The book of Ruth opens with "Now it came to pass when the judges ruled in
the 11th century B.C. during a time of confusion and a time of famine."
Elimelech chose to take his wife and two sons from Bethlehem-Judah to
Moab, which is only a short distance away. If you look east from the
heights of Bethlehem you can see the blue mountains of Moab on the other
side of the Dead Sea.
Elimelech died in Moab leaving Naomi with the two sons Mah'lon, whose
name means sickly, and Chil'-I-on, whose name means pining; their names
reflecting the distress of the time of their birth. They took them wives
of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah and the other was
Ruth, and they dwelled there about 10 years. Mahlon and Chilion, true to
their names, both died. Naomi then decided to return to Judah.
The story that follows is one of the most beautiful love stories in the
entire Bible. The author is unknown but was probably Samuel. The love in
this little book is not simply a man and woman such as Boaz and Ruth. It
was also the type of family love between am other-in-law and a
daughter-in-law. But a third dimension of the love story is that of the
Israelites who were willing to love and accept a foreigner like Ruth.
Ruth was a Moabite. She was a foreigner! But she became a part of God's
family.
Not only did she become a part of the Israelite family, she became a
blood relative and an ancestor of the Messiah! What an incredible thing
it was for God to do! God brought this foreign woman into the very blood
stream which produced the Messiah who would be savior of both Jews and
Gentiles. In the conversion of Ruth the Moabitess, and the bringing her
into the pedigree of the Messiah, we have a type of the calling of the
Gentiles in due time into the fellowship of Christ Jesus our Lord.
The suggested "Bible Truth" for today's lesson is that Ruth's becoming a
part of Israel by the actions of a kinsman-redeemer foreshadows how
people become a part of God's family through the Redeemer who eventually
would be born through Ruth's family lineage. The suggested "Life Impact"
for this lesson is to help us appreciate and accept God's providential
provision of a Redeemer.
When Naomi learned that food was again available in Bethlehem, she
decided to return home. Orpah followed Naomi's advice and returned to her
people and her gods. Ruth's choice is often used in wedding ceremonies:
"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee;
for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:
thy people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God." So Naomi and
Ruth traveled to Bethlehem in the beginning of the barley harvest.
If you visit the site in Bethlehem where Jesus was born and look across
the fence a few yards away, there is the field of Boaz where Ruth gleaned
grain and he took note of this young lady from Moab. She did not know of
Boaz or seek his field intentionally. But when she told Naomi where she
had gleaned the 25 pounds of grain Naomi rejoiced because Boaz was one of
Ruth's dead husband's near kinsmen.
Ruth knew h Israelite law concerning the kinsman-redeemer; and she
thought Boaz, her dead husband's relative could follow that law.
According to this law, known as the law of levirate marriage, a dead
man's nearest male relative was obligated to marry the widow. When they
had a son, the boy legally would count as the dead husband's son. Boaz
was a relative of Mahlon, Ruth's first husband; but he was not the
nearest male kinsman. Boaz offered to give the kinsman-redeemer his
opportunity and obligation.
Besides the duty to marry a dead brother's widow, a kinsman-redeemer had
other responsibilities. If someone killed a family member, the dead man's
closest relative was expected to avenge the dead man. God set up cities
of refuge to which people who accidentally killed others could flee to
avoid being killed by avengers. If the killers were innocent, they would
be safe in the cities of refuge. If they were guilty of murder, they
would be given to the avengers.
THIS BRINGS US TO OUR LESSON FOR TODAY.
1. PLEASE READ RUTH 4: 1-6.
Boaz was a well-to-do landowner in the town of Bethlehem. His father was
Salmon, the spy who, while spying out the city of Jericho before the
conquest of the land, was befriended by the prostitute of Jericho. He
later married Rahab and they became the parents of Boaz. Both Salmon and
Rahab are named in the pedigree of Jesus in Matt. 1: 5.
He next day after the night scene at the threshing floor when Ruth asked
him to marry her, Boaz went to the city gate, a traditional place in
Israelite life for business and political activity. When the
kinsman-redeemer passed the gate, Boaz asked him the join the group. The
man's name was not given, perhaps to avoid embarrassing him and his
family in later history. Boaz also gathered ten of the elders of the town
to witness what transpired. The elders could be the city leaders
responsible for political and business affairs. Later in Jewish history,
10 men were required to have a synagogue.
Boaz told the man that Naomi was selling the land that had belonged to
her dead husband, Elimelech. As the nearest of kin, the unnamed
kinsman-redeemer had the right to buy the land. Initially the man was
eager to have the land, but Boaz pointed out that with the land the man
would also acquire the dead man's widow, Ruth. Then the man was unwilling
to buy the property. He was afraid he would endanger his own estate.
