Ruth 4

A Redeemer

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Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon RP Church in Southeast, Iowa. We want to thank you for listening today and we pray that you be blessed by both hearing God's word as well as having it applied to your life and your heart. 

Well, please turn over with me to the Book of Ruth. The Book of Ruth is sandwiched between the book of Judges and First Samuel. We'll be looking at Ruth Chapter four. You can find Ruth Chapter four on page 242 of your Pew Bibles. Ruth, Chapter four and this is God's Word; pay attention,

Ruth 4:1–22

4 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, “Come aside, friend, sit down here.” So he came 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. 3 Then he said to the close relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 And I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.’ ”

And he said, “I will redeem it.”

5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.”

6 And the close relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.

8 Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” So he took off his sandal. 9 And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.”

11 And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.”

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, 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 close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel! 15 And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him. 17 Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 Now this is the genealogy of Perez: Perez begot Hezron; 19 Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab; 20 Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon; 21 Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed; 22 Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

 The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ru 4:1–22.

Thus ends the reading of this portion of God's word. Let's pray: “Father, we pray that you would bless us now, Lord. That you would incline our eyes and our ears and our minds to be able to understand what you have for us. That we would indeed have joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.” 

Do some of you guys just ever wonder? Do some of you wonder, “This is this real? Can I believe this stuff? Can I trust somebody's word?” Often, I think in the quiet hours of our nights, in the deep recesses of our hearts, we can ask ourselves, “Do I believe the promises?” 

And when we left Naomi and Ruth in the last chapter, they were hanging by a thread of a promise. Ruth and Naomi only had Boaz’s word. He had promised them, “I'm gonna redeem you.” Do you remember that last week he told them, “There's a closer kinsman redeemer than myself. But if he's not going to redeem you, I'm gonna redeem you.” 

And Ruth went home and she told Naomi about this and Naomi said, “He's gonna bring it about today. Don't worry. We're gonna have redemption.” And that's all they had was his word. Was Boaz righteous? And was he going toe actually bring about redemption? 

That's what we were left with last week. And here this week, the Lord gives us the story of righteous redemption that we are brought to understand that we have the hope of redemption. And it starts off with Boaz in verses one and two when he goes, and it's like: Ruth goes home, she tells Naomi. And its as like it's as soon as the brink of day, Boaz is at the city gate. 

Now, we don't really understand the city gate that much and our culture, right? What did they mean, “the city gate”? We don't live in castles. We don't live in city surrounded by walls. But at this time, there were thick walls around the city of Bethlehem. And there was one way in and one way out. And this afternoon I'll be showing you the pictures of what these gates looked like in Jerusalem. But they had little alcoves. And as we read through the Scriptures again and again, what we find out is the elders meet in those alcoves, and it's like the town court. It's like going down to the courthouse, and you need to get some official paperwork done. This is where you would have both crime being punished, as well as family court. And that's what we find here in the Book of Ruth. This isn't to punish anyone. This is family court. We need to make sure the inheritance is settled correctly. 

And so look with me at verses one and two what Boaz does: “Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there.” Someone sitting down at the gate shows that he's one of the elders of the town. He sits down at the gate, “and behold the close relative,” or we're gonna change that to the “Kinsman Redeemer”. That's a better translation. “And behold, the kinsman redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken, came by.” What a coincidence. Boaz goes to the gate, and all of a sudden: Whoa! Look, there's the guy he's looking for. 

“So Boaz said, ‘Come aside, friend, and sit down here.’ So he came aside and he sat down.” And so we see this picture of the court's convening at the gates of Bethlehem, of the righteous man Boaz, whose of good standing and who is of great wealth in the city, is sitting down at the gates. 

And imagine you're one of the people. Imagine you're one of the people who lives in Bethlehem. You wake up early in the morning. The light is barely shining. It comes through the one window of your house. You can smell the harvest air. There's a cool breeze that's passing through the windows. You make yourself a little bit of bread for the morning. You dip it in some olive oil and then you walk out of your house like everyone else and you start your morning commute. You walk down the streets and you head out the gate to go out to the fields that are out in the surrounding area outside the city. And as you walk outside the city, you come up to the gate and there's something that doesn't happen all the time. The elders, early hours in the morning, are sitting there at the gate. And, come on, we know this isn't how things normally happen when you get jury duty. Do you have to go to court before your work hours? No, no. Nobody goes to court at the very wee hours of the morning. This is weird. All of us know you have to go to court at the middle of the day, and you have to take a whole day off of work. But here the court is convened specifically in the morning and the elders are there. 

