Ruth 4
Boaz Marries Ruth (4:1–12)
1–4 That morning Boaz went to the town gate, where all legal transactions were carried out; in ancient Israel the town gate was similar to a modern town hall. Boaz offered the man who was Naomi’s closest relative the opportunity to act as kinsman-redeemer and redeem the land that Naomi was selling21 (verse 3). The man agreed. He figured that he had nothing to lose; the land would simply become part of his estate.
5–8 But then Boaz informed the man that if he were to act as kinsman-redeemer he would have another obligation: to marry Ruth and raise up for Ruth’s deceased husband an heir who would continue the line of Elimelech.22 Since Ruth’s first son would legally be the heir of her dead husband (Deuteronomy 25:6), the land that had been redeemed would become the son’s. The kinsman-redeemer would have paid for the land—and then lost it! Seeing no advantage for himself in this, Naomi’s closest relative backed out,23 and Boaz became the kinsman-redeemer.24
9–12 Boaz then announced to the elders at the city gate that he would redeem Elimelech’s land and marry Ruth in order to maintain the name of the dead—the name of Ruth’s husband Mahlon, son of Elimelech—with his property (verse 10). Thus Elimelech’s family and land would be preserved.
Then the elders and other people at the gate blessed Boaz’s new wife, and expressed the hope that she would be like Rachel and Leah (verse 11), the two wives of JACOB, who (together with their handmaids) produced twelve sons who became the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. They also wished Boaz well, and hoped that the offspring Ruth bore to him would become like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah25 (verse 12). Perez was Judah’s eldest son (Genesis 38:27–30); most of the tribe of Judah, to which Elimelech and Boaz belonged, was descended from Perez. And indeed, Boaz’s offspring through Ruth would become like that of Perez. Boaz’s line would lead to Israel’s greatest king, David (verse 17), and beyond that to the son of David, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1–6,17).
The Genealogy of David (4:13–22)
13–17 These verses describe the birth of Ruth’s first son, Obed. The writer is careful to say that the LORD enabled her to conceive (verse 13). Every birth is by the Lord’s enabling (Psalm 139:13).
The women of Bethlehem shared in Ruth and Naomi’s joy. They called the new baby Naomi’s kinsman-redeemer (verse 14), because he would give Naomi a new purpose for living (verse 16) and sustain her in her old age (verse15). And they praised Ruth, who as far as Naomi was concerned, was better . . . than seven sons.26 The bonds of love are stronger than the bonds of blood; a daughter-in-law like Ruth was “better” for Naomi than seven sons of her own!
18–22 The book of Ruth describes the story of an ordinary Israelite family from a small town in Judah. And yet this ordinary family played a critical role in God’s unfolding purpose for Israel and for the world. Therefore the writer of the book ends with an abbreviated genealogy27 which shows how a poor Moabite widow became the great-grandmother of Israel’s greatest king. Ruth’s selfless decision to stay with Naomi had consequences no one could ever have imagined—except God. And though the genealogy of verses 18–22 ends with David, ultimately it ends with the son of David, Jesus (Matthew 1:1), who is the fulfillment of all Old Testament history, law, and PROPHECY (Matthew 5:17).
Before we leave the book of Ruth, let us reflect on its application to us, its readers. God has given us these biblical stories so that we might learn more about Him and also about ourselves. The story of Ruth begins with famine, death and sadness; it ends with fullness, life and joy. There are millions of people in the world today who, like Ruth and Naomi, are experiencing poverty, loss, hopelessness. Let them know that there is a loving heavenly Father who desires to change their story to one of fullness, life and joy.
But if this is to happen, one must make the decision Ruth made: to cling to the one true God and not return to the “gods of Moab.” Our lives hinge on the seemingly “small” decisions we make. If we will but trust God and obey Him, He will bring us through our trials no matter how difficult they are. No person is beyond God’s help; the God of Israel reaches out even to the widows of Moab. Let us then commit ourselves to Him. When we’ve done all we can do, we must trust God to do the rest. The one who trusts will never be dismayed (Isaiah 28:16).
Let us end with a final note on Ruth and Boaz. In the world’s eyes they weren’t “great” people but in God’s eyes they were, because they demonstrated in their lives God’s own faithfulness and steadfast love. When Ruth went to Boaz at the threshing floor, she staked everything on Boaz’s kindness and on his power to redeem. She was not disappointed. Not only did she come under his protection, but she became united to him as his bride. In this, Boaz is a picture of Christ and Ruth is a picture of us—Christ’s church. We too, like Ruth, have come to our Redeemer for protection, SALVATION, and through faith we have also become united to Him as His bride (Ephesians 5:25–32; Revelation 19:7–8).If Boaz, a mere human, was willing to redeem and love an outcast like Ruth, how much more will Christ, the Son of God, be willing to redeem and love the outcasts of this world and bring them into fellowship with Himself.
Ruth could never have redeemed the family land—her inheritance—on her own. Neither can we redeem our heavenly inheritance on our own. Our inheritance has been forfeited because of our sin. Only a sinless Redeemer, by taking the punishment for our sin, can restore to us our inheritance in heaven. And that is exactly what Christ has done for us (see Romans 3:23–24).
