When he buys it and fulfills his obligation of making a baby, the baby will grow, and the land will be the child’s. Consider, buying the land requires he spend money. The other Kinsman-Redeemer notes the personal sacrifice. We read in this scene how following the Law, and offering Love has a cost. He certainly would like to be that Redeemer, but he will follow the Law, and so he goes to the city gate. He is intent on Naomi and Ruth being redeemed. Yet the Law has planted in his heart this idea of redemption. From a purely legalistic point of view, Boaz is under no legal obligation to act at all. Today, we read a real-time episode of Law & Love simultaneously on display.Ĭonsider, within the terms of kinsman-redeemer laws found in the Pentateuch, no action on Boaz’s part is necessary. On Day 15, I commented on this relationship. I’ve many times heard the Old Testament is about Law, and the New Testament about Love-as if they are separate and unrelated. People often perceive the Law of God and the Love of God as two polar opposites. Yet Boaz actions far exceed what the Law requires. Boaz in verse 3:12 acknowledges he is one of Naomi’s redeemers. The Law instructs that a Kinsman-Redeemer act. What started as a story of despair, has become a love story. Then, in the morning, to protect her (and his) reputation he sent her home with barley. However, it would have been unsafe for her to travel home alone in the middle of the night. It would have been safer for him to send Ruth on her way. Beyond being curious about her, hesed guided all his actions.Ĭonsider in the last chapter, after he committed to settling the matter of who would be her redeemer, he had her stay the night. What we’ve read so far has revealed he, and much of the town, had taken notice of Ruth’s commitment to Naomi. His love, interestingly enough, began with her showing up to glean. If you don’t think he loves Ruth, it becomes explicit in the next bit of Scripture we will read together. He is not doing anything illegal, simply being wise in order to win the woman he loves. ![]() Blessing upon blessing, heaped up, overflowing.Today, Boaz is following the family-rules, the Law. Here is where the story of Ruth leaves us, with the promise of God’s faithful love, God’s hesed, overflowing not just into the ordinary, everyday lives of two widows and a farmer, but into the lives of all Israel, and through David’s greater Son, into even our own lives as well. ![]() This child, Obed, will be the grandfather of David, Israel’s most beloved king. One last note: The book of Ruth ends with a genealogy. The rabbis, noting that the Hebrew word translated here often means “wet nurse,” said that a miracle happened, that Naomi’s old and withered breasts were suddenly plump and round with milk, and that she nursed the child herself.Ībundant harvest, overflowing blessings, new life where before there was only emptiness - all of it is made possible through the hesed of God, enacted by Ruth and Boaz, everyday, ordinary people who demonstrate extraordinary love and faithfulness. “Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and she became his nurse” (4:16). The women of the village interpret this blessing for Naomi: “He 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 borne him” (4:15). Where there was barrenness (in her marriage to Mahlon), now there is birth. Where there was famine, now there is a plentiful harvest. So, having fulfilled all righteousness, Boaz receives the community’s blessing on his marriage to Ruth. He is enthusiastic about acquiring more land but suddenly remembers a previous appointment and makes himself scarce when Boaz says that marrying Ruth is part of the bargain. The nearer relative, the potential goel with whom Boaz speaks, is never named, which is entirely appropriate since he refuses to carry on the name of Mahlon (Ruth’s dead husband). The scene at the city gate (where legal proceedings are conducted) is a humorous one. Preaching text: Ruth 4:1-22 accompanying text: Luke 1:46-55 Preaching Series on Ruth (Week 4 of 4) Week 4: August 12, 2018
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