Ruth 4
RUTH 4
Some of the themes we’ve seen woven through the story of Ruth so far:
The sovereignty of God in our suffering (particularly in the example of Naomi as God worked behind the scenes for her good even when she thought He was against her).
The love of God toward the outcast (as depicted by Boaz’ love for Ruth).
The providence of God in our salvation (as shown in the way God orchestrates Naomi and Ruth’s redemption through levirate marriage).
The grace of God in our redemption (as we see Boaz extend unmerited favor towards Ruth as the kinsman redeemer).
All of these themes culminate in the marriage of Boaz and Ruth in this final chapter.
Boaz, who is in a position of great power chooses to redeem helpless, destitute Ruth and do for her what she could never do for herself.
This is such a profound picture of the gospel.
As we read through this chapter together, I hope you see yourself in Ruth. I hope the Lord reminds you of the way He has lovingly rescued you from spiritual destitution… spiritual poverty. I hope that you walk away this morning being in awe of the sovereignty, love and grace of God in Christ Jesus who is our kinsman redeemer.
Last chapter left us in suspension: Ruth made a move to let Boaz know she was available to be redeemed, and Boaz made it clear that he intended to redeem her. But there was a problem: Boaz wasn’t first in line to redeem Ruth. There was another man from the clan of Ruth’s late husband who was a closer relative, and therefore had first dibs on being the kinsman redeemer for the family.
So Boaz promises Ruth that he will act fast and figure out if the other man intended to be a redeemer or not. And he promises her (3:13), “if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.”
Ruth 4:1–22 (ESV):
1 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there.
Back in those days, the city gate was used as a sort of public, open air courtroom. It’s where wise men of high esteem would go and sit and would help resolve various judicial matters.
Business transactions would be handled there.
Public announcements would be handled there.
Even rally cries:
2 Chronicles 32:6–8 (NIV): 6 He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: 7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.
Last week we noted that Boaz, as an honorable man, is going to go about this matter in an honorable way. He’s not going to be sneaky about it, nor is he going to try to take Ruth as his wife in an underhanded way. He’s going to do things above board, and trust that the Lord’s will will be done. Therefore, he goes to the city gate to sort this out.
And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by.
Boaz went there expecting that this man would soon walk by, and by God’s providence, there he was. This was the moment Boaz was waiting for.
So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.
2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.
Boaz is setting the stage for an official meeting. He wants whatever happens to be witnessed and affirmed by the elders.
I’d imagine his heart was pounding… think of what was at stake: if this other man decided to step into his rightful role as kinsman redeemer, Ruth would be forced to marry him instead of Boaz!
Yet, as we noted in the last chapter, Boaz is a man who trusts the Lord for outcomes; He’s not going to force the matter.
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.”
I wonder if Boaz’ heart sank at that moment.
Was it decided then? Was Ruth going to this other man?
You may remember from previous weeks that the responsibility of the kinsman redeemer extended beyond taking care of the people of the family; it also included taking care of (or redeeming) the property of the family.
So Boaz begins by talking about the property end of the deal, which this other man readily agrees to redeem.
But then he brings up the other end of the deal…
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.”
It’s one thing to redeem property; it’s another thing to take an entire family tree under your care. So Boaz strategically waits to drop this on the man, realizing that this is going to change the situation.
6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself,
“I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
He’s concerned that taking Ruth as his wife in order to continue her family line would ‘impair his inheritance’.
This man chooses his money and assets over his duty to redeem another person’s life.
If Boaz is a type of Christ, this man is sort of the opposite. He fails where Boaz will succeed. What he does is dishonorable. And for that reason, as you may have noticed, he is not named in scripture.
The author of Ruth literally calls him ‘mister so-and-so’.
Boaz would have known his name, and used his name; but we aren’t told what his name was.
What a sad legacy.
Do you want your legacy to count for something? Invest in other people’s lives… value other people more than you value your personal accomplishments or your personal wealth.
To press the comparison further, we might even say that this man was focused on earthly things, while Boaz was focused on heavenly things.
In Colossians 3 we are told to set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth because as Christians, we ‘have died and our life is now hidden with Christ in God’. In other words, because our identity has changed as a result of our redemption, our mindset must follow.
Then it gives a long list of things that fall into the ‘earthly’ category… one of which is “covetousness which is idolatry.”
This man’s rejection of Ruth may have seemed subtle in the moment, but his comment about protecting his inheritance betrays where his heart was truly at. His wealth and inheritance was his first priority. It was ruling his heart.
Later in Colossians 3, the earthly things are contrasted with heavenly things… the things we should set our minds on… “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience”.
What do you notice about that list? It’s describing what we’ve seen of Boaz so far. He has demonstrated all of those qualities.
So in this way, Boaz becomes for us a template of Christian conduct and thought life, while this other man becomes a template of worldliness.
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.
Deuteronomy 25:5–10 (ESV): 5 “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.’
8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 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.”
What the other man didn’t dare do, Baoz does joyfully! He is excited to bear the ‘burden’ of redeeming Ruth.
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.
Rachel and Leah, if you remember, were the wives of the patriarch Jacob who in a sense ended up being the mothers of the nation of Israel through their descendants.
This declaration turned out to be more than good tidings… it was prophetic. Because through Ruth the line of David would come and perpetuate the nation.
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.”
Why Perez?
Perez became the forefather of the Bethlehemites… and this story takes place in Bethlehem.
Perez was born out of a broken and complicated relationship (which you can read about in Genesis 38), and became an example of God using a bad situation to bring about good.
In a similar way, the people around Boaz and Ruth saw that God could turn Ruth’s situation around for good and multiply her greatly.
