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.”

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

Ruth 4 ESV

The Book of Ruth is a story of God’s providence working for the good of His people, even in the worst of times. While Israel as a whole was doing what was right in its own eyes, Ruth gives us a story of God redeeming and restoring a broken and bitter woman through the great faithfulness and, ultimately, union of a kingly man and an excellent woman.

The previous chapter saw Naomi making a very risky plan for her daughter-in-law, but one that would hopefully give Ruth (and herself) rest through the provision and protection of a husband and a son. Yet the chapter concluded with Naomi and Ruth waiting for a resolution to their restlessness, waiting to see whether their hope would lie secure like grain upon the threshing floor or be blown away like chaff in the wind.

Just as chapters one and two were punctuated with the words return and glean, each being used twelve times respectively, chapter four again has a word used twelve times: redeem. Note: the lack of such a word in chapter three may poetically highlight the restless anticipation that marks that passage. As Boaz told Ruth, another redeemer is more closely related to Naomi than he is; therefore, the right of redemption must first go to him. Will he choose to redeem Ruth? That is the final obstacle to be overcome as we conclude the book today.

REDEMPTION AT THE GATES // VERSES 1-12

Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. Remember that the previous chapter ended with Boaz heading toward the city to settle the matter of Ruth’s redemption. In ancient Israel, the city’s gate was more than the entrance into the city; it was also the place where legal transactions were made before the witness of the city’s elders. By going to the gate and sitting down, Boaz was announcing his intention to undergo some kind of legal proceeding.

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.

This is the book’s third usage of the word behold, and the pattern formed by the three occurrences is worth noting. The first called us to behold Boaz’s coming into the field from Bethlehem (2:4). The second called us to behold Ruth as the yet-unknown woman who lay at Boaz’s feet. Now the third calls us to behold the coming of the one man who stands between the marriage of Boaz and Ruth. Since the usage seems intended to invoke the surprise of the person’s appearance, I believe we are meant to read this as essentially saying, “And look, the other man just happened to walk by once Boaz had sat down.” Of course, as we noted in chapter two, coincidences only occur from our limited perspective. Under the sovereign providence of God, there are no coincidences.

As with Boaz’s own sitting, his invitation for the man to sit down was understood as initiating a legal proceeding. The ESV takes the Septuagint’s translation on the word friend. In Hebrew, Boaz calls the man Peloni Almoni. Block argues that “the rhyming words suggest an artificial creation, a whimsical word-play, in which unrelated, and perhaps even meaningless lexemes are combined to produce a new idiom, as in English “hodge-podge,” “helter-skelter,” “heebie-jeebies,” and “hocus-pocus.” As an epithet for the near kinsman, it may be equivalent to English ‘Joe Schmoe'” (205-206). We can also refer to him, as the Jewish Publication Society translates it, Mr. So-and-so.

I think we can safely assume that Boaz called the man by his actual name. Thus, we should continue reading this interaction between the two men while keeping the question of why the writer is withholding Mr. So-and-so’s name from us in mind.

And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. With ten elders present, business is now in session.

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.”

I think the narrator is aiming for this to raise even more questions within us. Is this really how the story is going to end? Is Ruth going to be redeemed by Mr. So-and-so rather than Boaz? Why didn’t Boaz even mention Ruth? Thankfully, Boaz has a godly shrewdness to go alongside his godly character.

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 for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

The addition of Ruth complicates matters for Mr. So-and-so. Sinclair Ferguson explains:

In the ordinary course of events, redeemed land would default to the original owner in the year of jubilee. In this instance, since Naomi has no sons and no grandsons, it might be thought that would not happen; the redemption price would in effect become the final purchase price. Rather than merely renting and farming the land for a number of years, it would become his and his family’s in perpetuity. It sounded like a good deal!

But the new factor–a young widow, still capable of having children–radically changes the value of the investment! He suspected that buying the property might restrict and perhaps burden him financially for a while, but thought it would be a shrewd long-term investment. The short-term hardships and sacrifices would be well worth the potential long-term gain! But he did not bargain for Naomi and Ruth! In meeting covenantal obligations and responsibilities, is this man prepared to do so without reservation and potentially at great personal expense? The answer is no. (112-113)

Simply put, the addition of Ruth made this a bad business deal. Mr. So-and-so would be purchasing a field that would not remain in his family line, for it would go to Ruth’s child. And, of course, in addition to purchasing the field, Ruth and her future children would have been more people to provide and protect. At first the field sounded like another asset to acquire, but Ruth’s presence turned it more into a liability to bear. And so, Mr. So-and-so gave his right of redemption to Boaz.

