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In
part 3 of our study we looked at how Ruth was seen as
a woman of excellence. In this last part of our study,
we will see how Boaz was indeed a man of love in the
truest sense of the word. Chapter 4 is not merely a
romantic ending to a nice story, it is a great illustration
of the love that Jesus Christ has for us.
Remember
that Boaz was obligated to Naomi and Ruth because he
was a “kinsman-redeemer” (see 2:1, 20; 3:2,12).
In order to understand the implications of this we need
to look at Israelite history again.
An
important concept in ancient Israel was that according
to the Law, Jehovah owned all the land. In His generosity,
God gave it to the Israelites as an inheritance once
they arrived in Canaan after being enslaved in Egypt
for 400 years. The land was portioned off to each of
the 12 tribes of Israel (with the exception of the tribe
of Levi since their inheritance was to serve as priests
in the Tabernacle of the Lord). The land was to remain
in that tribe forever – there was to be no warring
between tribes and no selling and trading of the land.
In this way, no monopolies or empires would be formed.
Each family within the tribe was given a certain amount
of land and it was to stay in the family forever. It
was their portion of the inheritance to be held in the
family as long as there were descendants to pass the
inheritance to.
Sometimes,
however, a family was forced to sell their land because
of financial difficulty, or like Naomi and Ruth, they
had no sons to pass their inheritance to. If this was
the case there were two ways of getting the land back,
either during the year of Jubilee - which only occurred
every 50 years - or it could be redeemed by a kinsman
(Lev.25:8-25).
Since
Naomi was left with Elimilech’s land and had no
children to inherit it, the land would pass out of the
family forever… unless a kinsman-redeemer bought
the land, married the widow and produced an heir (Deuteronomy
25:5-10). When Naomi observes the good character qualities
of Boaz in addition to his financial situation and the
fact that he is a kinsman-redeemer, she prompts Ruth
to the actions we looked at in chapter 3. It was a calculated
risk and now that it’s been taken, Boaz is stepping
into gear. Chapter 4 is how it all turned out.
Boaz
discovers that there is another man who is legally closer
to the situation and so he gathers the men of the town
and presents the opportunity to him first. As it turns
out, this man is interested in the land, but not in
having Ruth as his wife because, as he puts it, “it
would endanger his own inheritance.” Who knows
if it’s because he lacked the funds to buy the
land, or if he was already married with children. Whatever
the reason, the responsibility came back to Boaz and
he was more than willing to accept it. He purchased
the land, Ruth and he were married and God enabled her
to give birth to a healthy baby boy.
We
see the love of Boaz turned into action and the beautiful
results for Ruth and Naomi. In a very similar way the
Lord Jesus Christ has become our Redeemer. When we were
spiritually impoverished, He offered to pay our debt
of sin and died on the cross in our place. Not only
that, but He has also entered into a covenant relationship
with us whereby He imparts His life to us and it is
reproduced in our lives. Much like a man takes a woman
to be his wife so that they will have children, the
Life of Jesus Christ is reproduced in our lives as we
enter into an intimate relationship with Him. (Romans
7:4) The fruit that He reproduces is described in Gal.
5:22-23. This is His work and He deserves the glory!
No
matter where we are at in our lives and how we feel
about ourselves, the fact of the matter is that Jesus
Christ loves us intensely and desires to take us into
such an intimate relationship with Him that we will
bear the fruit of His Life in ours. Just like Boaz welcomed
Ruth into his life and home, the Lord Jesus welcomes
us into the security of His Eternal Life and is even
now preparing an eternal home for each of us (see John
14). Receive this Truth by faith and give Him the glory
for His work in your life!
Written
by: Christine Wichert
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