Word of Salvation – Vol. 44 No.29 – August 1999
Kinsman-Redeemer to the Rescue
Sermon by Rev W J Bosker
on Ruth 4:1-12
Scripture Readings: Leviticus 25:14-28; Deuteronomy 25:5-10
Suggested Hymns: BoW 272; 371:1,3,4,6; 214;
Rej 532; Bow 315; 72:1,5,6; 331
Dear Congregation, Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Throughout the Book of Ruth we have seen God at work in and through the lives of ordinary people. I’ve been finding it fascinating and encouraging. When life seems at a dead end for Naomi and Ruth, God still works out His plans and purposes.
There are times in our lives when we feel like giving up in despair. But God calls us to look past ourselves and our circumstances to see that He is still raising roses out of a bed of thorns.
The two widows, Naomi and Ruth held on to their faith in God. They continued to pray and work. God has been blessing this humble and dependent attitude. He even provides a generous relative by the name of Boaz. Chapter 3 left us with a sense of expectation and suspense. Boaz was a man of action, but there was a closer relative who could act as a kinsman-redeemer to the family line of Elimelech. How would it all turn out?
People often discard the Old Testament as an ancient set of rules that have no significance today. This is a mistaken view. God is a God of justice and mercy. He gave Israel guidelines to ensure the safety and prosperity of people and families. For example, Leviticus 25 records the LORD as saying to Moses: “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land” (25:23-24).
In an agricultural society, to own no land means you have no place to grow crops, no livelihood and no inheritance to pass on to your children. God arranged a safety net so that every 50 years any land sold across family lines would be returned to its original owner, thereby keeping it in the family. God also provided for a situation where a family might become poor and sell their land to pay debts within that 50 years. A near relative could come to their rescue, buy back or redeem the land, making sure it stayed in the family. A person acting in this way was called a kinsman-redeemer. A relative who comes to the rescue!
Last time I mentioned our concern as a nation when foreign companies buy up lots of Australian land or buy out our companies. We are very happy when an Australian company “buys back the farm”.
Imagine a family in financial trouble, with the bank about to foreclose on their mortgage. They could lose everything. If a relative of some means comes to their rescue, he would be a most welcome sight!
We see another view of God’s concern for families, their well-being and inheritance in a situation where the family name is about to die out. A husband might have died leaving no sons, or the sons might also have died. With no provider for the widow and her family and no sons to receive the inheritance, the family was destined to poverty and could lose the land. In such a situation God arranged for the widow’s brother-in-law to act as a husband and raise up a son for his dead brother, so that the family line and inheritance could continue. We read of that in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
Both these provisions are in the background to what is happening in our text. Boaz is prepared to be the kinsman-redeemer and buy back the land which had belonged to the deceased Elimelech and Naomi. Boaz is also prepared, as a near relative, to marry the widow in Elimelech’s family and have a son who can carry on Elimelech’s line. There’s only one problem: there is a closer relative and he has the first option.
The very next morning after Ruth had asked Boaz to be the kinsman-redeemer and marry her (3:9), Boaz went to the town gate (4:1) where all the official transactions were signed, sealed and delivered and where legal decisions were made and ratified. It was very much like a courthouse, magistrates’ office and solicitor’s office all rolled into one.
Boaz had arranged to meet the nearer kinsman-redeemer in the presence of the elders. He explained the situation and gave him the first option, although Boaz made it clear that if the nearer kinsman-redeemer wouldn’t help, he certainly would! The nearer kinsman-redeemer said he would exercise his option to redeem or buy the land. Had Ruth or Naomi been there I can imagine their faces dropping. But Boaz is yet to play his trump card! Let’s try and understand how the nearer kinsman-redeemer reached his decision to redeem the land.
Being aware of the process of land redemption this fellow figured that Naomi had no male heirs to the land and that she was too old to marry and have children. So if he bought the land, it would go to his own family line and increase the inheritance for his children. The cost would be offset by any crops he could grow on this land. Having made this quick calculation, he agreed this was a good idea.
We need to remember that in this case there was no compulsion for a kinsman-redeemer to act, nor was it a brother-in-law marriage. Boaz was offering the first option to the nearer relative as was his right and privilege.
Now Boaz plays his trump card! God’s laws for His covenant community were meant to exercise care and concern for all of Israel’s families. This was the spirit of the law behind the letter of the law. The whole idea was that the deceased Elimelech would have a male heir to keep his family’s name alive, with land to pass on as an inheritance. Boaz now puts this before the nearer kinsman saying: “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property” (4:5).
The man’s mind quickly buzzed through a few figures again. “This changes everything! I’ll have to outlay this capital, marry Ruth, support her, and if I have a son through Ruth, he’ll need to be supported for years. He will gain the land and I will have done it all for him! Nope! If that’s the case I cannot redeem it. I’ll endanger my own estate. It’s not worth it. You redeem it Boaz. I cannot do it.”
