July 19, 2005

Reading through the Bible in one Year: Nehemiah 3:1-5:13; Acts 11:27-13:13

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

I overslept on a major scale today, must have needed the sleep!  Anyway, this study is coming to you a bit late I apologize for that.  Getting back into the weird hours of the railroad is a little bit difficult after being on vacation.

Ruth 4 (NASB95)
¹ Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz spoke was passing by, so he said, “Turn aside, friend, sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. ² He took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. ³ Then he said to the closest relative, “Naomi, who has come back from the land of Moab, has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech. ⁴ “So I thought to inform you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who are sitting here, and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if not, tell me that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am after you.’ ” And he said, “I will redeem it.” ⁵ Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the deceased, in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance.” ⁶ The closest relative said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, because I would jeopardize my own inheritance. Redeem it for yourself; you may have my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem it.” ⁷ Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the manner of attestation in Israel. ⁸ So the closest relative said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself.” And he removed his sandal. ⁹ Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon. ¹⁰ “Moreover, I have acquired Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance, so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birth place; you are witnesses today.” ¹¹ All the people who were in the court, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, both of whom built the house of Israel; and may you achieve wealth in Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem. ¹² “Moreover, may your house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring which the Lord will give you by this young woman.” ¹³ So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife, and he went in to her. And the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. ¹⁴ Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer today, and may his name become famous in Israel. ¹⁵ “May he also be to you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” ¹⁶ Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap, and became his nurse. ¹⁷ The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. ¹⁸ Now these are the generations of Perez: to Perez was born Hezron, ¹⁹ and to Hezron was born Ram, and to Ram, Amminadab, ²⁰ and to Amminadab was born Nahshon, and to Nahshon, Salmon, ²¹ and to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz, Obed, ²² and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.^[1]

I can't help but think that this is one of the greatest love stories in the Bible.  When I reflected further on yesterday's study, I marveled at the way that Boaz would not allow Ruth to defile herself.  He was madly in love with her, and would not do anything to compromise her at all.  Boaz not only protected Ruth, he treated her like a queen, even when she seemed to be stepping out of bounds.  That is where we learn from him, Boaz looked at Ruth like God looked at Ruth, he looked upon her heart and saw a fantastic woman after God's heart.  Then he treated her accordingly.  I challenge each of you, treat your wives in like manner, then you will see a change in your relationship.  I will continue to recommend the book "The DNA of Relationships" by Gary Smalley, it teaches us how to love our wives and to work through conflict in marriage, pick it up.

On with the study.  Boaz was taken with Ruth and used extreme cunningness when he redeemed her.  Notice that he did not approach the near relative and state that Ruth needed to be redeemed by him, he first brought up the land of Naomi that needed to be purchased.  The Bible Knowledge Commentary said that Naomi was living in such poverty that the land that she possessed needed to be purchased preferably by a kinsman in order to take care of her needs.  In researching out this concept, it seems that Naomi did not own anything, and the land that had originally belonged to her husband before going to the land of Moab was sold, when she returned, she was poor, the land she had once owned was not available to her until the year of Jubilee when all land would revert back to its original owners.  This was apparently too far off to help her.  Her right of ownership of the land still stood, but it belonged to the one who had purchased it from her husband until the fifty years were up and all land went back to the original owners.  By redeeming the land, Boaz would be taking care of Naomi's needs as a next of kin, and in like manner, would be providing for Ruth's needs by fulfilling the requirements of redeeming a widow.

Boaz committed to redeeming the land before playing the card of the need to redeem Ruth.  Can you imagine the chance that he took by letting the next of kin know about the responsibility toward Ruth?  This land purchase really was not hinged upon the redemption of Ruth in fulfillment of protecting the family lineage.  Boaz made it sound that way, he didn't lie about the land purchase, but he did make it clear that both the redemption of the land and the redemption of Ruth were of equal importance.  The next of kin was not willing to take on the purchase of the land, and by honor before the witnesses was not willing to take on another wife either.  He transferred that right over to Boaz.  Again, Boaz took a great chance in his approach, I believe this was because he was already in love with Ruth and wanted her as his wife.  He was willing to do whatever it took to redeem her. 

Jeremiah 32:6-12 (NASB95)
⁶ And Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁷ ‘Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, “Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.” ’ ⁸ “Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the Lord and said to me, ‘Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. ⁹ “I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle’s son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ “I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹ “Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; ¹² and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle’s son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard.

Deuteronomy 23:3 (NASB95)
³ “No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, ^[2]

This passage gives further insight on the reason for purchasing the land.  Another thing that comes from this scripture is that it set a precedent for Israel regarding legal decisions.  The act of using witnesses in legal proceedings was modeled after this passage later in Jewish history. 

Another point of interest regarding this transaction is that Ruth was a Moabite woman, which meant that she really did not belong in the congregation of Israel according the the Jewish law.  Boaz did not look on her as a Moabite likely because he had already observed that she had made the God of Israel her God. 

This leads to another interesting point on this book.  Ruth was the grand-mother of David, if she was not redeemed, David would have never been born.  The great King David was born through the heritage of a Moabite woman, he had a defective lineage.  The lineage of Jesus also shows several instances where gentiles were involved since He also came through the lineage of David.  Look at how important the fact that Ruth was redeemed was to us and to Jewish history, if she were not redeemed, David would never had been born. 

Look at the legacy that was passed down from Ruth and Boaz to their children, they passed on a commitment to God which surpassed all of the other people in the land.  The passed on a willingness to chase after God's heart and to make Him and His law number one above everything else.  This is an example and an encouragement to all of us, our commitment to the Lord will be passed on to our children, and to their children.  If we don't have a commitment to the Lord that lack of commitment will also be passed on. 

I am going to close here, all comments are welcomed.

Father, as we consider the conclusion of this book, draw each one of us into a close fellowship with You.  Enable us to develop a love for our spouses comparable to the one in this chapter.  Give each of us a spiritual legacy to pass on to our children.

In Him,

Joe Turner.