A Child Redeemer

Introduction

Two weeks ago we looked at this climactic passage in Ruth in which Boaz is able to step into his role as the Kinsman-Redeemer of this family, able to pay the cost for this family’s redemption, committed to his own self-sacrifice for the sake of Ruth and Naomi. We remember the climactic scene at the city gate with the other potential redeemer; Dave presented it as a movie, the big final act! If that was the climax, then today’s passage is the final resolution, or to borrow a word from high school English class: it’s the denouement, the tying together of the story in which everything is resolved.

This is the scene at the end of the romantic comedy, after the great declaration of love has been made, cut to their wedding, or cut to their expecting a child. Here, from the big moment of redemption and cut to Ruth and Boaz getting married and having a baby in a single verse [SLIDE: Ruth 4:13]. This is what the whole book of Ruth has been building to, the redemption of the family though fulfilled in Boaz’s actions early in chapter 4 is now fullly realized through the birth of this child and the continuing of this family line. These verses—13-22—are the resolution to the opening passages in Ruth: a family line stopped because of the death of Naomi’s husband and her sons, a Naomi that calls herself bitter and sees herself as empty. Through this child the family line continues, through this child and her redemption Naomi will be called blessed. Everything is tied up and resolved, and that gets us to our main idea today, and it really is the main idea of the whole book of Ruth: Our God is a redeeming God…

We’ll look at two aspects of that redemption today. God is a redeeming God…through ordinary means. …and since the beginning.

…through ordinary means.

One of the things that may be striking to you as we’ve studied the book of Ruth is that it is really lacking the more exciting, miraculous intervention of God. There is no great supernatural occurence, and the most exciting part of the book is Boaz knowing some laws from Leviticus really well. Of course, we would say that God’s hand is involved in every detail of every situation in this story. God is actively at work, just not in the ways we might expect and in ways it might be easy to miss. In this story, God chooses to bring about his plan of redemption through ordinary things. There are no ten plagues, no burning bush, no parting the sea.

Instead, God uses an immigrant widow who is faithful; He uses Boaz, a righteous man with the means and willingness to pay a great cost; God uses the legal system; he uses a wheat harvest, even a famine; and he uses a baby, a baby named Obed. It’s one of the remarkable things about the book of Ruth, that God is at work in all of these small details for the sake of this family.

For us, this is most often how God works. Not in the big, over-the-top ways, but in the day-to-day details of our lives, His hand always at work even when we don’t see it or recognize it.

Though we have said that through the book of Ruth God doesn’t seem so active, there is here an explicit reference to God’s hand at work. Right here in v. 13: “and the Lord gave her conception.” In this little verse that covers so much ground, we also so the active hand of God—the Lord providing a child for Ruth. Ruth who, apparently for ten years, had not been able to conceive when she was married to Naomi’s son in Moab. And yet now, the Lord provided a child, family, one who will support them and carry on the name of this clan.

But this isn’t the first act of God in Ruth. There’s one other moment from the book in which the Lord moved, all the way back in chapter 1:6—6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the Lord had visited his people and given them food. God gave them relief from famine, this event causes Naomi to return to her home in Bethlehem. Over the course of the book of Ruth, the two actions of God are providing food and family for people. I was really struck by this, this is the Lord providing the most basic needs; seemingly ordinary things: food and community. But it’s also fundamental to who we are and what we need. God is good and gracious to meet these needs. And, I daresay if you’ve ever struggled to have enough food or felt the longing for family, for children, for community, you would say these are not ordinary things at all.

This is how God acts and works in our lives, meeting the most fundamental of needs. This is who He has always been. It was pointed out to me that in the Garden of Eden, before sin and the Fall, Adam’s needs were met by God. The need for food—he was told to eat from any tree, except the one—and the need for companionship, partnership, family—God created Eve because it was not good for Adam to be alone. The same needs. You see, even before sin and the fall, God was graciously meeting humanity’s needs.