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.
Take notice…
Who gives conception? The Lord.
What about when a child comes into existence through less-than-honorable means? It is STILL from the Lord.
What about when conception is not possible? Is that held in the Lord’s hands as well? Yes.
Conception is always from the Lord. He is the giver of life. His plans are good. He redeems even evil for good.
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 (the son) 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.
Notice, it says ‘a son has been born to Naomi’. Yes, it was Ruth’s child. But remember, this is not just Ruth’s redemption story; it’s Naomi’s redemption story.
This is a story that began in chapter 1 with Naomi as a destitute woman fleeing a famine along with her husband and two boys.
Her husband dies, leaving her a single mom of two boys in a foreign and unfamiliar place, far from home and with no support system.
Her boys grew up, married, and then they too died.
Not only was Naomi a widow, but also a mother of not one but two deceased boys.
The tragedy Naomi had experienced was so severe that she insisted on changing her name to Mara which means bitter, and she stated emphatically that God’s hand was against her.
Now, to see her story go full circle is almost unbelievable.
With her daughter-in-law Ruth married to Boaz, not only will Naomi not have to worry about having her needs met ever again, she will also have totally restored dignity and be a respected woman part of a respected family.
In a moment, her entire life has changed.
If the story ended there, it would be a beautiful redemption story, and an amazing reminder of the providence of God at work in a person’s life.
But this is not just Naomi’s redemption story.
And actually, it’s not just Ruth’s redemption story either.
In fact, it’s not just Israel’s redemption story.
It’s also YOUR redemption story… and the story of all who are in Christ.
Because the story doesn’t end there.
He (Obed) was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
And just to make sure we don’t miss the implication, we are given a brief genealogy…
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.
Why does the account of Naomi and Ruth end emphatically with David?
The hint is in the very first line of the book. Ruth chapter 1 verse 1, tells us that all this took place “in the days when the judges ruled”.
Four weeks ago, when we began our journey through Ruth, we talked about how the days when the judges ruled was overall a very dark season in Israel’s history. It was a time of spiritual, social and political unrest.
That’s largely because they had NO KING.
In fact, If you were to turn just a page back from the book of Ruth in your Bible to the very last sentence in the book of Judges, you’d find this statement:
Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
And that pretty much sums it up; it was a season of anarchy and sin and defeat.
But the phrase there was no king in Israel was not just an observation; it was also a cry for help. Israel was desperate for a king. Desperate for someone to restore peace. Desperate for true and lasting deliverance.
In Israel’s history, nobody embodied that kingly deliverer more than David.
David was not a perfect king… but he was a good king. He was “a man after God’s own heart”. He was the quintessential deliverer. And God brought him forth from perhaps the least likely suspect: a young foreign widow who began her life far from God but was radically redeemed.
And yet, even David was only a foreshadow of a greater King. A greater Deliverer. Jesus Christ…
In the genealogy of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew, we find an explicit lineage between Ruth and David and Jesus.
Matthew 1:1–17 (ESV):
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Have you reckoned with the reality that all of redemptive history points to Jesus?
Have you realized that Jesus is the greater Adam… where Adam disobeyed the Father’s will, Jesus obeyed it perfectly.
That He’s the greater Noah… the One who protects us from the flood of God’s wrath because of sin, not by putting us in a boat, but by putting us in Himself spiritually.
He’s the greater Abraham; the One who fulfills the promise made to Abraham that through his descendants all the nations would be blessed. Jesus offers salvation to people of all nation.
He’s the greater Isaac- As Isaac carried the wood and was laid on the altar upon Mount Moriah, so Jesus carried the cross and offered Himself generations later, upon Mount Moriah.
He’s the greater Joseph- As Joseph was betrayed, suffered and was raised up to save His brothers, so too was Jesus but on a cosmic scale.
He’s the greater Moses- the One who delivers God’s people not just from physical slavery but from spiritual slavery to sin.
He’s the greater Joshua who leads God’s people not just into the physical promised land, but into the eternal promised land… eternal rest in Him.
On and on we could go.
And I hope that you’ve seen in Ruth that Jesus is the greater Boaz. Our Kinsman Redeemer.
Our Kinsman because He left His eternal glory with the Father to be born in human flesh. Fully man.
Our Redeemer because He is fully God, and lived a perfect life of obedience, thereby qualifying Him to be our perfect atoning sacrifice.
Because of the love of our Kinsman Redeemer, those of us who were far off from God and enslaved to our sinful desires have been brought near by the blood of Christ. He has covered us with His loving protection. He has redeemed our souls from death. He has given us an eternal inheritance beyond all comprehension. Most of all, He’s given us Himself.
And all of this is, as Ephesians 1 puts it, “to the praise of His glorious grace”. See, the story of our redemption is actually not just about us. It’s primarily about the glory of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Just as in the story of Ruth and Boaz, we are left in awe of Boaz’ grace in saving Ruth, so in our own salvation we are left in awe of Christ.
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Discussion Questions:
Based on our study through Ruth, what are some ways we can relate to Ruth in terms of our spiritual state before God?
What are some similarities between Jesus and Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer?
Ruth was clearly unable to bring about her own redemption; she was totally at the mercy of Boaz. Read Ephesians 2:1-10 and discuss what role we play in our own redemption. List the things God has done for us according to Ephesians 2:1-10 and discuss.
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
According to Ephesians 2, what was our condition before Christ saved us?
According to Ephesians 2, what did God do to rescue us? Make sure your answers are actually from the passage, and not just from memory.
For those who have been saved, what is God’s purpose for us? (See Eph. 2:10)