“Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, ‘Come over here, my friend and sit down.’ So he went over and sat down.” Ruth 4:1
Read Ruth 4:1-10
4 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.” (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal. Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!
What is a kinsman-redeemer?
When God gave Israel the land, it was assigned to members of the twelve tribes. This land was to be kept in these families and passed to heirs. The land must stay within the tribe it started. It could not go to another tribe. It certainly could not go to an outsider. Leviticus 25: 23-25 says, “‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. 24 Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. “‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relative is to come and redeem what they have sold.
Instructions for widows are found in Deuteronomy 25: 5-6: If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
The widow had every right to claim a kinsman-redeemer.
Think about Boaz for a moment. He was in the midst of a threshing time. This was when the harvest was brought in, cared for, and much celebration occurred. He was the owner of all the fields and the harvest, he should have been there, on the threshing floor! Yet here we find him, not working the next morning, but at the city gate, to settle this matter immediately.
He set about determining if the first in line kinsman-redeemer wanted the position. And, he did this before ten elders of the town. He operated in complete compliance with their customs, and God’s laws.
He also completely cared for the question and the intention of the marriage to Ruth.
He had his witnesses, and everything was cared for in one setting.
Life Application
When I am called to settle a matter, do I go about it quickly, and by the letter of God’s laws?
Do I allow my work, or my celebrations, or anything else, distract me from something God’s directs?
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