Ruth 4 - Providence

Introduction

Charles’ Spurgeon once said “my entire theology can be summed up in four words: Jesus died for me.” This is the cornerstone of all Christian thought and devotion, and definitely serves as the key for our whole way of living.

But as we grow more mature in Christ, we should be growing in our understanding and appreciation of the reality of the Christian faith, and we should learn more and more of what we mean by “Jesus died for me.”

Our study of Romans has been for this one purpose: so that we would learn more and more of the beauty of the Gospel, so that we would be more and more intentional to carry the beautiful Gospel to the ends of the earth.

The book of Ruth has taught us a great deal so far about God and His good plan. We have seen the women in crisis, and then in sorrow return from the disobedience Elimelech led them into. We have seen the lights start to come on in Naomi’s dark world as she begins to have hope in God’s good plan. We have seen God act with abundant grace in Naomi and Ruth’s life, as Ruth makes a radical act of faith and God is pleased to reward that faith. Today, we get to spend some time at the conclusion of the story, and as we do so, I want us to examine that kinsmen-redeemer concept David touched on last week. As we do, I think we are going to find some things in Boaz’ life seem very, very famliar to us. Let’s move through the story a few verses at the time today and see what we see.

1. A Kinsman Redeemer

When chapter three ends, we hear Naomi with some words of wisdom about Boaz: “the man will not rest but will settle the matter today.” In other words, Naomi recognizes that one of the most inevitable forces on earth is a man who has found his beloved and must pursue her! Awwww. But there is even more to it than this. What Boaz is going to do in this chapter is going to change the outcome of Naomi’s family and life for the good, forever!

David touched on this idea of being a kinsmen redeemer last week. This week, we get a behind the scenes look at exactly how this all went down.

So, I am fascinating by scenes like this in the Bible, because we can learn so, so much about what the culture of the time was like! But there is so, so much going on here other than that. Let’s take a bit here and look at Boaz, the Kinsman Redeemer and see if we see anything else that looks familiar to us.

He was willing to pay the price (1-6)

Ruth 4:1–6 ESV

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. And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 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. 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.” 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.” 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.”

He went right away to the city gate (1-3) - So, our man Boaz isn’t messing around here. The elders of the city would sit at the city gate, and there is where business transactions and other important decisions would take place. So, he goes and sits at the gate, and waits for a number of witnesses to show up, telling each one to just wait right there, until he had gotten 10 men, which would have sufficed for the needed witnesses. While he is at it, he has the man who was a closer relative sit there as well.

Now, once again, you are supposed to see the providential hand of God. It “just so happened” that the relative he needed to see came through the gate at just the right time!

Once they are all seated, he can begin telling the story, and he starts with the part he knows that the closer relative will be excited about: there is a piece of land involved!

Boaz gives him the bottom line: take it or leave it. But what he does not do is tell this relative yet that there is a widow involved. The fact that Naomi was selling the land here shows just how desperate the situation must be for her. It’s hard for us to fully understand, but for the Hebrew, land, spiritual life, and future blessings were all bound up together. This was a desperate move on Naomi’s part, and the other relative would have known this.

The law of being a kinsman redeemer was intended to keep the land in the family. One of the commentators I read this week remarked that this law was a “law of love, not a means of financial gain.” But Boaz has to defer here to the closer relative. And it seems like the closer relative will take it! Again, this is all intended to build up the anticipation in our minds; would Boaz lose here? That can’t be how this goes! But Boaz is showing a little wisdom here, so he goes on.

In v. 5, after the relative has committed, he begins to tell him the other part of the deal: he will also be redeeming Ruth. Now the transaction is different. When there is simply land involved, there was little risk to this relative. He had, as it were, nothing to lose and everything to gain. But when Ruth is added to the equation, it changes quickly. Why? Well, first of all, in a situation like this one, the first child born to Ruth would have been considered a son of Ruth’s deceased husband, not this relative. As such, he would have inherited Naomi’s and Ruth’s land. When the child was grown, the redeemer would have lost the field and there would have been no benefit for him to make up for the costs of caring for Naomi and Ruth.

