The Lord has not left you without a guardian redeemer (Ruth 4 note)

1.       Boaz’s effort to find the redemption for Naomi (1-2)

a.       First, why?

                                                                 i.      Boaz had deep compassion for Naomi; in whom he saw genuine fear and love of God.

                                                               ii.      His action was prompted by Ruth’s all-out commitment to this cause, by giving her life to sustain the family life if all possible (noted in ch 3).

b.       Second, how?

                                                                 i.      He made an all-out effort immediately, by going to the gate as soon as he sent off Naomi after that night.: this shows that his heartfelt the urgency of the need of Naomi as much as Naomi felt for Ruth’s need while Ruth felt for Naomi’s need.  – this is an expression of God’s justice in His goodness(God’s justice living in the heart of Boaz); God would not sit and tarry while His loved ones come to him waiting and seeking for His mercy with wholehearted repentance and commitment to His mercy.

                                                               ii.      He carried out this in public and legal setting; first, he did this so that no one might misconstrue this as his personal ‘affections’ or any biases comes from that feeling.

                                                              iii.      All was done according to the Law; this is the primary emphasis of Boaz’s action: Though he did everything strictly according to the Law of Covenant, in following this rigid processes, God’s grace and provision became evident: first finding the guardian-redeemer just on time; then, the redeemer’s inability to redeem the land of Elimelek along with Ruth. In God’s perspective, this person was not fit to a redeemer.

2.       Boaz redeems the land of Elimelek along with Ruth (3-12)

a.       The guardian redeemer’s inability to redeem

                                                                 i.      It is likely that the guardian-redeemer was not one of Elimelek’s brother. Nevertheless, he was within the boundary of the Levirate marriage law (Lev 25) at least in the minds of all the characters of this story. So we are to accept this premise.  

                                                               ii.      The main reason why he did not redeem is in his word v6. ““I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself” (NAS) Before flying our own ‘imaginations on the reason why he did not’ we are to consider his word more deeply and take it as its face value: 1) he said, he cannot. Though there might be numerous reasons, in his mind, he did not have an ability to redeem the land along with Ruth. 2) His ability was constrained by a risk enough to endanger or jeopardize his own inheritance. Simply he had no extra room in his asset to redeem someone else’s. So, we are to explore the reason why he did not have enough estate to redeem his close relative: though it is unaddressed here, the Covenant in the Law of Moses made clear that God blesses those who honor him: In other words, one’s blessing in the land of God is proportional to his faith or his obedience to the Law of Covenant (Deut 28:1-6, 12).
In other words, faithfulness or his confidence in God’s grace was an important element. When does one take a risk beyond his or her own ability? Many are driven to do so for a big buck, taking a chance in a lifetime; But for God’s people, it is love and compassion for others. 

                                                              iii.      One thing we are to note is that he did not have meaningful ‘relationship’ either with Naomi or with Ruth as much as Boaz had. This inevitably led to the fact that this man did not have compassion and love as much as Boaz. Even Boaz, though he had much more understanding of these two widows and their situations, he did not initiate or express ‘redeeming this family’ until Ruth made such a bold and faithful move. Also, soon after facing Ruth’s life-giving commitment to this cause, Boaz’s heart was compelled to find a way to redeem this family.  

                                                              iv.      What was the risk? He saw the risk that goes beyond his ability as soon as he realized that he had to take Ruth, a young woman, as his wife. He was looking into the possibility to have a son and the land he would take over must be returned to that son in the name of Mahlon. The large sum of money that he spent to redeem the land could not be recoverable in time, when the son would be born and the land was to be returned back to that son. We may blame him for his lack of faith, or lack of love and compassion or his selfishness. It is more than possible that he was. Nevertheless, none of these conjectures are supported in this passage. But it says one thing; he had no ability and the risk is high. The certainty of this risk in his mind is seen in his decisive action by removing his sandal. This speaks powerfully that the cost of redeeming the land and family was far beyond his ability.
This points us to one thing; unless one is blessed extraordinarily, it is almost impossible to redeem other’s land and people.  

                                                               v.       In this regard, this man’s failure to redeem tells us that ordinary man cannot redeem others. This is in line with the main theme of the book of Ruth: only God can and will redeem His people when they come back to him in repentance. It is my conjecture that Elimelek was one of the prominent family in this town before he moved to Moab (hints are in the responses of the elders and women).

b.       Boaz redeemed the land and the family of Elimelek.

                                                                 i.      As we noted in ch 2,3, Boaz was god-fearing with godly love in truth. The richness in his wealth is also in line with the Covenant blessing for those who fear and honor the Lord. The abundance of blessing that Boaz speaks also his life in the fear and honor of God (vice versa as noted in the redeemers). We also can deduce that the abundance of blessing of God is to be for the purpose of redeeming others though this is inferential only.  

                                                               ii.      He did this in the legal setting before the elders; This tells us one thing: he had a great fear of God abiding fully by the law of Covenant. This is most explicit and powerful in what he announces to close the transaction.
“Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
This speaks of two things; the land in the name of the dead and the people to carry his name. Sins of man take away both man’s life and the land of God’s blessing. God will restore both; this embodies an idea that God will surely restore His kingdom; the land, the people and His lordship. After all, what Boaz did give an implicit message that God would do his redeeming works in a similar fashion explicitly revealed in the life of Boaz.

c.        Blessing of the elders and women of the town

                                                                 i.      They were extremely joyful to see this happen. This was not a thing that they had seen often. They sensed deeply the work of God in this.