But it’s not just a child or food with which God provided for Naomi. Look at the next two verses: 14 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! 15 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.

This scene in Ruth 4 is a mirror of a similar scene in Ruth 1 when the women of Bethlehem are there to see Naomi when she returns: “Is this Naomi?” They wondered. Ruth 1:20-21 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. 21 I went away full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. Now the Bethlehem women are back and they observe how richly blessed Naomi is. They rightly give credit to the Lord for providing Naomi a redeemer and they celebrate the incredible gift that Ruth has been to her—“a daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons.”

This may sound like a strange comparison to us. But seven sons—seven being a number related to completeness, wholeness, or fullness—was a way of referring to the ideal family. This is what everyone aspired to, a family with seven sons. Seven sons who could work the land, care for you, carry on the legacy of the family name. And these women are saying that Ruth is, to Naomi, better than the ideal, better than the best this world could offer. God’s gracious gift of this daughter-in-law to Naomi is better than anything for which she could have hoped. This woman from a foreign land who committed herself faithfully to Naomi against her better judgment, this friendship that no one would expect is better.

It is the ordinary and unexpected things that God uses in His plan of redemption. God’s redemption says: I have something better for you than the best of this world. The gospel says, the community of God is better than whatever the ideal of our culture is. Today it may not be a family with seven sons, but we may be tempted to idolize that ideal job, ideal house, idolize our physical appearance. Whatever it is the culture says: “You must have this!” God has something different, better, more fulfilling. Let us forsake the things of this world and instead build into the community of God and the things of His Kingdom and let us be like Ruth to those around us, lifting others us; and let us praise God for the gift of community.

It’s not just Ruth, these women celebrate, they also praise God for the birth of Obed. And Obed’s birth situates us into the bigger story of God (not just the story of these two women) and shows us how God has redemptive work has been since active since the beginning.

…since the beginning.

16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 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.

“A son has been born to Naomi,” they celebrate, and this son restores Naomi’s family line.

Now, remember what the women said in v. 14: “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer…” Who is the redeemer the women are referring to? I think there’s a level of ambiguity here. Maybe they’re talking about Boaz, the literal kinsman-redeemer. But I think there’s a strong case to be made that they’re referring to Obed. He’s the focus of this passage; the emptiness and cursedness that Naomi felt in chapter 1 is resolved because of this child and the new family she has. Obed becomes the direct response to the inciting problem at the beginning of the book of Ruth: The death of Naomi’s husband and sons. It’s not unreasonable to say this baby is a redeemer.

And are we surprised that there’s a baby who would be called a redeemer? Boaz he had it together, he had the means and the ability to be a redeemer! Even Ruth, if we think of her as a redeemer, it was her agency and commitment that served Naomi so well. But a baby? What can Obed do?

We shouldn’t be surprised at all. This is entirely in line with how God works, it’s been this way since the beginning. When was the first time in the Bible that humanity was in need of redemption? We’d probably say Genesis 3, it didn’t take long, but as soon as sin enters the picture, humanity is in need of restoration and redemption. And how does God respond to the problem of sin in Genesis 3? The first thing he does is he curses the serpent, curses the tempter. And this is what he says to the serpent in Genesis 3:15: 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring a and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Immediately, as soon as sin has entered the picture, God is there with a plan for redemption. The plan? There will be some offspring of this woman, a child, a baby born who will redeem this brokenness and will crush the head of this evil. Humanity’s hope is in a future offspring or child of this woman.

Dutch theologian, Herman Bavinck put it this way: “God did not let the human race start its history without installing in its heart the hope that some day the offspring of the woman would achieve victory over the seed of the serpent.” Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics

You see, God has put the hope of redemption in our hearts since the beginning. A child is coming who will make all of this right! And God uses the birth of children throughout the Bible for redemption, as if each of these small redemptions anticipate the redemption in the One who is to come.

