naomi of her husband and her two sons. She went out from her home in Bethlehem, seeking food with her family, and God has brought her back empty. We ve seen her Moabite daughter-in-law happen across the field of Boaz, a wealthy and generous relative who is in a position to help. And we ve been delighted to see that he responds to Ruth s plea for help with a promise to rescue her. He will see whether the closest relative will help her, and if not, then Boaz himself will step in. So how will this entertaining story turn out? And is there more to it than our entertainment? Does it tell us anything about our God and His plans for us? [Theme: God fills the empty.] I. Becoming the Redeemer (4:1-12) A. Clearing the Way (1-6) 1. The offer (1-4) 1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, Turn aside, friend [NJPS Mr. So-and-so]; sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he [Boaz] took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit down here. So they sat down. 3 Then he said to the redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you. And he said, I will redeem it. The town gate [1] was the center for social and economic life in ancient Israel. This was where news was first heard, where local and traveling merchants sold their wares in the cool shade of the town walls, where soldiers were stationed, and where legal disputes were handled (WBH). The word hinnēh, Behold, which begins the second sentence of v. 1, serves two functions: expressing Boaz s surprise at his appearance and turning the reader s attention to a new character in the drama (NAC). The words my friend became a catch phrase in Israel. Rabbinic writings used the designation for an unknown John Doe (BKC). o The rendering Mr. So-and-so, found in the NJPS, certainly captures the sense better than the NIV s my friend, but our Hey you also works in the present context (NAC). Later Judaism considered ten men [2] as the quorum required for a synagogue (WBC). It was the concern of the community that a family be preserved from extinction. For this reason the problems of Naomi and Ruth [3] were matters of community interest (WBC). Private ownership of land was a jealously guarded privilege in ancient Israel, a right which was proudly handed down within the family. Women were normally excluded from inheritance rights, however, and in no known circumstances were women allowed to inherit their husband s estates. Naomi may have received income from the sale of Elimelech s estate, but
she probably was not allowed to retain title to the land. The nearest surviving male member of the family would inherit the first option of purchase (Num. 27:7 11) (TBC). o The kinsman-redeemer would purchase the land, thus restoring it to the family and providing a little capital for Naomi (ECB). 2. The complication (5-6) 5 Then Boaz said, The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. 6 Then the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Boaz argued that the nearest kinsman had a moral obligation to keep Elimelech s line alive. This would involve marrying Ruth and raising a family under his name. In such a case title to the land would eventually revert to Ruth s children. Under such circumstances, the kinsman hastily renounced his rights as next of kin (TBC). o Redeeming the land by itself would have been a good investment because the land would be inherited by the redeemer s own children. But redeeming Ruth with the land would result in its being left to Ruth s offspring (for the line of Elimelech). Any resources spent on redeeming the land and raising the offspring would damage his own children s inheritance since it would benefit the line of Elimelech (FSB). The prospective gô ēl would mar his own inheritance by spending money on land that would belong not to him but to a son of Ruth (WBC). o The kinsman would then lose what he had bought and would have another family to keep, hence his reply, I cannot do it. The cost was too high. The generosity of Boaz in accepting these financial losses becomes the more apparent (NBC). B. Sealing the Deal (7-12) 1. The signature (7-8) 7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself, he [the redeemer] drew off his sandal. The verse contains an editor s note which explains an early custom which was no longer practiced and thus was unfamiliar. The inclusion of this and other early practices attests to the antiquity of the story (BRC). Taking off the sandal and passing it had the same force in Israel in those days as signing a contract has in ours (TC). The actions described here differ slightly from those described in Deut 25:8 10, where the widow removes the sandal. Here the exchange of the sandal merely indicates the man s decision to pass his right of redemption to Boaz. In Deuteronomy 25, the person who refuses his duty as redeemer is disgraced, but that sentiment is absent here (FSB). Footwear often symbolized ownership in Bible times. Note Psalm 60:8 (KJV), where the Lord cast his shoe over Edom, claiming his ownership of that land. Note also God s directive to Abraham, Moses, and Joshua to claim ownership of Canaan by walking on it (Gen. 13:17; Deut. 11:24; Josh. 1:3) (WBH).