And as you walk up to the gate, there on the top, sitting down, you see Boaz and you see this kinsman redeemer. We don't know his name. His name is never mentioned in the story. But there you see these two men sitting down and the other elders, 10 other elders around them, and there's beginning a crowd who's surrounding the gate as well. There’s a block up in the gate and people realize there's something more important than the field's going on and you start seeing your friends around you. What is going on here? 

And then we hear Boaz is words. Once the court is convened, Boaz speaks to the kinsman redeemer, to this close relative, and he tells them, “You're next in line to buy Naomi's field.” 

You've been to land auctions before. You've seen the signs where someone has died and there needs to be a field that is sold off for the inheritance. This is what's going on. Who's gonna buy this field? There's a rank order, depending on who's the closest relative, and this guy has first dibs. Is he going to take it? Boaz tells him the land’s up for sale, are you going to redeem it? And to this close redeemer, it’s a pretty good steel. I mean, think about it. He doesn't have to pay very much for the land. All he's got to do is take care of Naomi. This widow is pretty old by this point, she can't have kids for herself. He's just got to support her the rest of her life. But once she's gone, his kids get that land, their inheritance, they get more. This seems like a pretty good deal. And we're left sitting there and you're saying to yourself, “Hold on, hold on. What do you mean? This guy's going to redeem the land Boaz is supposed to. The entire story has been building up since chapter two that it was supposed to be Boaz who's the hero. What do you mean this guy's going to redeem it?” 

Listen to how that conversation goes in verses three through four with me. Verse three Ruth, chapter four, verse three. “Then he said to the close relative (kinsman redeemer), ‘Naomi has come back from the country of Moab and she's selling the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech.’” This word, “brother” should probably be translated “cousin”, “ ‘…to our cousin Elimelech. And I thought to inform you, saying “Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not redeem it, then tell me that I may redeem it. For there is no one but you to redeem it. And I am next after you.”’ And he said, ‘I will redeem it.’”

But see Boaz realizes Naomi has a writer on the contract. As you continue to listen to this conversation, as you're sitting there at the gates and you listen to Boaz and this kinsman redeemer going back and forth, we find out something else. There's a pretty important fine print clause at the bottom of the contract. It's not just the land. It's not just the field that belongs to the ancestral tribe of Naomi and Elimelech. You have to do something else as the redeemer. See, Naomi's a widow. Naomi doesn't have any sons. You need to act the part of an even greater redeemer. You need to also marry Ruth, and you need to raise up offspring so that that name of Elimelech won't die out forever. 

You see this guy all of a sudden as you're watching him, he kind of starts to backpedal little bit. I don't know about you women, but if your husband came home and said, “Hey, I went out and bought a plot of land,” you might think, okay, we'll figure out how to pay for it, that's fine. But if he said, “Hey, I bought a plot of land. But I also brought this young woman home with me too, and I gotta give her kids.” How many of you would be very happy? Probably not. This is a cause of great tension. And its happens even today, when we talk about our brothers and sisters in south Sudan, they come out of Muslim backgrounds when they're converted and many of them have multiple wives. And it becomes blatantly obvious if you talk to some of our missionaries, how much of attention this constantly is. 

Not just that, but it doesn't mean anymore that this is a cheap financial endeavor for this kinsman redeemer. Think about it, now he's gotta pay, not just for Naomi, but now he's gotta also feed Ruth and he's also got to feed this kid that's gonna be born someday. But not just that, whose land will that eventually go to? Is it going to go to his kids, or is it going to go to Naomi's grandson? All of a sudden, this isn't looking as sweet of a deal as he thought it was. What was once good business practice became family ruined. And the man pulls back and he says, “Whoa, I can't do it.” 

And you hear this man walked back his steps as he realizes he had spoken too quickly and didn't read the full contract and he backs out. And that's what we find in verses five and six. Read that with me verses five and six. Listen to Boaz:

“Then Boaz said, ‘On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance.’ And the close relative said, ‘I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself. I can't redeem it.’”

So you see this man who walks back, who takes back his word that he was gonna redeem it and he gives it to Boaz. And imagine again you're there at the gate. You've heard of everything that's going on. And your heart rejoices. Here's Boaz’s chance. He's actually going to redeem her. He's gonna be able to do it. And he's not doing it in the deep, dark, secret places of the threshing floor in a bunch of dark acts that had happened in chapter three. But he's going to redeem her in righteousness in front of everyone, in front of all of his people. Everybody is going to see Boaz redeem Ruth, redeem Naomi. 

