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

Ruth 4:1-22

Key Verse 14-15

This chapter answers the question, “Can the family of Elimelek be redeemed after suffering such punishment from the LORD?” We can rephrase, “Can Naomi’s life be redeemed?” These questions are directly associated with the question if Israel could be redeemed even after the devastating judgment of the LORD.

God called Abraham and promised His blessing for his descendants. The LORD fulfilled His promise by creating a nation Israel, establishing ‘father- first son’ relationship with her through the Covenant, and giving the land of His blessing. Having fulfilled His promise, Israel was to live with a new identity as God’s first son, blessed and distinctively holy apart from the people of the world. But as the history of Judges showed and as the life of the family of Elimelek showed, Israel and the most promising clan in Ephrathah failed and was literally obliterated. This was the most pathetic and hopeless situation. Humanly speaking, there was no hope for the family and for the nation Israel.

But as these two widows came back to the land of God’s blessing, Ruth, a Moabite woman, widow of Mahlon, was caught the attention of Boaz because of her ‘godly love’ for her mother in law and for the family of her husband, Mahlon.  In his compassion, Boaz helped Ruth to glean grains from his field. This went on three months and the harvest was about to end. Though Boaz cares for Ruth and Naomi, he did not show any further interest in Ruth. Naomi devised a plan to test Boaz’s will and told Ruth to lie down at the foot of Boaz on the threshing floor. In the middle of the night, Boaz woke up and found that Ruth committed to giving her life to redeem the family of her husband Mahlon. Being moved by her ‘godly love (Hezed kind of love), Boaz promised her of finding the redeemer of her family, the next day.

Today’s passage is the ending of this story; Boaz redeemed the family of Elimelek by buying back the land of Elimelek and took Ruth, Mahlon’s wife, as his. Though Boaz was old enough to be Ruth’s father, the Lord enabled Ruth to bear a child, Obed.  This newborn baby became the hope of the family of Elimelek, and his widow, Naomi. It will be divided into four parts: 1) I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate (1-8); 2)Boaz acquired the property and Ruth (9-12); 3) the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son (13-17); 4)The family line continues to David (18-22)

1.     I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate (1-8)

When Boaz came to know that Ruth had an undeterred will to give herself for the redemption of her family, he was deeply moved by her life-giving sacrificial love for her family. He got up early the next morning and went straight to the gate of the town, to meet the kinsman-redeemer of Elimelek’s family. Just as he got to the gate, the man came out to the gate. Boaz caught him just in time. Immediately he called the elders of the town together and started a legal proceeding. He told them that Naomi, the wife of Elimelek, is selling a property belong to Elimelek, her husband.

3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek.

Here I like to stop for a moment to bring some understanding of Naomi’s situation. She did not own property but had a right to redeem the land belonged to her husband Elimelek. What does this mean?

God said this to Israel, Lev 25:23 "The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.” The land as a whole is God’s and God gave each tribe, clans, and families a certain portion of the land. This does not mean that they own the land. The land is permanently God’s and God gave them a right to stay and use the land of His blessing. This right is theirs only and no one takes away this right. Because of this, they cannot sell it for good though they can sell the right to use the land for a time being.  Also, once one sold the right to use the land, they have a right to redeem it back to him again; in other words, to the Lord, the land was given to that specific tribe, clan, family unless God rescinds that ‘covenant’, which God has not done so far. Israel or each clan or family of Israel has an inalienable right to redeem the land. Since it is God’s, the inhabitant of God’s land resides as foreigners and strangers. And yet God’s promise for His blessing gave them the inalienable right to redeem the land. Living in this land of God is to live in God’s blessing. These two cannot be thought separately. It is owned and operated according to God’s commanding principle of life, i.e. the Law of Covenant—the constitution of God’s blessing. Simply the land and the people living in it must be holy as the King of the Land God is holy. This means that any violation of the Law of Covenant must be rectified in order to keep on living the blessed life in the land of God. Any violation of the Law will incur two unwanted outcomes (as the covenant curses notes in Lev): first, losing or sale of the land to someone else, and second, death of the person. God knew with certainty that they would violate the Law of Covenant and made provisions to restore both of these two back to his people even after they fall off of God’s blessing. These provisions indicate that God’s ultimate purpose was not to punish but to have them in His blessing for good. Nevertheless, the restoration has to come fully to enjoy God’s blessing.  The restoration must come to both the land and the people. The provision for the restoration of the land back to the original owner was giving them a right to redeem the land back to himself The provision for the restoration of people is the duty of levirate marriage (Deu 25:5-10).  

