Chapter 4

Chapter 4:1-4

1 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, "Come aside, friend, sit down here." So he came aside and sat down.

2 And 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 close relative, "Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, sold the piece of land which belonged to our brother Elimelech.

4 "And I thought to inform you, saying, 'Buy it back in the presence of the inhabitants and the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know; for there is no one but you to redeem it, and I am next after you.'" And he said, "I will redeem it."

God had set down strict commandments concerning the selling of property in Israel;

Leviticus 25:23-28

23 'The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.

24 And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.

25 'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.

26 Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it,

27 then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession.

28 But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

If a person sold property, it was to remain within the tribe that first inherited it. Every 50 years, all bought land was to be returned to the original owners, unless bought back (redeemed) ahead of time.

Numbers 36:7-9

7 So the inheritance of the children of Israel shall not change hands from tribe to tribe, for every one of the children of Israel shall keep the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel shall be the wife of one of the family of her father's tribe, so that the children of Israel each may possess the inheritance of his fathers.

9 Thus no inheritance shall change hands from one tribe to another, but every tribe of the children of Israel shall keep its own inheritance."

After her husband died, Naomi was the owner of the property he had possessed. But she had sold it for money to take care of both herself and Ruth. Thus if Naomi died before the property was redeemed, Ruth would have nothing in the way of security.

If a redeemer kinsman bought the property, it would remain in the hands of the redeemer kinsman until either they restored it to the original owner, or until the Jubilee year.

By having Ruth marry Boaz and by having Boaz redeem the property, Ruth would be taken care of for the rest of her life, Boaz would own Naomi's property as a reward, and Ruth would see to it that Naomi was care for the rest of her life.

However there was a closer kinsman than Boaz, so the nearer kinsman had to be given the opportunity for redemption first.

Chapter 4:5-6

5 Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance."

6 And the close relative said, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. You redeem my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it."

Apparently the nearer kinsman couldn't afford to buy the inheritance property of Naomi and her sons without selling some of his own property to pay for it. Therefore he passed his right of redemption to Boaz.

Chapter 4:7-12

7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging, to confirm anything: one man took off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was a confirmation in Israel.

8 Therefore the close relative said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself." So he took off his sandal.

9 And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi.

10 "Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day."

11 And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, "We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

12 "May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the LORD will give you from this young woman."

Boaz bought all of the property of Naomi and her sons in accordance with the commandment of the Lord, and he also married Ruth so that she might have children to carry on the line of her dead husband, also by commandment of the Lord;

Deuteronomy 25:5-6

5 "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband's brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

6 And it shall be that the firstborn son which she bears will succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel.

Boaz wouldn't have had a problem marrying a foreign woman, after all his mother was Rahab the Canaanite harlot from Jericho...........

Chapter 4:13-22

13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and when he went in to her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son.

14 Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel!

15 "And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him."

16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him.

17 Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, "There is a son born to Naomi." And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 Now this is the genealogy of Perez: Perez begot Hezron;

19 Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab;

20 Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon;

21 Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed;

22 Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

It is interesting that Rahab the harlot from Jericho was the mother of Boaz;

Matthew 1:2-6

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.

3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.

4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.

5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse,

6 and Jesse begot David the king.

Ruth in turn would become the great-grandmother of king David.

Truly the Lord blesses both men and women who follow Him in faith and honor!!!!

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