Ruth The Kinsman Redeemer Chapter 2:19-23 Much of the story of Pilgrim s Progress is the story of God s redemption of man. Consider the words of Great Heart to Christian. in order to pardon by deed, there must something be paid to God as a price, as well as something prepared to cover us withal. Sin has delivered us up to the just curse of a righteous law; now from this curse we must be justified by way of redemption, a price being paid for the harms we have done; and this is by the blood of your Lord, who came and stood in your place and stead, and died your death for your transgressions. Thus has he ransomed you from your transgressions by blood, and covered your polluted and deformed souls with righteousness, (Romans 8:34); for the sake of which, God passeth by you, and will not hurt you when he comes to judge the world. (Galatians 3:13.) Redemption, while a basic hope of the human race, yet often is rejected by the rebellious human heart. It is the promise of redemption that is hinted at in Ruth with the picture of the Kinsman Redeemer. But first When we last left Ruth, she had arrived back at her home. She brought to Naomi enough barley to last several weeks. Additionally, she had a doggy bag from lunch. God had been working in the heart of Boaz, although Ruth didn t realize it yet. And as for Naomi well that s where we pick up this morning. Ruth is about to find out just why it is so important that she has connected up with Boaz. But there is something even more important going on than either woman realizes. And there is even more at stake than the future birth of King David. In this section of scripture God provides a picture of one of the most important truths of all scripture and that is the role of the Kinsman-Redeemer. It is that picture and its fulfillment which will be the focus of this lesson. But first, let s go to the text. I HERE S THE NEWS Verses 19-20 II HERE S GOD WORKING Verses 21-23 III THE LAW OF THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER IV CHRIST, OUR KINSMAN-REDEEMER Verses 19-20: When Ruth arrives with the fruits of her day s work, Naomi can t help but be amazed. She is very aware that they have been blessed by the generosity of the owner of the field. She calls God s blessing on the unnamed benefactor. She also sees this as a result of his reaction to Ruth.
But Ruth s news is even more surprising. The owner of the field is Boaz. And, Boaz is a relative, a kinsman-redeemer. Naomi calls down a second blessing from the Lord on Boaz. She also acknowledges that it is God who has not forgotten them and her dead family. Where previously she had seen God as the One who had brought nothing but judgment, now she credits Him with blessing them through Boaz. Naomi too is being impacted by God s works. And, she clearly recognizes this. Verses 21-23: The last few verses complete this section and serve as a bridge to the next. Ruth describes Boaz s concern for her and instructions to stay with his women. Naomi confirms the wisdom of his words and encourages Ruth to continue going to his fields where she will be safe and productive. And Ruth continues in the fields of Boaz throughout the harvesting of both barley and wheat. And silently behind the scenes God continues to work. The Law of the Kinsman-Redeemer: It is interesting to note what Jewish commentary says of Naomi s comments about Boaz being their kinsman-redeemer. This man is closely related to us, he is one of our redeeming kinsman. The redeemer, is the next of kin who is obligated to redeem the property which his impoverished relative was compelled to sell (see Leviticus 25:25) I no longer question this man s motives he is our close relative and he is fulfilling the verse do not hide yourself from your own flesh [Isaiah 58:7] (Ibn Yachya). The Iggeres Shmuel quotes a homiletic interpretation: from him will eventually descend our Redeemer, a reference to the Messiah. 1 Once again we see just how close the Jewish scholar can get, and still totally miss the truth. Here we see the recognition that the Messiah would be a descendent of Boaz but when He came they didn t recognize Him. Praise the Lord one day the Jewish people will recognize the Savior whom they did not accept before. They will turn to Messiah as a nation and be restored to their national relationship, with God at the center of His program. But meanwhile, back to an explanation of the Law of the Kinsman-Redeemer. First let s summarize the relevant passages. There are three factors involved with the work of the redeemer. I am quoting here from both McGee and MacArthur. The three factors are: 1. A close relative could redeem a family member sold into slavery, 2 If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien s clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself (Leviticus 25:47-49). 1 Zlotowitz, Rabbi Meir, Translator and compiler, The Book of Ruth, Mesorah Publications, Ltd., Brooklyn, NY, 1994, p. 104. 2 MacArthur, John, Ruth & Esther, Word Publishing, Nashville, TN, 2000, p.19. ) 32 (
Now a man may have been in very unfortunate circumstances. He not only lost his property, but perhaps due to drought and famine in the land, his children are hungry and he sells himself into slavery in order to feed his family. But suppose he has a rich relative and one day he sees that rich uncle coming down the road, taking his checkbook out of his pocket. He says, Look, I don t want my nephew to be in slavery, and he pays off the price of this man s slavery. He has redeemed him, you see, and the man can go free. 3 2. Land that needed to be sold under economic hardship, 4 The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property. But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property (Leviticus 25:23-28). Now let s see that in operation. When these people came into the land God gave them the Promised Land; it was theirs. But they occupied it only as they were faithful to God. God put them in the land according to tribes. A certain tribe had a certain section of the land. And each family within each tribe had a particular plot of land. He could never leave it. But suppose he becomes poor. Perhaps he s had two or three years of crop failure. And a man has to get rid of his land. Now he has a rich neighbor who sees the opportunity to take a mortgage. Now suppose he has a rich relative, a cousin for example, and that rich cousin is moved toward him, and wants to help him. Well, that rich cousin can come right in and pay the mortgage off, and restore it to the owner. 5 3. And the family name by virtue of a levirate marriage. 6 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel. However, if a man does not want to marry his brother s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, My husband s brother refuses to carry on his brother s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me. Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, I do not want to marry her, his brother s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother s family line. That man s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). 3 McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, Vol. 2, Joshua-Psalms, Thomas Nelson Inc., Nashville, TN 1982, p. 104 4 MacArthur, p.19. 5 McGee, p. 104 6 MacArthur, p.19. ) 33 (