When Naomi was greeted by her hometowns’ people, she described the true reality of her situation; 1:21 “I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty.” Naomi’s situation, widowed and destitute, depicts well the worst or the ultimate outcome of the life in the violation of the Law of Covenant.  Her situation as the only widow of Elimelek’s family denotes the total lostness of God’s blessing, losing the land and having no heir to inherit the asset that God gave to the family.

Now when it says that Naomi is selling a piece of the land, it meant that she has a right to redeem the land back to her family and is looking for someone who will redeem it on behalf of her. Lev 25:25-28 lists three ways to redeem the land; first, the one who sold the land was to buy back the land. Second, the kinsman-redeemer is to redeem the land on behalf of his brother. Third, at the time of Jubilee, regardless of what happened, the land shall be returned to the original owner. At this time, no payment is necessary. It is given back freely without any charge. As of now, Naomi has only one choice, the nearest relative since she is poor and since the year Jubilee is far away and she can not wait for it. In this way, she is exercising her right to redeem the land back to her family, an inalienable right given by the Lord. 

But she is poor and has no money. If one of Elimelek’s brother comes forward to buy the piece of the land, then, the land would have hope to be returned to Elimelek’s family.]]

So, Boaz requested this man’s decision:

“If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line." (4bc)

What if the land is not redeemed back to Elimelek’s family? It would be lost for good and the land, as well as the family, would be totaled obliterated from the land of God’s blessing.  Also, it was an urgent matter as Boaz knew the situation of Naomi and Ruth. It was urgent in two ways; first Naomi, the only surviving family was in poverty, making a living day by day by the grace of strangers. If the harvest time is over and they would be very vulnerable to all kinds of lures of the ungodly men of the society. Also, she is old and if she dies, then there was no one who has the right to claim the land back to the family.  Though there are three ways to redeem the land back to the family, for Naomi, more precisely for the family of Elimelek, the only hope is the kinsman redeemer, the closest member of Elimelek. Can he or will he redeem it? As Boaz demanded a decision right there, the redeemer said, "I will redeem it."  He was willing to redeem the land. It is good that he was willing to redeem the land. Then Boaz explained further what entails the redeeming of the family.

5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."

As noted, there are two provisions to bring back the blessings of God to the family. One is the land and the other is an heir. Both are hung on the shoulder do the kinsman-redeemer. If the heir is still alive, there is only a need to redeem the land only. But if there is no heir, the nearest kin, the brother of the deceased, is obligated to marry the widow of the deceased so that the son through her might continue the family line.

Right now, the land is under someone other than the family or relative of Elimelek. If the kinsman-redeemer was to buy the land back to Elimelek’s family then, he had to acquire Ruth, the dead man’s widow. Here the word, ‘buy’ and ‘acquire’ are the same word with the same meaning, buying. It is a somewhat strange concept for us. This is tied to the fact that we are sold as a slave to sin (Rom 7:14). The nation of Israel was born into slavery in Egypt. Naomi’s situation exactly depicts what we all human being are under the power of sin. 

Then the kinsman-redeemer said;

6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

As he heard that he had to take Ruth as his wife, he realized that that would endanger his estate. Why taking Ruth would endanger his estate? When he redeems the land, he had to pay a large sum of money to the person who had the control of the land; or the person to whom Elimelek sold his land. If he marries Ruth and gets a son, then, the property would go to the son and he would not benefit from the land that he paid a large lump sum of money. Or he did not have enough time to recover the money spent to buy back the land. Then he himself has to sell some of his property to make up for the loss. This would not be a good way. Simply he did not have enough asset to buy the land and he was not able to redeem the land on behalf of Elimelek’s family, or on behalf of Naomi/Ruth. It is possible that he was reluctant because of his selfish motive or he did not have faith in God. Nevertheless, this seems to be very unlikely.