In addition, Boaz is quick to emphasize “Ruth the Moabitess.” She wasn’t from around there! Marrying a Moabite had great potential to harm this relative’s reputation.

One of the commentators summarizes the relative this way: “Mr. So and So was interested in ministry to the poor only if there was a payoff for himself and his family.” It was too much sacrifice for this guy, so he says “after further review, I am out.”

And that is exactly what Boaz needed to hear! There is a strong contrast here, that shows us what a true redeemer is: a true redeemer is willing to pay the price. Now, I wonder if that sounds familiar? Do we know of another redeemer in the Bible that was willing to pay the price to redeem a people, and who gained nothing by doing so? Hmmm.

He was the right redeemer (7-12)

Ruth 4:7–12 ESV

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. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 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. 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.” 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, 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.”

So this passage gives us some insights into how transactions took place in Bible times. To confirm the transacation, you gave the other person your sandal! Now, this seems strange, right? Why would you do this? Well, here is the answer: no one is totally sure. For what its worth, if our Lord tarries, there will be some things about our culture that people will find puzzling a thousand years for now too. In fact, we already see this happening! Talk to your kids about VHS, or cassette tapes, or corded, rotary dial telephones. Anyway, the deal has been sealed in the presence of witnesses.

The people witness the transaction, then something amazing happens. The witnesses begin to pray a very specific blessing on Boaz. Two different blessings are in place here in 11-12. First, the women pray that they would be like Rachel and Leah, and so build up the house of Israel. Then they pray that their house would be like the house of Perez, who was the son of Judah and Tamar. What a fascinating couple to include in a blessing. I don’t know if you remember our time in Genesis, but Judah didn’t exactly kill it as a patriarch, especially in the Tamar issue. There is a whole sermon tucked into that passage about how God redeems not just people, but stories, but we need to move on. For today, Perez was Boaz great, great, great, great grandfather, and now all of a sudden we see that Boaz was from the tribe of Judah. Well now, that makes a difference doesn’t it?

then the end of this blessing: that the offspring of this woman would be a blessing to the family of Boaz. The whole story of the Old Testament is of the seed of Abraham, and how God is carrying out the promise He made to Abraham, so that little phrase “the seed of the woman” carries incredible weight.

He was an able redeemer (13-15)

Ruth 4:13–15 ESV

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 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 given birth to him.”

Naomi’s line will not end! There is more in store for this family! In verse 13, the weeping of Naomi is turned to joy as God is pleased to bring a son. And the women who know Naomi now sing a song of joy

There is an intentional difference in the response of the women from chapter one, when they ask “is this Naomi?” to “blessed be the Lord!” (14)

and then in verse 15, we read this blessing again, and look at the incredible language here. These women are seeing the hand of the Lord through the blessing of a baby. Now, you can really get me started on this, but suffice it to say this baby points us towards another one, who would be far more substantial than this one!

But, this had to be more than just any ordinary baby. “A restorer of life and a nourisher of old age?” And then, check the name here - Obed, which means “servant.” And then, we get the great surprise of the whole story!

2. The Great Surprise (17-22)

Ruth 4:17–22 ESV

And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

There

This isn’t just any family; it’s David’s family! (4:17)

Note how 4:18 begins - “now these are the generations.” Toledot - the formula in Genesis to mark the transition from one period of Genesis history to another. Between all the references to the child being a “seed,” and now this storytelling formula, we can see that the author is intentionally tying this to Genesis, why?

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

We are still looking for the head crusher here! Could it possibly come as the offspring of a Jew and a Moabite?

