by Maggie White
Chapter Four: Redemption
The first part of Chapter Four is methodical. Boaz goes to the city gate and calls the other kinsman-redeemer aside. He lays out half the facts: Naomi is selling Elimelech’s property and a relative can redeem it. The unnamed relative feels that gaining more property is advantageous to his family line and says that he will buy it. But then Boaz lays out the rest of the facts: “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” (verse 5).
The unnamed relative feels that marrying a foreign woman and building the family name of another man is not advantageous to him and concludes he cannot redeem the land or Ruth (and by this, his own name is lost to history). After the other relative steps back, Boaz declares his purchase of the land, that he is marrying Ruth and that the names of Elimelech, Chilion and Mahlon will be perpetuated. The people blessed them and said, “We are witnesses” (verses 11-12).
The second part of Chapter Four glances at the future. Ruth, who had been barren for ten years in the land of Moab, conceives a son named Obed (meaning, “servant of God”). More than barley, this child is placed in Naomi’s hands, and the women of Bethlehem now say, “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” (verses 14-15).
Is this D-Day? Is this where all tragedy and retreat turns to all joy and victory in the story of Naomi? Does Ruth sail through the rest of life with no pain?
Despite the beauty of redemption and the hand of God here, the world they live in is still a fallen place, past wounds still bleed, children are still born in iniquity. The fall of Adam is not reversed in the three pages that tell us about Ruth and Naomi and Boaz. But there is another whisper of the Second Adam in the last verses of the book:
“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 4:18-22).
This is the King David to whom it was said: “When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
This “descendant”: Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the ultimate Goel.
In Matthew 1, in “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham”, only five women are listed among forty-two generations: one of them is Ruth, the Moabite, foreign, impoverished, and mostly-hopeless case.
This Jesus, fully God yet fully man, perfect in every way, was the only one in a position to bridge the gap between man and God. According to the eternal purpose of God and the mystery of His will, He came as a willing sacrifice to lay down His life for His own. He had the power to shake the dominion of Satan, destroy the power of sin, bear the wrath of God, overcome the grave and so be able to redeem men for God. The position, willingness, and power of Jesus Christ to redeem is the ultimate revelation of the kindness and mercy of God – the Old Testament whisper of a Goel that burst out in amazing grace when the fullness of time had come.
This Jesus, with power to redeem all hopeless cases and souls from all Israel and the furthest seas, stood over Jerusalem a thousand years after Ruth sought refuge under the wings of God and declared that He longed to gather the people “as a hen gathers her brood under her wings” (Luke 13:34). During His time in Israel He walked with sinners, foreigners and outcasts, and called all men everywhere to repent and believe the Gospel, for “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The laws of God, which poured grace on Ruth, were shown to be “our schoolmaster to bring us unto [this] Christ” (Galatians 3:24), for the compassion of the Lord seen dimly a thousand years before was made flesh in the Savior. This Savior came “not to abolish the law but to fulfill it” (Matthew 5:17) on our behalf, so that unclean people, and even pagan people, could be made righteous through the merit of the Beloved Son.
Psalm 138:6: “The Lord is high, but He regards the lowly.”
He is the hope.
Conclusion:
He is the hope. He is the point of the book of Ruth, and He is the point of whatever beachhead you’re being pushed off of, foreign land you’re wandering through, heartbreak you can’t leave behind, or theological questions you’re left to deal with.
The situation may have no explanation. The wilderness may never be anything but wilderness. The heartbreak may always feel like heartbreak. Sometimes the questions only produce more questions. Your Dunkirk may never be anything but Dunkirk. But there are no dead-ends in His kingdom, and there is a symphony unfolding.
To me, the book of Ruth isn’t just a biblical story; it is a glimpse into the heart, power and purpose of God.
It is not a promise that all will be well in your lifetime; it is a reminder that Jesus is coming and shall reign forever.
It doesn’t directly deal with the flaws of Naomi’s theology; it leaves her in awe at the kindness of God.
It doesn’t explain how the “promise” was for foreigners as well as Israelites; it simply brings Ruth into the bloodline of the Messiah.
It is not a call to forget pain; it is a reminder to lift your eyes.
It doesn’t say that if you go into a field, you will find a husband; it says God does not forget His own.
It doesn’t say that every person will see redemption unfold before their eyes on planet earth; it says that ultimate redemption will astound you every time.
It says, “Be strong, take heart, and wait for the Lord (Psalm 27:14).”
It says, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Is. 40:31).”
It reminds us that the Messiah Who came will come again. That the dead in Christ will rise. That this world was never supposed to be home. That eternity is nearer now than it ever was. That true faith will not be overcome. That our Redeemer, our Goel, lives, and is called “faithful and true”. That storms of destruction may pass by and leave devastation in their wake, but the Lord will not pass you by.
Ruth is an invitation to choose to lift your eyes. It is an invitation to behold your God. It is an invitation to find refuge under His wings, however your life unfolds. It is an invitation to hold fast to the superior, never-failing hope that God is God and He does not change.
“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by” (Psalm 57:1).
Maggie (Ford) White lives Fort Bragg, NC with her husband, Joshua, a growing baby, her dog, Kevin, and the joy that God is still the same. She has worked alternately as a Spanish translator, political activist, videographer, registered nurse, and writer over the years. More than anything, she wants to live for eternity, encourage girls and women in the Word of God, and make the Gospel known. She enjoys distance running and cooking three meals a day, but she spends her best hours studying Scripture.
Please submit any questions or comments for Maggie in the contact form below.
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