Many commentators have noted the similarity between Mr. So-and-so and Orpah, and they are right to do so, for both display an understandable yet worldly prudence. No one faults Orpah for returning to Moab, where her prospects looked so much brighter. Likewise, this man is making the best financial decision, and he is looking out for the future finances of his own children. But also, like Orpah, his worldly prudence cost him a place among the lineage of King David and the King of kings, Jesus.

But, of course, the narrator did, at least, give us Orpah’s name. Why does he not give us this man’s name? While Orpah did not take the narrow road to life that Ruth did, she also did not technically do anything wrong. Legally, neither she nor Ruth owed Naomi anything. Thus, the fact that Orpah did go part of the way with Naomi and wept as she left her ought to keep us very sympathetic to Orpah’s decision.

While Mr. So-and-so is not legally bound to redeem Ruth, there is an expectation that he should do so. Should he not want to see the name of Elimelech perpetuated? Indeed, it is not unreasonable that he may have thought that Elimelech deserved to lose his name in Israel since he died in Moab. The irony is that, regardless of how great Elimelech’s sins were, we are using his name right now because of Ruth and Boaz. By refusing to shoulder that responsibility, the author does not even give us Mr. So-and-so’s name.

Before we get self-righteously indignant at him, consider Duguid’s piercing words:

We often evaluate our involvement in evangelism and ministries of mercy according to the same scale as Mr. So-and-so. We ask, ‘What is in it for me? Will it fulfill me? Will I enjoy it? What will it cost me?’ In doing the arithmetic, we get the answers as completely wrong as he did, because we have left God entirely out of the equation. We calculate and protect ourselves and insist that two and two can only ever equal four…and we may never know the blessing that we have lost. (183)

One of Jesus’ most vivid displays of the mathematics of His kingdom is His feeding of the five thousand, for it shows that God is not limited by natural order that He Himself established. Of course, we should seek to make prudent financial decisions; however, they should never have ultimate say over our work for the kingdom of God. He is able to far beyond anything His people ever ask or think.

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 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 from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.”

Clearly both the narrator and Boaz want to emphasize that Boaz did not usurp the duty of the redeemer from Mr. So-and-so, and that he freely and willingly handed his right to Boaz. This also shows that while Boaz was strategic in his presentation, none of his actions were under-handed in any way.

Again, we ought to admire the character of Boaz. We can assume that this purchase will be no more profitable to Boaz than it would have been to Mr. So-and-so. Yet while the other redeemer shirked that hit to his portfolio, Boaz gladly received it. Though it was costly to him, Boaz redeemed Ruth and Naomi with joy. Of course, here again Boaz is a faint picture of our Lord, who endured death via crucifixion in order to pay the price of our redemption, which He paid that price with joy.

We can also note the narrator’s own commentary on the significance of exchanging the sandal. Clearly the words in former times show that the writer of Ruth was at least a few generations removed from the actual events. This subtly prepares us for the epilogue of the book. Now that we know that the writer is not a contemporary of Boaz and Ruth, it should raise the question of why he considered this narrative from history is important for him to tell.

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.”

We do not know if this was a special blessing given by the witnesses for Boaz and Ruth or if this was a general blessing that pronounced upon all marriages in Bethlehem. And it doesn’t really matter which it is because it is a fitting blessing for them.

They pray for Ruth to be as blessed as Rachel and Leah and Tamar, which were examples that might make us wince. Rachel and Leah certainly did build the house of Israel together. Israel’s twelve patriarchs came from their wombs (as well as from their two maidservants). Yet they gave birth to the sons of Jacob out of a perpetual birthing contest with one another.

And the story of Tamar is no better. She is female version of Jacob within Genesis, for she too deceives her way into the blessing of God by playing the prostitute with Judah, her father-in-law.

Yet these are Boaz’s very own ancestors. Of course, it is easy for us to forget that Boaz himself was also half-Canaanite and the son of a former prostitute, so he knew firsthand about how messy the past could be. Yet in spite of the familial strife of Rachel and Leah and in spite of the sexual immorality of Tamar and Rahab came Boaz, a man of godly and kingly character. The people of Bethlehem pray for him to act worthily, and we ought to read that with a smile because that is precisely how he has already been acting.

Let this picture also be an encouragement to us today. Our sins may be just as great as Rahab’s sins were, but if we repent and cling to Yahweh as she did, He can still do beautiful works through broken vessels like us.

A RESTORER OF LIFE // VERSES 13-22

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.