To the provision of the kinsman-redeemer she (Naomi) links a further levitical provision of what is called levirate marriage (from the Latin word Levir, meaning brother-in-law). This refers to the provision in Jewish law for a man to marry the widow of his deceased brother if no heir has been born. The widow was not to remarry outside the family, but the brother of the deceased husband was to raise up an heir for his dead brother so that his name might be perpetuated and his family inheritance continue to be possessed. 7 Does this sound familiar. Jesus got into a discussion with the Sadducees of this aspect of the Law when they were trying to make him look bad. Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. Teacher, they said, Moses wrote for us that if a man s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her? Jesus replied, Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. Now about the dead rising have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken! (Mark 12:18-27). There are some other interesting aspects to the responsibilities of a kinsman. For example: When one of the family has been murdered it is important that the family honour be upheld, and the nearest relation is bound to avenge the deceased. 8 We saw the implications of blood vengeance when we discussed the establishment of the cities of refuge back in our examination of Joshua. Anyway, this pretty much covers the Old Testament aspects of this Law. Now let s move on to the implications related to the work of Christ on the cross. Christ our Kinsman-Redeemer: The following is adapted from Dr. McGee s In A Barley Field. The primary focus of the account in Ruth is to create the background for the line of David and of Christ. But the story of redemption is the story of scripture as a whole and this is the only illustration of the practical working out of this role of redeemer. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God s grace (Ephesians 1:7). It is important in order to get a clear understanding of redemption that we relate and restrict it to the Hebrew, goel, found here in Ruth. 7 Jackman, David, The Communicator s Commentary, Vol. 7, Judges, Ruth, Word Books, Dallas, TX, 1997, p. 343. 8 Cundall, Arthur E. and Leon Morris, Judges & Ruth, Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1968, p. 283. ) 34 (
When so restricted, it is as Wilkes declares There is no theme so solemn and yet so blessed as that of redemption. Redemption means to purchase by paying a price. In the case of the sinner, the price is the blood of Christ. Redemption has been defined as: The act of Deity in which Jesus Christ pays the whole demand of the law against the sinner, redeeming him from the curse and bondage of the law: The Father receives him as son and heir, and the Holy Spirit delivers him from the bondage to indwelling sin. Redemption is postulated on the fact of sin. If sin does not exist, then redemption is a useless work and a meaningless word. The entire plan of redemption rests upon the reality of sin. Therefore the reality of sin must be established as actually existing in the life of the race. It must be demonstrated that sin is something over which man has no power. The redeemer is made necessary because man is helpless in the presence of sin. 9 It is because of these truths we cannot present the gospel without dealing with the reality of sin. The gospel is good news. And what is that news? there is redemption from sin. The ideal of finding salvation separate from the recognition of one s sinfulness eliminates the necessary element of redemption. Dr. McGee summarizes the issue of redemption this way: It is not until we come to the New Testament that we find the doctrine of redemption fully developed. Here it is restricted to the deliverance purchased by the Redeemer on behalf of the sinner in the payment of the penalty of sin. The blood of Christ was the medium of exchange used to make this tremendous transaction. Redemption in the New Testament is a progressive work based upon the redemptive act of the shedding of Christ s blood. The blood is the basis for the redemptive work of God. Redemption is, first of all, a deliverance from the penalty of sin. this was accomplished by Christ shedding his blood on the cross. In the next place, redemption is a deliverance form the power of sin. This is accomplished by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Finally, redemption is a deliverance from the presence of sin. This will be accomplished by the parousia of Christ. Paul made this threefold division of the redemption made by Christ: 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us (2 Corinthians 1:10). As we understand these truths, our responses are to be as follows: first, gratitude for just how much Christ s redemption has accomplished for and in us, and second, what we have to offer others: the gospel. Let s conclude with Paul s remarks on redemption from Romans 6. What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 9 McGee, J. Vernon, In A Barley Field, Regal Books, Glendale, Ca, 1968, p. 167-168. 10 Ibid., p. 175-176 ) 35 (
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Don t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to everincreasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ) 36 (
Ruth The Kinsman Redeemer Chapter 2:19-23 I HERE S THE NEWS Verses 19-20 II HERE S GOD WORKING Verses 21-23 III THE LAW OF THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER IV CHRIST, OUR KINSMAN-REDEEMER A. Surprise: B. God s Working-: C. The Law of the Kinsmen-Redeemer: 1. (Leviticus 25:47-49) 2. (Leviticus 25:23-28)
3. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10; Mark 12:18-27) D. Christ s Redemption: (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 1:10; Romans 6) Personal Application: How does a clear understanding of Redemption impact the understanding of our faith? How does it impact the dissemination of that faith? Prayer for the Week: Lord, praise Your Name for the price You were willing to pay so that I might be redeemed from the price of my sin. Praise Your Name for the shed blood of Your Son the price of my redemption. Praise Your Name. Amen.