With this decision made before the elders at the town gate, Boaz asks for the transaction to be ratified. He will redeem Naomi’s land, take over the inheritance that belonged to the deceased Kilion and Mahlon and be responsible for Ruth, Mahlon’s childless widow. Boaz didn’t have to do it. But he was willing and able. He was generous and not self-seeking, and most of all, he loved Ruth.
This man of action had achieved what Naomi knew he would do. What joy must have come upon Naomi and Ruth. Naomi had said earlier that the LORD brought her back from Moab empty (1:21). Now look at how God has blessed her! Not only with Ruth, a beautiful daughter-in-law, but the generous and gracious Boaz also joins her family. Boaz wastes no time in having this decision ratified.
The nearer kinsman offers his sandal, which in earlier times had symbolised the exchange of contracts. The meaning behind the sandal probably runs something like this: The one who owns the land walks on it with his sandals, so that a transfer of land is represented by the transfer of a sandal. The sandal with which the nearer kinsman would have walked on the land is now given to Boaz to symbolise this transaction. With that exchange officially recognised, Boaz publicly announces that Naomi’s property is now his to look after, and Ruth is going to be his wife. Witnesses are important in legal transactions and in marriage. While these events are in a sense private, they are also public. Even the laws of our land recognise this.
The elders at the gate acknowledge that they are witnesses. They add a prayer for a blessing upon Boaz and his household. We could spend a lot of time unpacking this prayer. Just as the nation of Israel was built up from Jacob, his wives and his servants, so the elders pray that Boaz and Ruth will build up a great family and nation.
Their desire for the small town of Bethlehem to have a great standing in Israel was certainly achieved when someone very famous was born there. The prophet Micah, years later prophesied: “But you, Bethlehem Ephratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).
The elders knew their history and their lineage. They pray that Ruth may be able to conceive and raise a family in the line of Judah. They mention the name of a forefather, Perez, whose name means “breaking out” because God’s grace was able to break out through Tamar who bore a son to Judah her father-in-law, to preserve a family for herself.
There’s a lot of application from this passage. For now let’s concentrate on a few important points.
1. Prayer and the awareness of God’s hand in all the events of life. This has been a dominant theme in the book of Ruth. We should cultivate the spiritual dimension in life where we expect and see God’s hand at work in our lives. It comes from a good working knowledge of God’s Word, a life of prayer and a sensitivity to God’s Holy Spirit.
Nothing happens by chance! Hard times can force us to lean on God more than times of prosperity. We usually learn lessons more quickly and better when we are forced to trust and humbly depend on God. Then, when the Lord does bless us, we are so much more thankful and He gets more glory from us than when life is easier.
This perspective on life usually comes when we get older, but if you can learn these lessons when you are young, you will be a much better disciple of Christ and a more useable instrument in God’s hand.
2. The marriage covenant, its importance, witnesses, accountability.
This is just part of the detail, but it does give a biblical answer to a society which asks, “Why get married? Why bother with the piece of paper?” We see here the public nature of a commitment to marriage. It’s not just a property deal, because Boaz is also signing to marry Ruth.
The covenant community acts as a witness. A new family unit will come into existence. Promises are being made. Prayers are being offered. There is a mutual accountability to contribute to society and to help each other. Marriage is not simply a private contract between two people. The community is also involved. That dimension is easily ignored, but it’s part of God’s design.
3. The qualifications and cost of being a kinsman redeemer.
From the text we can see three qualifications for a kinsman-redeemer that are important. He must be:
a) related to those in need of his help;
b) able to help and have the resources to pay the price;
c) willing to make a sacrifice, out of love and care for the one being redeemed.
Boaz’s kindness and love is a picture of God’s action towards us. His self-sacrificing generosity is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you look at these three important qualifications, then Jesus qualifies on all three counts to be your Kinsman-Redeemer!
- Jesus is related to all who need His help by coming to earth as God in human flesh, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary. Scripture speaks of Jesus as being our “Brother” (Heb.2:11-12).
- Jesus is able to help because a human must pay for human sin. He has the resources to pay the price because He Himself is without sin and He is uniquely God as well as man.
- Jesus willingly made the sacrifice. He chose obedience to God’s rescue plan. Out of genuine love and a concern for your eternal salvation, He paid the full price to redeem you for God.
Thousands of years before Christ came we see here a picture of what God had always intended to do! God’s promise became clearer and clearer until the day Jesus was born, lived, died on the cross. With His own blood He purchased sinners for God, rose again from the dead and will come again to judge heaven and earth.
This is the Jesus whom Boaz pointed to! This is the Jesus whose name is being proclaimed to you today as the only Saviour of the world. He came to rescue you.
Is He your kinsman-redeemer?
By believing in His name you, too, can come under the cover of His protection!
Amen.