7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) 8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.

In his mind, there was no doubt that he had no ability to redeem both the land and the family.  He assertively expressed his decision not to redeem by taking off his sandal and gave it to Boaz and said “Buy it yourself” In his mind, there is no hesitation and lingering emotion to do or not to redeem. It has nothing to do with his will or his disaffection to Ruth or Naomi. It has to do with his ability or the possession he had was not sufficient to do so. This decisive action shows one thing clear: the redeemer is unable to redeem.

It is a serious problem if the whole clan fails and has no one to be able to redeem. What if the society as a whole fails the Lord and comes under God’s punishment? No one can redeem the whole nation! What God purported for each of Israel tribes or clans came under great jeopardy.

Eventually, the entire nation Israel failed the Lord and came under God’s punishment, leaving no ‘kinsman-redeemer’ for any clan, or tribe. As we know through the history of Israel, the eventually all Israel fell through the Covenant and God punished them as a whole, or as a nation (their exile to Babylon). If all were sent to exile and there was no one who could redeem, then, it is a crisis for the very existence of the nation. If so, then, a redeemer must come from someone other than their clan or tribe members.

Is this applicable to the nation Israel only? I believe that all the nations of the world are under the same covenant of the LORD. What about the land that we are living, the USA? What role do we believers have in this regard? Many pagan ideas and religious beliefs are making an inroad to America and actually are here making waves of issues.  The most tragic outcome will be the situation when or where no redeemer is found or available. Though the ultimate redeemer is Jesus, we are to be or to live like the kinsman redeemers until all people see the redemption in Christ.  Jesus’ last teaching captures this principle in a most powerful way, combining love and redeeming work: John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Here the love is not the kind of loves that the world is asking for. In its essence, it is the will and work of redeeming.

Going back to Elimelek’s family, if the kinsman-redeemer cannot redeem, and there is no other one who could redeem the land back to the family, the risk is high; the land would be lost for good as far as Elimelek’s family was concerned. In this pathetic and hopeless situation, what can possibly be done? Who owns the land? Who owns the people in it? It is the LORD. He gave the land to Elimelek’s family.  If Elimelek’s family ends in this way without a redeemer, without a son, and without an inheritance in the land of God’s blessing, this would be far more tragic and pathetic. Then one may ask if this is the end of the life in covenant with the LORD, then what is of value to make a covenant with the LORD? In Him, men utterly failed. Now, all falls on God’s shoulder! He is the owner of the land and the owner of those whom he chose to live in this land of His blessing. He is obligated by the covenant that He and Israel ratified.  But God did not leave Elimelek’s family unredeemed.

2.     Boaz acquired the property and Ruth (9-12)

Boaz showed his compassion for Ruth and Naomi from the moment he heard of their return to the land. He provided protection and care for Ruth for the last three months. Though he was a distant family of Elimelek, he should not be the redeemer because there are few reasons, he should not be the one. According to the Law (Lev 25), the redemption of the land could be done in three ways. First, the one who sold the land can buy back the land. Second, the kinsman-redeemer is to redeem his brother. Third, at the time of Jubilee, regardless of what happened, the land shall be returned to the original owner. At this time, no payment is necessary. It is given back freely without any charge. In the case of Elimelek’s family, the first option is not possible since all died and the widows are poor. The second option is possible. But the redeemer could not redeem the land of Elimelek because it will endanger his asset. Simply he did not have enough asset or resource to redeem. Only the third option is available. Boaz was only a distant redeemer for the family and was not one of the options mentioned in Lev 25. In addition, he was too old to take Ruth as his wife. And even if he takes Ruth as his wife, it is uncertain if she would bear a child or not since Boaz was an old man, like the father of Ruth. These were the likely reasons that he did not move further to any relationship with this family, though he had compassion and care for Ruth and Naomi.  The law precluded him to pursue their need and his age left him a lingering doubt to do so. Most likely these were the reasons why he remained quiescent for the whole time of harvest.