After all the buildup of the last several chapters, this verse gives us five rapid statements of what then happened with Boaz and Ruth. This also is true to life. Times of suffering and waiting upon the redemption of the LORD feel as though they drag on and on. Good times of blessing then seem to float by as though life is moving along itself, and we are merely along for the ride.

One of my favorite passages in The Hobbit occurs while Bible and the dwarves are staying in the wonderfully peaceful house of Elrond:

Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a great deal of telling anyway. They stayed in that good house, fourteen days at least, and they found it hard to leave. Bilbo would have gladly have stopped there for ever and ever—even supposing a wish would have taken him right back to his hobbit-hole without trouble. Yet there is little to tell about their stay.

Indeed, literarily speaking, the narrator may also know, at least intuitively, that good times make boring stories. After all, have you ever read a compelling biography about someone who lived an easy and comfortable life?

Now don’t hear what I’m not saying. This is the happy ending that we long for all stories to have, especially true ones, and it is what makes the Book of Ruth a comedy rather than a tragedy. However, it is the tensions and conflicts that stand in the way of such happy endings that make for an interesting story. Indeed, Marilynne Robinson has a pastor in her novel Gilead ponder this: “In eternity this world will be Troy, I believe, and all that has passed here will be the epic of the universe, the ballad they sing in the streets.”

Of the five clauses in verse 13, Boaz is the subject of two, Ruth is the subject of two, and Yahweh is the subject of one. Consider that clause: and Yahweh gave her conception. Even though Ruth was childless with Mahlon, Yahweh blesses her union with Boaz and gives her a child. As Ruth, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, and Elizabeth can attest, we should not immediately equate barrenness with God’s direct judgment. While this child is certainly special, this is also true of every child. There are certainly physical and scientific causes that the LORD has ordained to be the instruments for bringing new life into the world, but most fundamentally, God gives conception. He alone is the Author and Giver of life, and we ought to give Him thanks for each child that is brought into the world.

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.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.”

Although Boaz has already been blessed by the elders and people of Bethlehem, the narrative would be incomplete if it did not return to Naomi. Chapter one began with the emptying of Naomi through the deaths of her husband and her children. At the center of that chapter lay the decisions of Ruth and Orpah. Orpah followed worldly wisdom, but Ruth followed chesed, steadfast love and covenantal faithfulness for her mother-in-law. The chapter then concluded with Naomi declaring her emptiness (and probably shame) the other women of Bethlehem. In answer to that emptying, the narrative rightly concludes with God’s gift of another redeemer to Naomi.

Indeed, notice that language. Boaz has acted as Ruth’s redeemer by marrying her and giving her a son. But who does the narrator identify as Naomi’s redeemer? It is Ruth’s son who will be Naomi’s redeemer. Barry Webb notes:

He’s a gift from Ruth, who has stuck with her mother-in-law and loved her all the way through the grief and loss she has suffered. He’s also a gift from Boaz, who has acted honorably by taking Ruth as his wife. But most of all he is a gift from God, and his final answer to Naomi’s bitterness and emptiness. Naomi is not an old woman yet; there’s time for this baby to grow into a young man who will renew her life and support her in her old age. (275)

Marvelously, all the women of Bethlehem now boldly declare Ruth’s worth to Naomi as her daughter-in-law, confessing that she is better than seven sons! Notice that Ruth does not speak at all in this chapter, and she is only the subject of the action in two of the five clauses of verse 13. As with much of the book, she is largely in the background. However, the book rightly bears her name because she is the catalyst for this story’s redemption. Ruth is very much a woman who, as 1 Peter 3:4 says, “let [her] adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” And now the whole town recognizes her worth as well! She is an excellent woman who is praised in the city gates.

Since the notion of names is important to this chapter, consider also how Ruth is referred to in this chapter. During the exchange at the city gate, she is called Ruth the Moabite, which is also what she has largely been called throughout the book. But when the elders pronounce their blessing, they simply call her the woman, and they do so invoking the great women of Israel’s past, emphasizing her integration into the people of Israel. Finally, in verse 13, she is simply called Ruth. Chapter three hinted that through her marriage to Boaz this sojourning Moabite just might truly join the people of God. And now that is confirmed.

They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. I can almost see the narrator giggling while writing out this final revelation. The story itself is so wonderfully written that it would be superb literature even if Boaz and Ruth were not the ancestors of someone as prominent and mighty as King David. Thus, this is very much the icing on the cake of an already great story, for it hints at how this seemingly isolated and stand-alone story connects with the larger story of Israel’s redemption, especially from the wicked period of the judges. But to make things even clearer, the writer concludes the book with a genealogy:

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.