But there's a ceremony for everything, isn't there? When you got married, there was a ceremony. You had to say vows, and there was a ring given. If you're going to enlist in the military, there's a ceremony you go through. If you're going to be sworn into public office, there's a ceremony you have to go through. And that's no different in ancient Israel. 

As you watch this kinsman redeemer back off of his promise, he has to do a customary thing. He bends down. He unties his shoe and he has to hand it to Boaz. Now, there ain't no going back on this type of deal. Once he makes this confirmation, that guy is walking the rest of his way back to his field without a shoe on. Imagine walking from the church to the manse with only one shoe on down the gravel road. Tell me how much you're gonna like it. 

It is a firm confirmation. You know that this is a hard thing he's going to do, and he's gonna be working in that field, harvesting the rest of the barley and walking all over the barley kernels at the threshing floor with only one shoe on the rest of the day. There's no walking back on this type of commitment. Once he sells his right of redemption, it's gone. 

And this ceremony happens in verse seven. “Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm anything. One man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.” And he does it. The kinsman redeemer takes off his sandal and hands it to him in front of everyone in plain sight. But Boaz makes sure you hear Boaz with your own ears. Making sure that there is no question about the legality of what's happening in this redemption. All of a sudden, Boaz turns, and he's no longer facing the kinsman redeemer. But he looks at everybody who's gathered there. All the elders, all the witnesses, everybody who is on their way out to the field. He looks at all the witnesses and he calls upon them. He says, “You've seen this. I've done this in plain sight. I'm redeeming her. This Moabitess woman is now becoming my wife.” 

Ruth is no longer going to be an outsider. Ruth is no longer going to be an alien. Ruth is no longer going to be a widow, but she is going to be the wife of an Israelite. She is going to be brought into one of the aristocracy families of Bethlehem. She is going to be brought into a place of privilege and honor. This outsider is being fully redeemed and fully brought in to the covenant family and life. 

And that's what we find in verses eight through ten. Read, look with me there as we listen. “Therefore, the close relative said to Boaz, ‘Buy it yourself.’ So he took off his sandal and Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, ‘You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are my witnesses this day.’” 

This is plain. It's in the open. Everyone can see it. A beautiful thing has happened in Israel. As you stand at the gate, basking in the morning sun, it's as if God's favor has finally, finally broken through the clouds of the darkness that has completely surrounded the story of Ruth so far. The light has come. Righteousness is there, Boaz is the Redeemer who has come to fill up Naomi's emptiness. There's hope again. There's redemption again in Israel. And all the elders and the witnesses cry out not just crying out that God is going to seal this deal. But what do your ears hear? They hear God's blessing on Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. This outsider, this stranger, this foreigner, Ruth, is now no longer going to be an outsider, an alien, an immigrant, an unwanted, but she is now going to become one of the founding matriarchs of Israel. 

Look with me as we listen to what the witnesses say in verses 11 through 12: “And all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, ‘We are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah…’” Rachel and Leah, who are the ones who gave birth to 11 sons, the founding tribes of Israel, “‘…the two who built the house of Israel and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, who Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.’” 

They call out a blessing upon Ruth and upon Boaz and that there's going to be a rich heritage here. This isn't just some backwards wedding. This isn't just some nothing event. They see that God is working and God is moving here. 

But then the verse, it's really interesting, all of these 12 verses happens in the blink of an eye, it happens in one quick moment at the gate. And in the next verse are fast forwarded through 10 months of marriage. All of a sudden we come to the full fulfillment of what this means. It's not just a promise, but it's going to be realized. Redemption comes in the following verses.

In verses 13 through 16, we see something amazing happened. Look with me there: “So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And when he went in to her, the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son.” We have been waiting for three chapters, three and a half chapters, for Ruth to have a son. Her husband has been dead. She has left her land. She has left her family. She's left everything she's known with the hope of redemption. And now the Lord brought a child. 

And the women who had met Naomi at the gate, who had called her, “Could this be Naomi?” And Naomi had said, “Don't call me Naomi. Don't call me pleasant for I went away full and the Lord has brought me back empty.” Now it is the Lord who fills her. Listen to what the women say in Verse 14: “Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative. And may his name be famous in Israel.’” Blessed be the Lord because he hasn't left you without a redeemer. This is the only time in all of the Old Testament that a child, that a baby, is called the redeemer. Blessed is the Lord, for he hasn't left you without a redeemer. 