But Naomi thought that his care was of the LORD and at the same time, Ruth took Naomi’s faith all the way to expressing her will to give her life for the sake of the family. Being encouraged by the force of faith in Ruth, he was so much moved and took an action immediately without hesitation. In other words, Boaz saw an unequivocal call for the need for redemption from Ruth. Faith is the thing that God looks for from his people. Naomi saw this hope as she saw Ruth bringing an abundance of grain from the harvest field. She saw God’s provision for her family through Boaz and Ruth took that faith and put into action by faith with a commitment to give her life for the good of the family.

When faith meets faith, it accords with each other and they become powerful for a perfect tool for God’s will. God wants such powerful and committed faith among his people. In such faith, God is truly honored and upheld as the LORD of life among His people. Boaz had remained quiescent but being prompted by the faith of these two women, he made a swift move; to find the redeemer and to make a decision to redeem this family. So as soon as Boaz saw and heard the primary kinsman redeemer’s will not to redeem, he moved forward and declared among all elders of the town.

 

9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "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!"

There was no hesitation. His decision was swift and clear. Among all the town leaders, he declared that he has bought Naomi and all the property of Elimelech, and his two sons. What was the primary purpose of this move? He was doing this 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. For this is the purpose of God for his people. The faithful’s return shall be redeemed back to his land and to God’s blessing. If it was a great cost for the kinsman-redeemer, enough to shake up his asset, then it would certainly cost a large sum of money to Boaz as well. Yet he was willing to pay for it for he had an abundance of God’s blessing. For him, it was not a matter of his ability to or not to redeem but a matter of God’s will on the faithful. At any cost, he would redeem the family. The faithful must be redeemed. This was God’s will and Boaz was glad to do it. He wanted to let his will be known among all elders of the town. “You are the witness of this;” Though it was Boaz who did this, in the depth of the matter, it was the will of God, the LORD who made the Covenant with His people Israel. Boaz demanded of the elders to be witnesses for this act of redemption.  

11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

The elders saw this not just as a private affair of one man, Boaz, and the family of Elimelech. They saw something remarkable in this event. a) They saw the faith of Ruth and her faith is like the one of Rachel and Leah. These sisters loved Jacob and bore many children. Their love for Jacob was intense enough to bear 12 children. This union was like a new beginning of the family of Jacob, in whom God multiplied to 12 children. Now the famous family in Ephrathah is totally decimated and was about to extinct. But through the union of Boaz and Ruth, God’s blessing may overflow and have so many children.  What does it mean? These are the children of faith, the children like Boaz, and like Ruth. b) They compared this family with Perez. Judah’s family was about to extinct when his first two sons died. If there was not Tamar, Judah would be without children and his name would have been cut off for good. But through the faith of Tamar, Perez was born and the generation of faith continued. Likewise, though the prominent faithful family of Elimelek suffered extinction, God recreated the family by providing a distant redeemer. As a whole, the elders saw one thing, the revival of faith and the revival of the family of that faith. c) This union shines a new light for the town Ephrathah. God sustained their faith through repeated works of redemption: Judah/Tamarà Judah for BenjaminàPerezà Salmon/Rahab àBoaz

What does it mean? They, the elders of the town, were the witness of the fact that the LORD is the God of redemption. All these happened in the town of Ephrathah, Bethlehem in and of this town God spoke His will to redeem. This will was put into action by sending His son Jesus. “I will redeem you by my own hand” God spoke this message loudly and clearly through the story of Ruth.

3.     The LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son (13-17)

Boaz chose to buy the land and to take Ruth as his wife, believing that through this marriage, the family line of Elimelek could continue. It is not clear if Naomi had a hope of having a son through Boaz or not (3:1) and if Ruth believed she could bear a son by Boaz (3:9b) for both of them did not express explicitly of having a son. It is fair to say that such hope was not in view according to their words. In other words, Naomi’s hope was to provide a house of rest for Ruth and Ruth’s hope was to provide a shelter for Naomi.  But Boaz’s purpose of taking Ruth was clear.

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.