While this is certainly not the action-packed blockbuster ending that we expect from our modern stories, this is a rich and powerful ending to the book. Especially in the book of Genesis, genealogies are the primary structures around which the narrative is set. For instance, Genesis 2:4 says, “These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” Genesis 5:1 marks another transition, saying, “This is the book of the generations of Adam.” The same occurs in 10:1, 11:10, 11:27, 25:19, 36:1, and 37:2. So by ending with this genealogy, the narrator is signaling how this small story of Ruth, Boaz, and Naomi fits into the much larger threads of God’s redemptive history. Through the ordinary faithfulness of Ruth and Boaz, God was working the salvation of his people. As Ferguson notes:

Naomi, Ruth, Boaz—God has quarried deeply in them. What is his purpose? He is mining for diamonds. And by the end of the book, all three know that it has been worth it. They have experienced God’s hesed. His faithful love has led them, provided for them and filled them. The story that began for Naomi when there was no king in Israel, became a day when there was no bread in Bethlehem, and then a dark night in which there were no children in her family. Now her covenant-keeping, all-sufficient God, Yahweh and El Shaddai, has given her a grandson, and within a few generations will give Israel its greatest king. (127)

This is, I hope, one of the chief lessons that we take away from this book. Ruth and Boaz are the physical embodiment of the feeding of the five thousand. Their chesed that went beyond the letter of the law and into the heart of God’s law gave birth to hope for Israel. Although they sowed their seeds of faithfulness into the famine-stricken time of the judges, four generations later, those seeds yielded Israel’s greatest king, David, the man after God’s own heart. May we keep their example before us, that, in our own day, we might not grow weary of doing good.

Of course, as Mary Hannah writes:

Indeed, the impact stretches well beyond even the human narrator’s field of vision. The prophet Micah announces the day, after the nation’s experience of exile, in which a ruler coming from “Bethlehem Ephrathah” would “stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD” and secure lasting peace for the Lord’s people (Mic. 5:2-5). As the Gospel writer Matthew makes plain, this anticipated ruler from Bethlehem is the Lord Jesus Christ, David’s greater son (Matt. 1:1-17; 2:5-6; cf. Rev. 5:5). In Christ the lineage of Ruth 4:18-22 finds its ultimate fulfillment. No matter how hopelessly cyclical human history may seem in the days when the judges judge (1:1), the Lord is advancing his salvation purposes to raise up his anointed servant, a king (v. 22), on behalf of all those who take refuge under his wings (2:12). (718)

Indeed, the Book of Ruth is ultimately about Jesus, our great Redeemer, whose chesed for us is perfect, and in Him, this genealogy is also our genealogy. Although Jesus never married nor had children, His family forward as well and extends throughout the world, always expanding into the unreached corners of the globe. As Paul wrote in Romans 8:14-17 about we who have confessed Jesus as Lord and are being renewed through the Holy Spirit:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

The great prize of our salvation in Christ is our adoption into His family, into the family of the living God. This also includes the Old Testament saints such as Ruth, Boaz, Naomi, and David. Galatians 3:29 tells us, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.”

Thus, by adoption, this is now our family tree. These men are our forefathers, and Ruth, Naomi, Rachel, Leah, Tamar, and Rahab are our foremothers. Though we increasingly live in an unmoored time, a time when almost all of us are historical orphans who likely do not even know the name of only one of our great-great grandparents, here is an anchor of our identity and lineage.

That is why Ephesians 2:19 calls the church “the household of God” and why the New Testament calls us brothers and sisters. Through faith in Christ, we have been grafted into God’s family. Though we were no better than Moabites, like Ruth, God has grafted us into His people, taking away our reproach and shame and giving us joy in Him instead.

Therefore, as we come the Table of our King, let us marvel anew at the redemption which Christ worked for us upon the cross. Far greater than Boaz’s reception of Ruth is Christ’s receiving of us. After all, despite being a Moabite, Ruth was an excellent woman of godly character. Jesus, however, died to make us His bride while we were still sinners. He took us to Himself, even when there was nothing of excellence in us. Indeed, like Naomi, we were empty and embittered in heart, yet He has filled us with nothing less than His own Spirit, uniting us to Himself, and bringing us into life everlasting within this life! He is the great Restorer of life, for He brings us back to life in the garden, back to fellowship and communion with the Most High. Through His broken body and shed blood, our Lord has taken the full wrath against our sins upon Himself, sheltering us safely under His mighty wings. Thus, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, let taste and see the goodness of our great King, whose name of renown will be praised not only in Bethlehem and Israel but by every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth, confessing “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).