1 Ruth eventually married Rahab’s son Boaz, and so became Rahab’s daughter-in-law (see Matthew 1:5). Thus Jesus Christ was directly descended from both of these nonIsraelite women.
2 For a discussion of redemption, see Exodus 13:11–16 and comment; Word List: Redemption.
3 Bible scholars disagree about the exact dates of the judges. Assigning precise dates to early Old Testament events is difficult.
4 Elimelech and his family were Ephrathites (verse 2); the area around Bethlehem was called Ephrathah.
5 Moab was a land east of the Dead Sea. It was established by the descendants of Moab, a son of Abraham’s nephew Lot (Genesis 19:36–37); therefore the Moabites were distant “cousins” of the Israelites. God had told Israel not to provoke Moab (Deuteronomy 2:9), but later the Moabites overcame Israel and ruled there until the Israelites drove them out under the leadership of Ehud (Judges 3:12–14,26–30). In Elimelech’s time there was an uneasy peace between Israel and Moab.
6 Israelites were permitted to marry Moabite women; the Moabites were not considered the same as Canaanites, with whom marriage was forbidden (Deuteronomy 7:1,3). However, since Moses’ time Moab had treated Israel in an unfriendly manner, and therefore Moses had said that no Moabite would be allowed to enter Israel’s assembly for ten generations (Deuteronomy 23:3–4).
7 For a woman, getting married doesn’t seem like the best way to find rest! But here “rest” means security, a safe shelter—and the chance to have children.
8 The Hebrew word for kindness used here is often used for God’s “kindness” or unfailing love (Exodus 15:13) toward His people. Those who show kindness to others may expect to receive God’s kindness in return.
9 Naomi recognized that both good times and bad times were brought about by the LORD’s hand; nothing ever happened by chance. The thought that the Lord was against her made her life more bitter than ever (see verses 20–21).
10 When Naomi told Ruth to go back to her gods, she was not implying that those gods were real gods; they were only objects of misguided worship.
11 Most Israelites held the simple belief that God sent blessings to the righteous and misfortune to the unrighteous (Leviticus Chapter 26). However, the truth is often more complex than that. For further discussion about why the Lord “causes misfortune,” see Exodus 15:25–27; Numbers 4:17–20 and comments.
12 Nothing is ever “by chance” in God’s universe.
13 The expression “under the wings” means “under the protection” (Psalm 91:4; Matthew 23:37). It is a place of refuge. The Hebrew word for “wing” used here is also used for the corner of Boaz’s garment in Ruth3:9; as we shall see, that too was to become a place of refuge for Ruth.
14 In New Testament times, Jews (Israelites) refused to eat with Gentiles (non-Jews) such as Ruth (Acts 10:28).But this was a distortion of God’s law, which required the Israelites to welcome aliens and encourage them to become part of the community of Israel. Therefore, Boaz was acting in accordance with Old Testament law.
15 Again the word kindness used here is the same word used for God’s unfailing love (see Ruth 1:8).
16 This law applied only to brothers; but in a non-binding way, the principle of the law could be applied to marrying any childless widow in one’s extended family—as in the case of Boaz and Ruth.
17 In Hebrew, the same word is used for “avenger” and “kinsman-redeemer.”
18 For further discussion on the subject of redemption, see Exodus 13:11–16 and comment.
19 The threshing floor was a flattened area of hard ground where grain was threshed and then winnowed.
20 The Hebrew word for corner in verse 9 also means “wing,” which signifies protection (Ruth 2:12).
21 It is likely that Elimelech had sold his family’s land during the famine, when he and Naomi had been forced to move to Moab (Ruth 1:1). Yet Naomi maintained the right to redeem that land—provided she had the money. Since she didn’t have the money, the land was about to pass out of the family; thus Naomi was, in effect, “selling” the land. The land could remain within the family only if it was redeemed by a kinsman-redeemer.
22 If one were to follow Deuteronomy 25:5–6, the kinsman-redeemer would ordinarily have married Naomi. But since she was too old to have children, and since Ruth was also a childless widow, Ruth was the obvious one to marry. Ruth’s first son would carry on the name of Elimelech and inherit his land. In ancient Israel, the family name and the family land were extremely important; both were to be preserved if at all possible.
23 This unnamed relative did not want to endanger his estate (verse 6). But in seeking to save his estate, he lost something much greater: the chance to be useful to God. Today we don’t even know his name—but we do know the name of Boaz (see Mark 8:35–37).
24 In verses 7–8, a quaint custom is described. If one renounced his right to be a kinsman-redeemer and transferred that right to another, he would signify the transfer by taking off his sandal and handing it to the other man. In this case, declining to be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer entailed no disgrace because the man was not Ruth’s actual brother-in-law, only a close relative. But if he had been Ruth’s brother-in-law, he would have been disgraced and Ruth herself would have removed his sandal and even spit in his face! (Deuteronomy 25:7–10).
25 The story of Tamar and Judah is found in Genesis Chapter 38.
26 To an Israelite, the number seven signified completion, fullness. To have seven sons was considered the highest blessing an Israelite family could have.
27 As with many biblical genealogies, less important names are omitted from this genealogy.
