Ruth 6 210919
The story of Ruth begins as a growing tragedy and moves
forward to an amazing triumph.
A quick review:
A famine drove the family of Naomi and Elimelech to leave
their home town of Bethlehem and go to Moab. This must have been a hard
decision because Moab had been an enemy of Israel for 100’s of years.
After arriving in Moab their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion,
took Moabite wives. During their residency of about 10 years the three men died
leaving Naomi and her two daughters-in-law without husbands or children. Naomi
heard that the famine had ended in Israel. As she was setting out she urged her
two daughters-in-law to stay in Moab. There they could remarry with Moabite
men. One of them, Orpah, decided to stay where she had grown up. Ruth choose to
go with Naomi. Ruth’s commitment to Naomi is one of the most moving speeches I
know of. It is found in Ruth 1:16-17. But
Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For
where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be
my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die,
and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything
but death parts me from you.” This settled the matter for Ruth and Naomi
accepted it without comment.
The two of them came to Bethlehem where the people had not
seen Naomi for 10+ years. They were the talk of the town, And the women said, “Is this Naomi?” to which she replied, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for
the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away
full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the Lord
has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” “Naomi”
means “Pleasant” while “Mara” means “Bitter”. She seems to have lost her faith
in Yahweh, the Great “I AM”! She had witnessed her husband who trusted God,
went to Moab and died there leaving her in a serious mess. Naomi’s depth of
faith is very common. Many people have found themselves in a negative situation
and, though they had prayed and planned, they had everything fall around them.
She said, “the almighty has brought
calamity upon me.”
Isn’t it interesting how God is at fault when our plans don’t
work out? She should have looked at her situation in faith. True, her husband
and two sons had died. But she was left with the most loving and generous
daughter-in-law possible. The testimony of the women the town was Ruth was
better than seven sons. Also there was at least one relative of her dead
husband who could serve as a redeemer. That fact could not have escaped Naomi’s
awareness. She, and Ruth, arrived at the beginning of barley harvest allowing a
means of support while they got settled in. Naomi could not see the positives
in her situation. Perhaps she was not content that, though the sons were
married, she was not a grandmother. Of course, God gives children and
grandchildren at the right time to his people. Ruth was much more available
than she would have been if she had children. God had a plan for Ruth’s
offspring. And it wasn’t being the wife of a Moabite. No disrespect intended. I
accept her first husband as an upright individual. He had a handicap that could
not be overcome. He was not Boaz!
We are not told the name of the other possible redeemer. His
name really did not matter. God set the plan in action and man cannot stop him!
For whatever reason what’s his name could not see a path
that would allow him to be the redeemer. Probably the property was all he was
interested in. The ten man jury heard his affirmation and saw the exchange of a
sandal.
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.” (Ruth
4:9-10)
Boaz fulfilled an important role in the history of the land that
was Elimelech’s. The continuation of the family name was as important as the
recovery of the land.
There was rejoicing in Bethlehem that day. The broken family
relationship would be restored for the land and the line of family inheritance
would be assured.
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.” (Ruth 4:11-12)
Ruth had been kept from conception because God had plans for
her. She had become a follower of Yahweh, the God of Israel. Now she would take
her place in the genetic line that would bring an anointed messiah into the
world to be the kinsman redeemer of all who will put their faith in him.
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. 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. (Ruth 4:13-17).
A shortened genealogy was included to show future
generations what this story is really all about.
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. (Ruth
4:18-22). This record made clear the qualifications of a kinsman redeemer had
been fulfilled. The settlement that day was a very agreeable experience. Let’s
look to the Old Testament for the rule they would follow.
It is recorded in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. “If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the
wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her
husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her as his wife and perform the
duty of a husband’s brother to her. 6 And the first son whom
she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not
be blotted out of Israel. 7 And if the man does not wish to
take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the
elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name
in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ 8 Then
the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him, and if he persists,
saying, ‘I do not wish to take her,’ 9 then his brother’s wife
shall go up to him in the presence of the elders and pull his sandal off his
foot and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done
to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ 10 And
the name of his house shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his
sandal pulled off.”
The law of Moses assumed a hostile setting where there was
no willing kinsman redeemer. The name of the closer redeemer was never revealed
by the writer. We do not know his name or his relationship. I suspect he was a
first-cousin and Boaz was at least one step removed. Boaz immediately pressed
his claim and made clear his intention regarding the property of Elimelech and
his direct heirs. The most important part of the transaction was this -- along
with the property he would take the widow. The first boy baby would be recorded
as the son of Mahlon and would then inherit the property that would have been
held in trust for him.
You might ask, “What does this mean to me?” it is an
interesting story. If you are a romantic you might see it as a well written
love story. But it happened a long time ago. It could be a case study in property
ownership many years later. For whatever reason this story is important to us.
The story of Ruth teaches us that God does not discriminate against women or
against other races. Let’s look at the qualifications of a kinsman redeemer and
apply them to Jesus. Thus showing that Jesus became our kinsman redeemer.
Old Testament qualifications and Jesus’ meeting them for us.
First, it is necessary that the one who would serve as a
redeemer have a blood relationship. What does the New Testament tell us about
Jesus?
Galatians 4:3- 5; In
the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary
principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had
come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to
redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And, Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he had
to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation
for the sins of the people.
The redeemer must have the resources. At least in the
recovery of the land. 1 Peter 1:17--19 , And
if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s
deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing
that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers,
not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of
Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
The redeemer had to be willing to redeem the property and
marry the widow. John 10:15-18 just as
the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the
sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I
must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one
flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No
one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to
lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have
received from my Father.”
John 3:16 “For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life.”
Boaz personifies Jesus who, “had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might
become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make
propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17), Jesus redeemed
those who were slaves to sin. “What
then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do
you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you
are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of
obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to
God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart
to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and,
having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans
6:15–18) Jesus redeemed those who had
lost all earthly privilege in the Fall in the Garden of Eden and had been
alienated from God by sin. All this is
from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry
of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling
the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and
entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you
on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he
made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:18–21).
Boaz stands in the direct line of Christ. This turn of
events marks the point where Naomi’s human emptiness (Ruth 1:21) begins to be
refilled by the Lord. Her night of earthly doubt has been broken by the dawning
of new hope.
Have you recognized your need for a redeemer? One who can
buy you back from the fields of this age and allow you to work alongside those
who are servants of the King of the Universe? See how a citizen of a foreign
nation can become a member of the people of God? Have you trusted Jesus as your
Lord?
All
scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2016.
Wheaton: Standard Bible Society..
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