Who else is a baby born in scripture who would go on to become a great redeemer? And don’t think of Jesus quite yet! It’s Moses; almost killed as a baby, yet he would grow up to be, by God’s hand, the rescuer of Israel!

And here we have Obed not just a redeemer for this one family, but, as the text says, Obed is the grandfather of David, the great future King of Israel. Remember the book of Ruth takes place in the time of the Judges, when, it was said, Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. In that context, a child is born and is named Obed—which means servant of God, fitting in a time when so few servants of God seemed to exist—and from him would come the King.

If this were merely a story about a famine, a wheat harvest, and a woman having a baby with Boaz, we probably wouldn’t have the book of Ruth. But this story is an echo of God’s plan and points us forward. Look at these final verses, the genealogy shows us ten generations from Perez (a grandson of Jacob) to King David. This plan has been in the works for a long time.

From Obed comes David, and as great as David is, full, lasting redemption does not come through him…still we wait.

”A son has been born to Naomi.” I hear those words echo throughout scripture. The prophets pick up on this idea of a child that will redeem. Isaiah 9:6 says: 6 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… and he will be called the prince of peace” The prophet anticipates the birth of a child who will redeem! And who is this child. This is answered in Luke 2:11, the angels appear to the shepherds when Jesus is born and say: 11 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

A child is born in the city of David, more like the city of Obed, Ruth, and Naomi. A child born in Bethlehem, a child that will redeem us all. There is a straight line from Obed to Jesus and you don’t even have to leave Bethlehem to get there.

This is the pattern of God’s redemptive work, a pattern that points us to the ultimate redeemer. The story that began in the garden of Eden continues in the book of Ruth, the story of Obed then will continue with David and, finally, to Jesus.

But the story didn’t end with Jesus’ birth. Just as it’s not just Ruth’s story or Naomi’s story, this is our story too. We have been brought into this great story of redemption, and this too has always been the plan. Look at how the Apostle Paul understands our being brought into this story of redemption. This is Ephesians 1.

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…” and continuing in v. 7 In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

In Christ, we are redeemed. By the blood of Jesus we are made clean, where there was sin and unrighteousness, he is making us holy and he calls us righteous. You read passages like Ephesians 1 and you can see the way it reflects Naomi’s story—we go from empty to full, from cursed to saved; from condemned to forgiven, separated from God and now adopted into the family. We stand in the story of Jesus, the story of Obed, of Ruth, of Naomi; by adoption we are brought into this family line.

This is our story and this is the redemption we long for. Not a fleeting fullness, but the fullness of Christ Jesus and the sure and certain hope we have in him. What then is our response? To stand in our story and put everything else in our lives in its proper perspective. Earlier we talked about the ordinary gifts of God, and they are great things, but they point us to the greater gift in Christ and His redemption.

I said at the start that this passage from Ruth is the tying up of all the story, the resolution of this story. It points to our own redemption and points to the resolution of the whole story of scripture. That future day when Jesus will restore all things.

Revelation 21:3-4

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

Theses last few verses of the book of Ruth point us to David and His Kingdom, and ultimately the everlasting Kingdom of Jesus Christ this full redemption of all. Look, this little passage at the end of Ruth has gotten us to look at so much of the scope of God’s redemptive history, from Genesis to Revelation.

What does it mean to live into our place in this redemptive story? Let us follow the faithful examples of those in the story. The faithful commitment of Ruth to Naomi, the righteous obedience of Boaz, serving others at great cost to himself. Let us be faithful to one another and a community that is not based on blood, but a community based on Christ and a shared redemptive story. Let us live with the hope of what is to come. No more tears, no more pain. We experience it now, just as Naomi did. But we are not without hope, we can come alongside others, serve and love others and point them to this hope.

Church, when you think of the book of Ruth, remember this: God is at work in your lives, in the day-to-day, the ordinary, and the simple; and remember that you have a redeemer. This is your story, you are restored, you are made new because of Jesus, and one day all things will be set right. Amen.