                                                               ii.      They wished that Ruth might be like Rachel and Leah through whom God built the family of Jacob. In other words, they saw this as the utmost blessing of God flowing into this family and to this town through Ruth and that would make this town stand tall above all Israel.

                                                              iii.      They wished and believed that God would bless Ruth by giving an offspring through her and that that offspring would be like Perez; Judah’s line would have been cut off if Tamar did not bear a child Perez. This would have broken Jacob’s blessing for Judah (Gen 49:9-12).  But through Tamar’s faith, Judah’s clan grew to be the largest among all tribes (Numbers 1:27).   Their perspective went far beyond their ordinary circumstances and they saw this to be a remarkable event that would reach to many generations after him as Perez was. In this redeeming work by Boaz, they saw an extraordinary spirit impregnated with God’s ‘hezed’ love. This spirit was new and fresh and unseen for a long time for this event happened near the end of the period of Judges when all wondered when and how God would ‘save His people’ for good.  In other words, they saw a new light in God’s blessing permeating through this event that shone into the dark ages of Judges.

3.       Conclusion: The Lord has not left without a guardian (13-22)

a.       God enabled Ruth and she bore a son Obed. This is the resolution of the statement that the author made in Ruth 1:5 “both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband” signifying as the conclusion of the theme of the entire book.   It was God who took away the life of Elimelek and his two sons as God’s punishment according to the Law of Covenant. Now it is God who gives a son in replacement of the dead. Now this baby is to be the guardian-redeemer for Naomi. She was stripped off of all protection and safety for life. But now GOD HAS BROUGHT back a new ‘redeemer’ for her life.   “Now, he (baby) will renew your life and sustain you in your old age.” (15a). It is important to note that it is not Boaz but the baby born through the power of God is to be Naomi’s redeemer in the fullest sense of her life.

b.       How did God do this? It is through Ruth, a Moabite woman: Her character, faith and commitment are praised: “For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
1) she was a gentile woman, not an Israel, and lived among the ungodly. 2) she saw what God was doing in her family; all things along with the death of three including her husband. When the power of death overwhelmed the entire family, she picked up a remarkable faith to see the wrath; She saw God’s righteousness and amazing truthfulness in His grace for which Naomi played the key role. For if Naomi did not return, this would have been an impossible thing. In this regard Naomi’s decision to return to the Lord, or to the land of God’s blessing was an essential part of this story; the story of restoration back to God’s blessing. 3)in this understanding, she fully committed her life to God of Israel, calling Naomi’s God ‘YHWH’ (1:17). 3) She expressed her faith by a life-giving commitment to God’s cause (3:9b) 
God did this through ‘levirate marriage’: Levirate marriage speaks of one thing: the redeemer for the family that suffered God’s judgment must come from someone other than that family. Boaz was not the immediate line of redeemer according to the Law(Lev 25: slide  #7 by Moses). Though it was not his obligation by the Law, he was willing prompted by the faith of Ruth. In other words, levirate marriage is the way God would bring a redeemer. But it would not be exactly according to the Law: it would be far above and beyond the law’s requirement. What would it be? It is found in Boaz’s undeterred will to find the Redeemer; in the failure of the redeemer, he himself volunteered to be the redeemer. In this way, in the life of Boaz, we can find God’s heart and His will to redeem His people. This tells us that the coming redeemer is not through the law’s requirements but through ‘hesed love’ that goes far beyond and above the Law.   

4.       Obed, a servant, the father of King David.

a.       Naomi was barren for her husband died and her two children died without any children. So, she was barren because of her old age and because all her children died prematurely. In this barrenness, she has a son! So, having a son is seeing an impossible become possible (v17).

b.        This redeeming event that brought forth a son for Naomi would not be just a story of a family for in every aspect for God’s hand was upon those who were in this story. God’s purpose? It was to bring about a king, David, a man after God’s own heart. This family history bore a great impact on David’s humbleness and faith in the Lord (1 Sam 18:18; 2 Sam 7:18). This humbleness is noted in Mic 5:2 (Matt 2:6; the least is often understood about the size of the town. But this is not likely; instead, it is about ‘humbleness of the family history of David’ that was grossly tainted by sins and rescued by gentile women)

c.       Perez was born through the faith of Tamar and by the flesh of Judah who refused to trust in God’s provision in levirate marriage. As the seventh generation of Perez, God brought about Obed. At this time God used and honored the faith of both ‘Boaz and Ruth’.  As the third generation of a servant Obed, David was born to be the servant of people of Israel, to whom God promised to bring the real savior of the nation: again, when it was impossible to bring forth a savior among men, God did through the faith of Mary: God himself fathered His son, the Savior in the way of levirate marriage.  

Overall the book of Ruth speaks of how God would save His people.

1.       The Law of Covenant is the important rule of life that leads His people to the life of salvation or to have the Savior.

2.       It is through a savior by God’s power.

3.       The saving grace is for those who put their trust in the Lord and come back in repentance to His blessing even when there is no hope in sight.

4.       It is all by God’s power and in His grace.