God’s promise is being advanced and fulfilled! This culminates in the King that God promised would always have a son on the throne! But wait, there is more! Look with me at Matthew’s genealogy:

Matthew 1:5 ESV

and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,

Matthew names 5 women in his genealogy as he connects Abraham to Jesus. Each one for a specific reason. Let’s think about what we have learned in the story of Ruth the Moabitess:

God’s promises will ALWAYS be fulfilled

God uses ordinary people to fulfill extraordinary purposes

Jesus came from, and came for, every tribe, tongue and nation

God is not slow as some count slowness

Fullness will never come through going your own way.

God will accomplish His purposes

God’s plan for His people must come through redemption.

We are powerless to redeem ourselves.

And that is the great part of Ruth. It sits as the grand conclusion of a story of redemption that points us to the greatest story of redemption. Let’s think again about what Boaz does here:

Boaz is a willing redeemer, who for the joy set before him, took on Ruth, who could offer nothing for him, but gained everything by Him.

Jesus is the willing redeemer, who through His work propitiated our sins and purchased us for God. Not because He gains anything from our redemption, but from His love for us, and we gain everything because of that redemption.

Boaz is a resourceful redeemer, who had the means to redeem and so purchased the right to redeem Ruth and, by association, Naomi and her family line.

Jesus was the only one who could redeem from sin, who through His blood purchased men from death and sin and granted them eternal life.

Boaz was an able redeemer, who was related to Naomi and so could fulfill the laws of redemption.

Jesus was the able redeemer, who was like us in every way, and yet without sin. Who was everything Adam could not be, and in becoming man could fulfill the law perfectly so that we would be set free from the law of death.

When you read this story in light of what we know about Jesus, it is impossible to miss what the author was doing here. Charles Spurgeon spoke of the scarlet thread which connects the whole storyline of the Bible to the person and work of Jesus. Can you see it, my friend? This whole story, from one end to another, is the story of the Gospel:

We sinners go our own way.

There is a moment of crisis, and we are powerless to change our estate

Our redeemer comes to us, takes the initiative and purchases us.

This is the story of Ruth: God’s providential plan to redeem a Moabite woman, from whom would come the One who would redeem His people! God’s good providence is on full display here. These people would not have known who David even was. They would have been dumbfounded at the idea that the Messiah would come through their line. Everything in their story seemed very close, very personal. But all the while, God was at work doing much, much bigger things.

I wonder if you are aware that the Hebrew Old Testament is arranged differently than our English translations? The Hebrew Bible is arranged by theme: Law, so the first five, Prophets, and then Writings, which includes wisdom literature. In the Hebrew Bible, when the book of Proverbs finishes its recounting of the woman of virtue in Proverbs 31, it ends with “charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

Do you know what immediately follows this passage? “In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.” Do you see friends? Ruth is for us a model of that Proverbs 31 woman. But why? Not just because she considered a field, or because her children rose up and called her blessed. Because she feared the Lord.

Ladies, do you want to be a Proverbs 31 woman? I hope so. Fear the Lord!

Now, there is another model of righteousness here, and that is of Boaz. It is no coincidence that the first word out of Boaz’ mouth in this story is the name of the Lord. There is a charge for men here too, and it is the same exact one: fear the Lord!

What is Ruth 4 telling me to do?

Fear the Lord!

Fear the Lord in crisis. He intends good for His people.

Fear the Lord in sorrow: His purposes will ripen fast.

Fear the Lord with hope: He certainly will accomplish it.

Fear the Lord by grace: He has made a way for us.

Fear the Lord in providence: His ways are high and better.

This is the great lesson for us in Ruth - fear the Lord! Trust Him, and His ways as better than your ways, and his thoughts as higher than your thoughts. We have no way to know everything that God is doing, but we can have certainty that everything that God is doing is good.

Dear Christian, fear the Lord. Trust Him. Cast your anxieties on Him. Be obedient to His Word, live in light of His grace, and wait patiently on Him.

Gospel: God, in His providence, has seen fit for you to hear this today. Would you trust Him?

Benediction: Proverbs 1:7

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.