Bible Study - Book of Ruth Part 4 - Ruth 4:1-11, 13-16

Last week we heard that Naomi told Ruth how to let Boaz, the man who had helped Ruth so much, know in a very unusual way that she would be willing to marry him, as her “kinsman-redeemer.” Boaz understood what Ruth was telling him and was interested also in marrying Ruth. Boaz was a man, though, who was very moral and wanted to follow God’s Old Testament laws and customs. He knew that there was another relative who should have first choice before him in being the redeemer and marrying Ruth.

Just as Naomi had expected, the very next day, Boaz went to the gate of the town of Bethlehem. This was the place where people went to talk and carry out business and transactions and make important decisions in a public way. (See Deuteronomy25:7.) Boaz first found his relative who should have first choice in being the kinsman-redeemer for the family of Naomi and Ruth. Boaz also asked 10 elders of the town to be witnesses to what would be discussed. For matters to be legally binding, there needed to be a large number of witnesses like this. (In fact, a synagogue, a worship center for Jews, could not be organized and hold worship without at least 10 such men present.) (Ruth 4:1-2)

Right away, Boaz explained to his relative that he had first right to be a “redeemer” and buy the parcel of land that Naomi was selling (or maybe had already sold - the scholars don’t seem to agree on this). Naomi could have needed to sell the land earlier to have some money on which she and Ruth could survive. Either way, the relative had the right to buy this land and bring it back into the family, if he chose and settled any debts, etc. See Leviticus 25:25-28, again. Only a male relative could do this, though.

Boaz also explained that he himself did not have the right to be the redeemer unless his relative chose not to do his part, as he should (Ruth 4:3-4). The relative said “I will do it,” presumably because he had the money and could gain more property for the clan of Judah and himself.

Boaz then also reminded the relative that there was another responsibility if he redeemed the land. He would also have to marry Ruth the Moabite. (The Hebrew is a bit confusing, simply saying that the relative would also “have also to buy it from Ruth,” and thus take responsibility for her, as well.) The relative decided that he could not marry Ruth, because that might in some way “impair” his own inheritance and put more burdens on him and his family. That meant he could not redeem the land for Naomi and Ruth. The relative thus passed on the choice and responsibility to Boaz (Ruth 4:5-6).

Ruth 4:7-8 also tells of a “custom in former times” by which such a decision was demonstrated in a symbolic way, too. The person refusing the opportunity to “redeem” property would take off his sandal. (This was something done in Israel and other places at the time. Some think it expressed the idea that you could walk freely with your sandals on land that you owned. On other land you could not walk so freely and might be trespassing and get in trouble if you walked there.)

For an example of this, with some variation, see Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The Deuteronomy passages refers to the rejection of buying the property and rejection of the marriage, which went together. and were supposed to be done. Maybe that is why the rejected widow “spit in the face” of one refusing to do this duty. (Remember also that this story of Naomi and Ruth and Boaz actually happened during the later period of the Judges, though it was likely not written down until later, during the time of King David, when some of these customs had been forgotten or ignored.)

Then, Ruth 4:9-10 tells us that Boaz said right away that he would be the needed “kinsman-redeemer” and buy the property back for Naomi and Ruth and marry Ruth and keep the family name of Elimelech going for them. He asked the elders who were present to be witnesses to his promise and to the fact that all was done rightly and properly. The elders agreed and asked the Lord to bless this decision and marriage. (We will talk more about Ruth 4:11-12 and the verses that follow next week. Clearly the Lord blessed all this. Boaz and Ruth were married and had a child, Obed. Obed was their child, but it was such a joy for Naomi, after all her emptiness, that it was almost as if the child were hers, an heir at last!) (Ruth 4:16-17).

One more comment. Boaz said in Ruth 4:9-10 that he had bought the family property and he had “bought” Ruth for his wife. In ancient times, there often was a “bride price.” Money or goods or something was given to the bride’s parents, in exchange for the privilege of marrying the woman. (See, for example, the story of Jacob going to Laban in Genesis 28-29. Jacob wanted to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel, and agreed to work 7 years for Laban as the “bride price” for marrying Rachel. As Jacob had tricked and cheated his brother, Esau, Laban also cheated Jacob and married off his daughter Leah to Jacob instead. Jacob had to work 7 more years to get the bride he really wanted. We will talk more about this story and other, next week, as they relate to the end of the Book of Ruth.)

In the case of Boaz, there was no “bride price” other than buying and reclaiming the property for Naomi and Ruth, but Boaz was very willing to do this because he really wanted to marry Ruth and genuinely loved and cared for her. (If you read through the Book of Judges, you will see many low, dark times, when people resisted God’s will and did “what was in their own eyes” instead of following God and His will (Judges 2:16, 6:1, 13:1, 21:25).

The story of Boaz and Ruth was a bright spot of genuine love and honoring of the Lord in those dark days. May we, as believers, seek to be “bright, shining lights” for our Lord and His ways and will, especially in Christ, in the dark days we sometimes live in today, too. See Philippians 2:14-16.