Probably the man realized that any son he and Ruth had would inherit the
land. The man would spend some of his money buying Naomi's land, but the
land would not really be his. The financial loss would be too great for
him. The man told Boaz that Boaz could redeem the land. Some interpreters
suggest that the man might not have wanted to marry a Moabite woman, as
it was against the Israelite law.
Ruth and Naomi needed a kinsman-redeemer, who would provide protection
and care. Through His law, God provided for this situation. Ruth and Boaz
were drawn together by love, and the law enabled them to be united.
Through a ceremony involving the seller removing a sandal to give to the
buyer in the presence of witnesses, Boaz and the other relative
demonstrated the passing of the rights of redemption from the other
kinsman to Boaz. Boaz could now purchase the land and marry Ruth.
Many Christians see in the law of a kinsman-redeemer an anticipation of
what Jesus would do. He came to meet our deepest needs. We need to be
included in a family. Both married and single people have a deep need for
companionship and the kind of personal relationships family should
provide. Jesus invites us into God's family. In Mark 24:36 He called God
"Abba." Paul in Gal. 4:6 wrote that Christians also can address God as
"Abba." The Aramaic term Abba means "Daddy" or "Papa." As part of God's
family, we can know God in a personal, intimate way.
Jesus can include us in God's family because He is one of us-truly
human-and the One who came to save us. Trying to explain the mystery of
Jesus' deity and humanity is difficult. Paul stressed in Col. 2:9 that
Jesus was fully divine, but the Bible attests in Heb.2:14-18 to His
complete humanity. Jesus was human but he did not succumb to temptation
and sin.
The Israelite kinsman-redeemer was an ordinary human with special duties,
but Jesus was God incarnate. As God's unique son, He bridged the gap
between humanity and God, bringing salvation and inclusion in God's
family.
2. PLEASE READ RUTH 4: 9-12.
One of the major reasons for the law of levirate marriage was to continue
a dead man's name and family line. I suspect Boaz was on love with Ruth,
but he also wanted to fulfill this legal requirement. Mahlon's line would
continue through the son Boaz and Ruth might have.
The town elders and others at he city gate acknowledge that they were
witnesses to the transaction. They also asked for God's blessing on the
marriage. They asked that Boaz became famous in Bethlehem. The prophet
Micah later predicted in Micah 5:2 that the coming Messiah would be born
in this town. When the wise men came seeking the baby Jesus,, the Jews'
religious leaders cited this prophecy.
The city leaders also prayed that Boaz and Ruth's union would produce
offspring. They compared the couple's future fertility with that of
Rachel, Leah, and Tamar. The reference to these women would remind the
Israelites of famous accounts of their past.
You will remember Rachel and Leah were Jacob's wives. Jacob loved Rachel
and worked seven years for the right to marry her. Laban, Rachel's
father, tricked Jacob into marrying the older sister, Leah; but he
allowed Jacob to work seven more years to marry Rachel. Eventually Jacob
also had children by the sisters' maids. From his union with the four
women came Jacob's (Israel's) 12 sons. A full list of Jacob's sons and
their mothers is found in Genesis 35:22-27.
In Genesis 38 Judah, one of Jacob's sons, had three sons. The first son,
Er, married Tama; but he died without fathering a son. Following the
custom of livirate marriage, he next son, Onan, was to marry Tamar and
have a son that would perpetuate Er's name. When Onan refused to fulfill
his marital obligation, God killed him. Judah refused to have his third
son marry Tamar, so she became desperate. She pretended to be a
prostitute and had intercourse with Judah. When she became pregnant,
Judah acknowledged that he was the father and the she was "more
righteous" than he. Tamar was pregnant with twin boys, Zerah and Perez.
Perez was Boaz's ancestor. When the city fathers prayed for the fertility
of Boaz's marriage to Ruth, they recalled this earlier pregnancy. Their
prayers would be answered. Boaz was not only the great-grandfather of
King David; he also was an ancestor of Jesus Christ.
Boaz seems to have been motivated to act as the kinsman-redeemer by love
For Ruth and the legal requirements on him as male relative of
Mahlon, Ruth's first husband. Christians see in the kinsman-redeemer's
action an anticipation of Jesus' ministry. Paul wrote in Rom. 5:8 "God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us." God's love for us was His primary motive for sending
Jesus as our Kinsman-Redeemer. In Mark 10:45 Jesus said that He came "to
give his life as a ransom for many." Unless someone paid the ransom for
our sins, we still would be captives to sin. Jesus paid the ransom price.
Ruth 4:13 follows a formula common in Genesis: a man goes into to his
wife; she conceives and gives birth to a son. This and the genealogy that
follows form the climax of the Book of Ruth.
