Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.” “I will redeem it,” he said. Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.” At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.” (Ruth 4:1-6)
Boaz acts precisely as Naomi assumes. He does not rest until the matter is settled. But as it turns out—the matter entails a bit of drama.
As Pastor Michael noted yesterday, Boaz will wait in trust on the Lord to work this matter through. For his part, Boaz will trust the proper procedure and the rights of others. He’ll not break the law in pursuit of his aims. We readers get concerned though, because Boaz appears to be giving up on Naomi and Ruth—indeed, his stubborn submission to the rules almost loses him the right to play a part in their lives at all!
Boaz starts off in a different way than we might expect. He doesn’t say a thing about Ruth, but rather presents the matter as Naomi’s sale of land. The man Boaz speaks to jumps on the idea of a new field. Without hesitation, he declares: “I will redeem it.”
The assumption would have been that Naomi would come with the property being sold. This was at least part of the work of the guardian-redeemer—to ensure land stayed in the tribe, but also to ensure family members were cared for. The care of Naomi in her old age would fall to the new owner of the field. This wouldn’t be too difficult though: Naomi was old. She would not live long. After she died, the field would remain in the man’s own family, bringing profit and an inheritance for his children.
But after declaring his intention to redeem, something suddenly changes in the calculus when Boaz adds the rest of the story: “on the day you buy… you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.”
At this, the man must refuse. If he is forced to marry Ruth for the purpose of raising up an heir for Elimelek—this means that the field will not remain in his own family after all! It will transfer back to Ruth’s son. Noami, Ruth, and any children Ruth has will need to be supported by the land, and then the land will be gone, meaning their support has to come from the man’s current estate. Should Ruth have any additional children after the firstborn dedicated to taking on the inheritance of Elimelek, it’s also possible that those future children would have a claim on the man’s current inheritance—thinning it out further.
So the man refuses to redeem the land. Not because he is stingy or heartless, but because he knows the math and is responsible with what the Lord has given him. This is the key in the text. As with Orpah turning from Naomi to go back to her own home, so it is with this unnamed man of chapter 4. Both of them are utterly sensible. They show a perfectly ordinary and responsible amount of hesed kindness, stewardship, and care. The text does not fault either of them.
But by setting Boaz and Ruth next to this pair of sensible people—it says “just look at the extraordinary hesed kindness and generosity of these two!” Boaz and Ruth go above the expectation, they risk everything, and are willing to give anything. In just this way, they tell us something of God’s own extraordinarily generous and risky ways of redemption that will bring rest to his people.
As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm.
May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you.
May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.
