Ruth 4:1-12

¹ Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned 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 redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. ⁴ So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” ⁶ Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” ⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. ⁸ So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. ⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. ¹⁰ Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” ¹¹ Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, ¹² and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

It is fitting that we are approaching the Lord’s Supper table on this day when we also approach Ruth 4:1-12. That is because these verses speak of a bridegroom’s redemption of his bride. That is also exactly what the Lord’s Supper speaks of as well: a Bridegroom’s redemption of His bride. As I hope to show, this text is where the bottom level story (the actual story of Boaz and Ruth) and the upper level story (the story of Christ and His Church) come closest to one another. As we read this text in preparation for the Lord’s Supper, I would like to consider the fact that Boaz’s purchase of his bride, Ruth, was eager, public, and legally binding. So is Jesus’ purchase of His bride.

Eager. Public. Legally binding.

Eager. Boaz was eager to secure Ruth as his bride.

¹ Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down.

Chapter 3 ended with the startling events on the threshing floor that saw Ruth pledge herself to Boaz and Boaz assure her that he would redeem and marry her if at all possible. There was one problem: there was a relative closer to Naomi and Ruth than Boaz was and, by law, that relative was given the first option of redemption. Boaz would only be able to redeem Ruth if this other relative chose not to.

Our chapter begins with Boaz eagerly seeking to redeem Ruth. He went to the place where such business was handled: the city gates. And when did he go? The next morning, the morning after Ruth came to him and lay at his feet on the threshing floor. The night before Boaz had said to Ruth, “Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the Lord lives I will do it. Lie here until morning” (v.13). Twice he mentioned the morning. He was eager for Ruth to be his bride. He would handle this as soon as humanly possible. Even Naomi knew that he would be eager to resolve this, for in verse 18 of Ruth 3 she had told Ruth, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” And indeed he did not.

The redeemer was eager to redeem the one needing redemption. So it was with Boaz and Ruth. So it is with Jesus. In Luke 15:20 Jesus likened God to a patriarch who runs and embraces his prodigal son when he returns home. Eagerness. In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” The Father is eager to see people come to faith in Christ. He is, in fact, eager to see you come to the saving knowledge of Christ if you have not.

Boaz summoned the closer redeemer. Interestingly, he did not use his name. Some early Jewish commentators assumed the man’s name was Tob because of verse 3:13. In that verse, Boaz said to Ruth, “Remain tonight, and in the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him do it.” The Hebrew word for “good” or “all right” is “tob,” so these commentators read that word as a name instead of an exclamation: “Tob, let him do it.” Clearly, however, that is not his actual name. Kiersten Nielson argues that “the author’s anonymization of the man must…be an expression of indirect condemnation of him as a man who refuses to safeguard the good name of the family for posterity. He deserves to remain nameless.”[1]

Boaz summoned this nameless redeemer and he did so eagerly!

And he did so publically, not secretly. Boaz went to the city gate through which the workers would pass as they returned in the morning from their labors. He had no intention of working a sly deal. On the contrary, this would be handled in the full light of day and in the sight of all.

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 redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. ⁴ So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” ⁶ Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

Boaz summoned ten men to serve as witnesses of what was about to happen. It is not terribly clear whether this number was particularly significant. Concerning the ten witnesses, Leon Morris writes

Obviously this could give a solid body of witness, but whether there was any legal requirement met by this number or not our information from antiquity does not reveal. In more recent times, ten, of course, is a significant number. Thus ten men are required for a synagogue service. Slotki sees in the number “The quorum required for the recital of the marriage benedictions. Boaz held them in readiness for the pending ceremony.” However, he cites no evidence that the custom is so old. The Midrash Rabbah regards this passage as giving justification for ten at ‘the blessing of the bridegroom’ (vii. 8).[2]

Perhaps, then, there is custom behind ten witnesses. Perhaps customs grew out of Boaz’s summoning of these ten. Regardless, notice that Boaz sought a public redemption of Ruth, one that could not be questioned, one that had witnesses.

The transaction went as follows: Boaz informed the unnamed redeemer that he, the redeemer, had first rights to redeem the late Elimelech’s land from Ruth. There is considerable discussion about what this means since land did not pass from husband to wife at that time. Regardless, the redeemer had first rights if he so desired. And he did so desire. He said in the presence of all that he wanted the land. Then Boaz added a caveat that changed everything. If he bought the land, he informed him, he also redeemed Elimelech’s Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth. “I cannot redeem it for myself,” the man said in recanting his claim, “lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

This is a very interesting thing for him to say: “lest I impair my own inheritance.” Daniel Block gives a helpful explanation of what the redeemer likely meant.

Given his own age and the age of Ruth, he might have thought she might bear him no more than one child. Since this child would be legally considered the heir and descendant of Elimelech, upon the death of the go’el he would inherit the property that had come into his hands through this present transaction as well as the go’el’s inherited holdings. Furthermore, since the name of Elimelech had been established/raised up through the child, the go’el’s entire estate would fall into the line of Elimelech, and his own name would disappear. Third, in view of Boaz’s introduction of Ruth as “the Moabitess,” he might have pondered the ethnic implication of the transaction, concluding that his patrimonial estate would not be jeopardized by falling in to the hands of one with Moabite blood in his veins.[3]

The obstacle to Boaz’s redemption of Ruth had been removed! He could now secure her and bring her into his home. And he had achieved this in the sight of all.