2. PLEASE READ RUTH 4: 13-15.
The story began with the death of Naomi's and Ruth's husbands. As the
story unfolds, we see the Lord's hand in what happens as He guides and
protects Ruth. Naomi's kinsman Boaz, Ruth's husband, to whom she has
given birth to a son, has redeemed her. It is easy to forget that Ruth
was a Moabite. The Moabites were pagans, but Ruth's faith brought her
into the community of Israel. The Lord rewarded her loyalty to Him and to
Naomi by making her a vital part of Israel's future.
The focus of Ruth 4:14-15 is on Naomi and all the women who came to
celebrate the birth of her grandson. The women praise the Lord and remind
Naomi that He did not leave her without a goel, possibly a reference to
Boaz but more likely to his son. In either case God, Naomi's true
redeemer and protector has greatly blessed her. She has a male protector
for the rest of her life. In Ruth 1: 20 Naomi had complained that the
Lord had made her life bitter. Now she rejoices over the birth of a
grandson. The women asked for this grandson to become famous throughout
Israel. This he would do as the father of Jesse and the grandfather of
David. He women further proclaimed that this son would take care of
Naomi in her old age and that Ruth's devotion to Naomi was better than
seven sons.
Seven sons was considered a very great blessing in the ancient world.
Ruth had been loyal to Naomi. In so doing she had become the vehicle of
the Lord's blessing for Naomi in the birth of this child. Through the
birth of Ruth's son, the Lord provided Naomi a protector in her old age.
Jesus, our Kinsman-Redeemer, provided a way for all people to enter God's
Family. The gospel is good news for all people. Peter said in Acts. 10:
34-35 "God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who
fear Him and do what is right."
4. PLEASE READ RUTH 4: 16-17.
Family trees were important to the Israelites. Knowing their ancestry was
essential to their identities. Thus fittingly the Book of Ruth ends with
a family tree. Ruth 4: 18-22 records the genealogy from Perez, Jacob's
grand-son to David, Obed's grandson. 10 names are in the list. These same
10 names are repeated in this same order in Matt. 1:3-6. You may want to
read this list again in 1 Chronicles 2:9-15, remembering that the name
Salma in Vs. 11 is the same as Salmon in Ruth 4:20 and Matt. 1:5.
When the son was born to Ruth and Boaz, Naomi put the newborn child in
her lap. This act did not mean she formally adopted the child as hers but
that she had a special relationship with him. She also cared for him. As
in he case of most grandmothers today, she took care of him and loved
him. She probably became his guardian.
The women of the town named the child Obed, which means "servant." This
is the only time in the O.T. that people outside the immediate family
named a child. Obed is not prominent in the Bible, but he became the
grandfather of David, the famous king who united the kingdom. The writer
concluded the book in 4:18-22 with an expanded tree, beginning with
Perez, one of Tamar's twin sons mentioned earlier in 4:12.
The Israelites concern for genealogy is seen in Matt. 1:1-17. Stressing
Jesus' Jewish ancestry, Matthew traced Jesus' line back to Abraham.
Matthew included non-Israelites such as Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth in his
account.
Jesus genealogy shows God's providential guidance of history across the
centuries. The famine and the deaths of three men in Ruth 1 were tragic,
but God used those circumstances to bring Ruth into the covenant
community. The writer of the Book of Ruth stated in 2:3, "As it turned
out, she (Ruth) found herself working in a field belonging to Boaz."
Through the eyes of faith, however, we see God guiding the growing
relationship between Ruth and Boaz. Their marriage and Obed's birth were
essential to God's plan to send the Messiah.
When we experience hectic events in our lives, we often have difficulty
seeing the bigger picture. Studying the account of Ruth reminds us that
God guides history. A Moabite widow became the ancestor of our
Kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus Christ. It didn't just happen that way.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. God's love from the very beginning has been inclusive-it has included
both Hebrews and Gentiles.
3. Centuries before Ruth the Gentile came into the family of Israel, God
had promised Abraham that Abraham would be a blessing to all "nations".
4. Israel was not the only ancient culture that had the kinsman-redeemer
person in its society. Some other contemporary cultures did also. God saw
to that also!
5. The kinsman-redeemer should remind us of our family responsibility to
those of our relatives who need our help, both spiritual and physical
needs.
6. How grateful we Gentile Christians ought to be that God included a
Gentile in the blood lineage of Jesus Christ.
7. Christian church members should do everything possible to include new
converts into a loving family of church membership.
NEXT SUNDAY'S STORY OF DAVID IS THE BASIS FOR THE HEART OF HOPE FOR A
MESSIAH IN THE O.T. READ 1 CHRON. 17. PRAY FOR RUBY AND ROY CURTIS IN THE
DEATH OF HER MOTHER AND FOR ODIS ROY WHO LOST HIS WIFE THIS WEEK.
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