What a great promise! What a great thing for them to say to him. But then they recognize again that this baby, this child is going to be something great. “And may his name be famous in Israel.” And then this child, verse 15, “and may this child be to you a restorer of life and nourisher of your old age.” This child is going to care for Naomi and is going to bless her. This child is going to grow up. This is going to be an upright man like Boaz. This child, this redeemer has come through someone amazing. God has chosen to show us his chesed, his loving kindness, his graciousness through a foreigner, through a woman, through a Moabitess, through a widow. And the women say of Ruth that “she is better in seven sons.” 

Now we don't have in our culture where we value sons more than daughters typically. That's not the case in most of world. And that's not the case during Biblical times. During Biblical times, sons were the ones who could work in the fields. Sons were the ones who can bring children. Sons were the one who could provide for their mothers and grandmothers. Sons were elevated because they could be the elders. Sons were held up, and all the women look at Naomi and they say, “No, no, no, no, no. Ruth is better than seven sons. She's shown you perfect love. You thought you went away full and you came back empty, Naomi? No, no, you came back with God's love right clinging onto you in Ruth.” 

“Then Naomi,” verse 16, “Then Naomi took that child. She took that child and she laid her in her bosom and she became a nurse to him.” Naomi took that child and she cradled him. She took that baby and she held him in her arms. And Ruth showed an amazing type of loving kindness. She allows Naomi to become his foster mom. It's her only child, her first born son. But she knows that Naomi needs this child. And she allows Naomi, Ruth allows Naomi, to become the mother of this child. It's a beautiful picture of God's love and of Ruth’s graciousness. 

And verse 17, “Also the neighbor women gave him the name. ‘This is the son born to Naomi, and they called his name Obed. He is a father of Jesse, the father of David.’” And then when we look at the genealogy, at the family history in the last few verses, we find out one of the reasons why Boaz is so kind to Ruth. Boaz’s mother somewhere along the line is Rahab, the Canaanite. 

Boaz grew up with stories of a righteous God-fearer who confessed the name of the Lord and came into the covenant people of God. And here he sees Ruth doing the same. And God, through that seed of faith, brings about the very king of Israel, David himself. And it is here that we find not just a momentary point of redemption, but we find an eternal redemption. Because as we look in Matthew, chapter one, we had to earlier read the genealogy of David, of Jesus. Because Jesus is a direct line of David who is the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Ruth. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is that redeemer, who was promised, who is going to come and who has brought about perfect redemption. 

It is Jesus Christ, why we have the book of Ruth. You are invited to hear the story of the gate at Bethlehem where this righteous redemption happened. Because as we look at Naomi and we see her looking down at this baby, we can remember Mary, who also held Christ in her arms, and knew that child would be the redeemer of God's people. You have a redemption. You have a hope that is tied into a historical fact that Jesus Christ is your redeemer. That Jesus Christ is righteous. That Jesus Christ is the one who you can trust because he fulfilled all the types and promises we find throughout the book of Ruth, throughout all the Old Testament. It is Jesus Christ who has lifted up to you as your righteous redeemer. It is He who buys you out of sin though the wages of sin be death. Jesus Christ redeems you, buys you back from those wages and gives you ever lasting life. 

So when you encounter those dark hours of your life, when you question in your heart, “Can I believe this is true?” This isn't a fable. This isn't a cute story that was invented out of nowhere. But there is a historical Rahab. There is a historical Ruth. There's a historical Boaz. There is a historical David and there is a historical Christ. Your redeemer lived and he lives now. So when you doubt, Christian, when you find yourself questioning, when you find yourself needing a righteous redeemer because you can't do it yourself; you weren't meant to. Your self-righteousness can't redeem you. You'll never be good enough for the Kingdom of Heaven. But Jesus Christ is. 

You'll never have a mom and dad who are righteous enough to get you through the pearly gates. But you have a redeemer, who has paid the blood price for your salvation for eternity. The Book of Ruth holds out one hope for you. All of scriptures hold out one hope for all of us, and it's that Jesus Christ is our righteous redeemer. Cling to him. Run to him, even when it's hard, with all your joy and with all your strength, trust in Jesus Christ alone and you will be saved. 

Let's pray. “God, who are we that you would show redemption to us? That you would show us such grace and love and kindness? Thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you. For while were yet sinners, you died for us. Thank you for redemption. Father, apply it to our hearts. We pray that your Holy Spirit would let us leave from here with hope that will never fail, even to our dying breath. In Jesus’s name. Amen.”

Thank you for listening to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon RP church in Morning Sun, Iowa. We pray that you would be blessed as you grow in your love for God, your love for his word, as well as your love for his people. Until next week, God bless you.