But Boaz’s word shows that he had a clear hope to bear a child through Ruth.  Actually, this was the primary purpose of his will to redeem Naomi’s family. Did he believe that he could bear a child because he was young enough?

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

The LORD enabled her to bear a son. God’s special care and power let her bear a child. It is God’s will to reward the faith of Naomi and Ruth. Boaz did not have any tangible benefit on this as the kinsman-redeemer indicated, other than the joy of having a new family and God’s amazing grace in them. [In this respect, what Boaz did was a full representation of the will and love of God the father.]

God did not let his faithful suffer fruitlessly. It was a new beginning for the family of Elimelek that was about to be extinct from the earth. GOD made this possible to show His will to redeem those who come back to him in full surrender to His grace.

14 The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth." 16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, "Naomi has a son!" And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Naomi was the only remnant of Elimelek’s family. She went away in full and came back empty. (1:21). But God provided a guardian-redeemer for her. Through Boaz’s redemption of the land and the family, her life was renewed and could be sustained in her old age. Nevertheless, what Boaz did for her was limited and of very temporal value since Boaz and Naomi were old. The true and full redemption of the family came through the boy. The boy became

the true meaning of her living in hope that would go beyond her lifetime. He was the lasting hope for the family of Elimelek.

How could a family devastated by sin be redeemed fully? There was Naomi’s decision to come back to the LORD. Ruth’s life-giving commitment to the God of Israel. Also, there was Boaz, a man filled with God’s ‘Hezed’ love. But the ultimate hope came through the LORD who enabled Boaz and Ruth bears a child, Obed.  The name ‘Obed’ is a short form of Obadiah (worshipper), praising God for his amazing grace for her and her family. A family suffered God’s punishment. But the ultimate purpose of the LORD in doing so was for her to see the LORD as the true LORD of all and we are to worship him. Ultimately, he is the provider of redemption for his chosen. In this way, God spoke His will to redeem His people when they come back to him in repentance. Here three faithful are so important because God uses these faithful people to fulfill the work of the redemption of the family.

4.     God runs the history of salvation to provide a king for His people (18-22).  

V18-22 lists the genealogy that ends in King David. The makeup of genealogy is God’s domain because no men can control the future and the future belongs solely to God’s prerogative. Here the genealogy starts from Perez and continues through Boaz, then to Obed, Jesse, and then David, the final figure ending in the tenth generation. This genealogy points to David as the consummating figure of the entire event of the story of Ruth. 

David is an answer to the solution for the problems that the family of Elimelek went under.  That is the utter failure of His people to live according to the law of Covenant when there was no leader or the one who can empower them to live up to the Covenant. The root of such failure or the cause of such failure is noted in Judges 21:25 (In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.) What does it mean that everyone did as they saw fit? Does it mean that they followed their own desires by ignoring the Law of Covenant? Highly unlikely! Elimelek knew that it was not right to move to Moab according to the Law or not the will of God for he intended to stay there for a while (1:1).  Also, we looked into the situations whereby Elimelek faced in and around the town Ephrathah, Bethlehem. Simply it was not an outright willful rebellion against the LORD in making such a decision. With the best reasonable estimation, he felt compelled to move to escape threatening situations of the time when and where the confluence of all kinds of sins of men came about. But the Law demands absolute obedience. This is the obedience even to the point of death. God demands such obedience because He is the LORD, the owner, and author of our lives. “The best and reasonable” approaches to the Law will surely found insufficient in the eyes of God and shall surely incur such punishment.   We sin not because we happened to have a wrong idea or evil intention but because our being is in and of sin, unable to meet God’s holiness even to the best of our ability. The entire history of Judges over 265 years addresses this one issue. We are sinners by nature and we cannot keep up with the Law of Covenant. We fall far short of God’s glory. We need redemption to be and to remain as His people in the land of His blessing. When and how could the help come?

The family of Elimelek needed a redeemer. Also, in order to sustain God’s blessing, this family or the nation Israel needs a king. This genealogy gives one answer to these two problems. The redeemer must also be the king. Or the king must be a redeemer-king.