o The passing of the sandal symbolized Boaz s right to walk on the land as his property (cf. Deut. 1:36; 11:24; Josh. 1:3; 14:9) (BKC). 2. The witnesses (9-10) 9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day. While written records were kept in ancient times, there was also great dependence on eyewitnesses, who would be able to attest to any agreement during the participant s lifetime. Thus we see Boaz approaching the other kinsman at the gate, holding his discussion with him in the open, and calling on bystanders to witness the other s repudiation of his right to serve as Ruth s kinsman-redeemer (BRC). o Apparently the ceremony had attracted many of the townspeople of Bethlehem. They would be most happy to see the plight of the two impoverished women alleviated by the legal intervention of the wealthy Boaz (OTSS). Boaz s giving of money to Naomi to acquire Ruth was not the purchase of a slave but the payment of a bride price. Such a payment was a protection for the bride; the bride s family held the money, which would be given to her in the event of her being divorced or widowed (ASB). Why was Boaz so persistent in showing covenant loyalty to this Moabite woman? As Danny noted here some years ago, he might have had a family reason. According to Matthew 1:5, Boaz s mother was Rahab, the Canaanite harlot from Jericho. However, Rahab lived in Joshua s time, about 250 300 years earlier. Probably, then, Rahab was Boaz s mother in the sense that she was his ancestress (cf. our father Abraham, Rom. 4:12, which means our ancestor Abraham ) (BKC). 3. The blessing (11-12) 11 Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, 12 and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the LORD will give you by this young woman. The elders call down blessings upon him and his bride, and pray that the gracious Ruth will be a mother in Israel such as Rachel and Leah were. This is indeed an optimistic expectation, since these two women as wives of Jacob built up the whole house of Israel, with the assistance of their maids Bilhah and Zilpah (ECB). The reference to Judah and Tamar (Ruth 4:12) recalled a situation in which the levirate responsibility was not honored (Gen. 38) (TCBC). o There was a special local interest. Perez, who was born to Tamar as a result of her strategem, was an ancestor of Boaz (18), and one of only three ancestors of the whole tribe of Judah. Probably most of the local population had descended from him (NBC). o Tamar achieved her ends through trickery, but Ruth received her son through righteous obedience. Judah tried to avoid his responsibility to perpetuate his own son s family line. Ruth and Boaz, the descendant of Judah, went beyond the letter of the levirate law and
acted righteously before the Lord. Ironically, the righteousness of a Moabitess, a foreigner to Israel s covenant, brought salvation to Judah s family (HCBC). o Considering the rabbinic hermeneutical principle of from greater to lesser, the reader cannot help but think that if Yahweh had given immoral Judah a double blessing in the birth of twins and if Judah flourished through Perez, how much brighter are the prospects for Boaz and Ruth (NAC). II. Being the Redeemer (4:13-22) This conclusion of the narrative contrasts beautifully with its introduction (1:1 5). Deep sorrow turned to radiant joy; emptiness gave way to fullness (BKC). A. A son for Ruth (13) 13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. The wedding ceremony must have been especially joyful for the entire town of Bethlehem, including the unnamed relative who had barely extricated himself from an extremely awkward situation (ECB). This is the narrator s modest way of identifying a miracle; she who had been unable to bear a child for Mahlon has conceived for Boaz (NAC). B. A redeemer for Naomi (14-17) 14 Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him. 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, A son has been born to Naomi. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. In 1:19 21, Naomi complained that Yahweh dealt bitterly with her. Here, the women point out that Yahweh has been with her the whole time and has now provided a redeemer. The redeemer referenced in this verse is likely the son who would continue the lineage of Naomi and her late husband, not Boaz (FSB). o The women look upon the child as Naomi s gōʾēl (NAC). Sons were more valuable because the inheritance and family name was passed through the male heir. The number seven is symbolic of completeness (FSB). In Lev 19:34 Moses instructs the Israelites to love the stranger as they love themselves. Ironically, it is this stranger from Moab who shows the Israelites what this means (NAC). C. A king for Israel and a Redeemer for all who will come (18-22) 18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, 19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. It is at the last word of the book that we become aware of the importance of this enjoyable little story. o The seemingly ordinary events in the Book of Ruth (e.g., travels, marriages, deaths, harvesting, eating, sleeping, purchasing land) revealed the guiding activity of the sovereign God (BKC). o The narrator, unlike Boaz, knows that Boaz s kindness will issue in the birth of David, the great king. But the narrator could not know what implications the piety of these characters would
have on generations of his own people that would come after him. If only he could have known that in the glorious providence of God the ḥesed of Boaz, Ruth, and Naomi would have laid the groundwork for the history of salvation that extends far beyond his own time and place. For as the genealogy of Matthew 1 indicates, one greater than David comes from the loins of Boaz. In the dark days of the judges the foundation is laid for the line that would produce the Savior, the Messiah, the Redeemer of a lost and destitute humanity (NAC). o Hosanna! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the LORD! Conclusion Appleman s study outside the church offices is a small representation of the final work. Ruth is a small study of God s work for us. The Book of Ruth shows God as concerned not only for the welfare of one family Naomi and Ruth but for the welfare of all God s people who would be blessed by David and by David s Son, Jesus Christ. The participation of Ruth, the Moabitess, in the fufillment of God s promises indicates that God s salvation is for people of all nationalities (HCBC). o Most of us are Gentiles. There is a place in God s plan for us, too. In Abram s seed, all nations of the earth are blessed indeed. o And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Saviour s blood? Died he for me, who caused his pain? For me, who him, to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me. Benediction Isaiah 25:9 It will be said on that day, Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.