Jesus, too, achieved the redemption of His people in the sight of all and not on the sly. “Nevertheless,” Jesus said in Luke 13:33, “I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” So Jesus went through the city gates of Jerusalem only to come out of them again carrying a cross. In the sight of God and man, Jesus redeemed His bride. He was suspended between heaven and earth on the cross, bidding all to bear witness that He was laying indisputable claim to His bride by paying the price for her.

Christ redeemed fallen man in the presence of all, and this act of redemption was legally binding. So too was Boaz’s redemption of Ruth.

⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. ⁸ So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. ⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. ¹⁰ Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” ¹¹ Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, ¹² and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

It was an odd way to signify that the transaction was complete, official, binding. The redeemer took off his shoe and handed it to Boaz, signifying thereby that he was letting the right of redemption pass him by so that it could rest on eager Boaz. Thus, Boaz redeemed Naomi’s land and Naomi and Ruth.

But here there is something interesting in our text, something unexpected, something frankly unusual. There are two words that are used in this conversation between Boaz and the redeemer. The word for “redeem” is the Hebrew word ga’al and the word for “buy” or “acquire” is the Hebrew word qanah. You can see both at play in the heart of the conversation from verses 4-6.

⁴ So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” ⁶ Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

What is unusual about this is the word “buy.” In the legal requirements of the redeemer, the language was not of buying but of redeeming. And a redeemer certainly would not speak of buying or acquiring a person. It is very unusual that Boaz speaks of buying Ruth. Furthermore, it is very unusual to see these two words, redeem and acquire, used together to describe a human transaction.

In a fascinating article entitled “‘Redemption-Acquisition’: The Marriage of Ruth as a Theological Commentary on Yahweh and Yaweh’s People,” Brad Embry points out the heart of the issue.

While the two terms redeem and acquire are fairly common, their use together is not, only appearing explicitly in two other places apart from Ruth: Exod 15:13-15 and Ps 74:2…[T]he concept of “redeem-acquire” is implicit in two more selections: Deut 32:6 and Isa 11:11.
In the case of each of the other intertextual references (Exod 15:13-19; Ps 74:2; Deut 32:6; Isa 11:11), the complex “redeem-acquire” is employed exclusively to express an action undertaken by Yahweh on behalf of Israel and likely draws on the exodus tradition. In the story of Ruth, two things seem to fall under qualification for redemption-acquisition. The first is the land for sale by Naomi. The second is Ruth. As such, only in the book of Ruth is the complex “redeem-acquire” used to articulate the relationship between two human characters. In this way, the author of Ruth has constructed a story in which two of the primary characters, while functioning within an unfolding story of loss and restoration for a particular household, can also be emblematic of Yahweh’s actions on behalf of Israel.[4]

This is profoundly important. This is why I say that here the lower and upper levels of our story converge, for it is only in Yahweh’s redemption of His people that the “redeem-acquire” formula is used. For instance, in Exodus 15:13-16.

¹³  “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode. ¹⁴ The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. ¹⁶ Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.

Furthermore, in Psalm 74 we find the same formula.

² Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.

Do you see why this matters? When Boaz used the formula “redeem-acquire” in talking to the redeemer about Ruth, he was using a formula that is only used to refer to God’s redemption of His people. Thus, when Boaz spoke of redeeming and buying Ruth, he was painting a picture that theretofore had only been painted to describe Yahweh God’s love for us. In this way, the lower level and the upper level converge: Boaz’s redemption and purchase of Ruth is a picture of God’s redemption and purchase of His people, then, now, and forever. It is how God loves us.

Does this language of purchase carry over into the New Testament? Indeed it does. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul writes:

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

In Revelation 5, we read:

⁸ And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, ¹⁰ and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

The word for “ransom” in verse 9 is the same word Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 6 for “bought.”

What a glorious, beautiful truth! The God who purchased His people out of slavery in Egypt is the same God who purchases His people through the blood of Christ our Redeemer. Jesus our Redeemer buys us on the cross. He lays down His life to purchase us by paying the debt we cannot pay, and the elements on this very table speak of that amazing purchase. The juice and the bread are symbols of the blood and body of Christ. They are the means by which He purchases all who will come to Him in faith and repentance, all who will lay themselves at His feet.

Behold the Lamb who was slain! Behold the God who purchases His bride! Behold the Redeemer who is eager to save!

 

[1] Kirsten Nielson, Ruth. The Old Testament Library. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997), p.83,n.124.

[2] Arthur E. Cundall and Leon Morris (2008-09-19). TOTC Judges & Ruth (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) (Kindle Locations 4442-4447). Inter-Varsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[3] Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth. The New American Commentary. Vol. 6. Gen. Ed., E. Ray Clendenen. (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 1999), p.660.

[4] Brad Embry. “‘Redemption-Acquisition’: The Marriage of Ruth as a Theological Commentary on Yahweh and Yaweh’s People.” Journal of Theological Interpretation. 7.2 (2013), p.258-259. This is a very insightful article that I find quite persuasive. Embry’s argument has strongly influenced my argument in this portion of the sermon.