David was the king that God chose and was happy with. The backdrop of this choice was God’s strong denial of his predecessor, King Saul as the ruler for His people.  God rejected him because of his arrogance and chose David because of his humility before Him. So, God called him a man after His own heart.  In other words, David had the particular character that God wanted to see in the one who would lead His people. That character is something of a shepherd heart. The ultimate form of the shepherd heart is will to redeem His people. This is most powerfully and distinctively revealed in what Boaz did.

Boaz’s heart or his will to redeem was shown from the time of his first encounter with Ruth and continued throughout until he saw the full redemption of the family came about through the birth of the baby Obed. The essence of this was his shepherd heart for the lost. Naomi recognized this (2:20, hezed). “hezed-love” denotes a distinctive love of God for all sinners. He loves Israel when he punishes them for their sins as much as when he blesses his people for their godliness. Hezed love of God is geared to one goal, the salvation of man. In this regard, the most powerful and distinctive expression of God’s hezed-love is Jesus’ crucifixion on behalf of sinners.

The most powerful expression of his shepherd heart was exhibited from the moment of decision to find redemption for Ruth/Naomi to the time when he told his will to redeem the land to Ruth and the family to the time to announce his purchase of both the land and Ruth (3:11-4:10). The most difficult huddle was ‘the cost’ needed to redeem the land and the family together. The cost was enormous that the kinsman-redeemer could not buy both, the land and Ruth. But Boaz decided without hesitation for he was willing to pay the cost no matter how much it would be. Boaz bought the land and acquired Ruth. Here the verb ‘acquired’ is the same word ‘bought’ in Hebrew; simple purchase something like buying merchandise. In this way, in the process of redeeming both, buying and the cost of buying are emphasized. 

Here also we come to know that the central act of shepherd heart (Hezed love) is to pay the cost to redeem. That is life-giving sacrifice! The true compassion and shepherd heart always express itself with life-giving sacrifice or paying the cost of sin. This is well expressed in Jesus’ last word to his disciples (John 13:34).

This genealogy connects Boaz, a man of hezed love, to David, the redeemer king. This became possible by the birth of Obed, the genuine redeemer for Naomi or the family of Elimelek. The birth of Obed is the power of God and an expression of God’s will to redeem His people and His will to bring about ‘redeemer king’ or ‘shepherd king’ for His people. In this way, for the first time, God revealed his plan to send shepherd king.  

At the darkest hour of Israel history, God shone a great light, his will to send a shepherd king to redeem and to save His people for His eternal blessing. What God did for the family of Elimelek in Ephrathah Bethlehem faced speaks loudly, “the LORD will redeem His people no matter how worse they messed up themselves.”

What does it mean to us?

It is striking that our present situation is very similar to the time of Judges. First, God has established in and among us the three things that God did for Israel; a clear identity as His people, the principle of life to sustain God’s blessing, and the land in which they were to live and prosper in God’s blessing. God’s call for us in Christ gave us a clear identity as His children. Jesus laid out the clear principle of the truth for life, the cross of Jesus and all message that Jesus’ cross embodies. We do not have a human ruler living with us as was with Jews in the period of Judges. This is most prominent in Western society where individual freedom is maximized. Second, God gave us a free will to keep up with God’s blessing given through Jesus. Third, as the successful life in the land of the blessing of the Jews depended on how they kept up with the Covenant, so we have free will to keep up with God’s blessing in Christ.

At present, America as a whole has the largest population of Christians. The US is leading among them. People gain more freedom; this freedom is used to suit their own needs. This society is getting like the time of Judges; at the heart of such chaos is the no fear of the Lord and from the Levites and the people; the religious leader failed to uphold the message of the cross in order to pursue their own good and benefits. In and among the faithful, the disrespect to the Lord is spreading widely and its expression is seen in disrespect to the Levites of this time, all the religious leaders.  

The Jews failed thoroughly to honor the one who is invisible and violated the Law of Covenant. But we must not. Instead, though He is invisible, and sitting at the right hand of God, we are to relate with him for His spirit is with us. We are to live like Boaz, Naomi, or Ruth to bring salvation for the lost. We are to participate in the work of Christ, with hezed love.