Ruth 4

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Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, turn aside, friend. Sit down here. And he turned aside and sat down.

And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, sit down here. So they sat down. Then he said to the redeemer, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people, if you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not tell me that, I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.

And he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, 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. Then the redeemer said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. Now.

This was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging. To confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other. And this was the manner of a temple in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, buy it for yourself, he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Cilian and to Malon.

Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Maman, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day. Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem.

And may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went into her and the lord gave her conception and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, 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. Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighbourhood gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi. They named him obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Now these are the generations of Perez Perez. Fathered Hezron. Hezron. Fathered Ram. Ram.

Fathered Amminadab. Amminadab. Fathered nation. Fathered salmon salman. Fathered Boaz.

Boaz. Fathered obed. Obed. Fathered Jesse. And Jesse.

Fathered David.

Morning. Let's take a moment to pray, shall we? Father God, great is thy faithfulness. This story shows us your faithfulness to us. I pray this morning that in the full knowledge that there are those of us who are touched by God's faithfulness and those who feel untouched by it.

Lord, I pray that you would open your arms to all this morning, that you would be with us all and show us your meaning today. Amen.

So back in the day, and it's a long time ago, I used to help out in a church summer camp. And one of the things we used to do with the kids who belonged to the church that owned the summer camp, but also those kids that came in from the surrounding area and weren't part of that church was that we used to try and help them to understand that we are all part of one big christian family with God at the heart of it. A family that loves them no matter what. We used to use that idea that crops up quite a lot in the Bible. We used to try and get them to remember.

We used to say to them, remember who you are and remember whose you are. In other words, remember you're a part of that big christian family and that you belong to Jesus because he paid that price for you. Now, as christians, it's really helpful to know who we are. And a big part of. Of that is knowing that we are part of that big family and what that means for us.

How our ancestors grew in faith and how God has a plan for his people even many centuries before the birth of Jesus. And that can really help give us a sense of belonging. And yes, we know, technically, we're all children of God, don't we? But what does that mean for me? Who does that make me?

Who am I now, recently, due to the rise of companies like ancestry, there's been a massive interest in tracing our own family trees. Now, more than ever, it's really easy to find out about people that have shaped our own families over the years. When I first read Ruth, and obviously Ruth for today, it struck me that this book is a bit like one of the episodes of that tv programme. You know, the one who do you think you are if you don't know it? That's a show where they take a celebrity and they follow their family tree back to look at interesting people and stories from their past.

Now, the programme obviously picks out juicy bits from the family history. They're particularly looking for well known figures. Maybe they had a royal relative, or maybe there was a particularly infamous character in their past. After all, it doesn't make great tv if that particular celebrity's last generation did nothing of interest. It feels to me like the story of Ruth fits into our Bible in much the same way as one of those exciting discoveries from the programme.

The story we've had over the last four weeks, the story of Ruth and Naomi, is a great story. It's got tragedy, it's got suffering and redemption through the actions of a kind man. But it's that very last bit that explains why Ruth features in our Bible, why it isn't just a story of two women made good after suffering a lot. We know from the last few verses of that book that Ruth's son is none other than King David's granddad. So this bit of our christian family tree really shouts at us.

The story of Ruth has a direct impact on our faith today. It tells us of one of the many faithful people in our past that God used on that plan of bringing Jesus to us.

I just want to quickly recap the story of Ruth. As you know, it starts with a family fleeing Israel during a famine to find respite in a country called moab. However, instead of finding food and happiness, they only found more hardship and tragedy. The husband called Elimelech died. His two sons, Marlon and Kilon, married Moabat wives.

But after ten years, they too died without leaving. Naomi, Elimelech's wife, with any grandchildren. By the way, that is a huge deal in those days because people didn't have pensions, they had relatives. It was the relatives that looked after you in old age. Not having grandchildren would most likely leave Naomi, at best, poor and probably destitute.

We heard how, on hearing that the family was over, Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. And at that .1 of the Moabite wives decided to stay in her homeland. However, Marlon's wife, Ruth, decided to stay with Naomi. And not only did she want to stay with her, but as a gentile, she professed her faith in God. That's Yahweh, the hebrew God.

Your God will be my God and your people will be my people. She said she's converted. And after they arrived back in Israel, we heard how Naomi was feeling. She was pretty bitter and upset. You would be at losing a husband and two sons.

She had no grandchildren to continue the family line. Life had not been kind to her and she believed that God had given up on her. But as we know, God had a plan, and Ruth's need to be out working to support Naomi took her to a field belonging to a man called Boaz. Boaz turns out to be a kind and godly man, and, as we'll find out later, is a relative of Elimelech, a distant relative. So after weeks of Ruth working for Boaz, Naomi basically schemes, dreams up a scheme where Ruth could marry Boaz.

And she goes and essentially proposes to him, as we heard last week, and he accepts. But there's a snag, and there's always a snag in a good story, right? Come on. Chapter three left us with that cliffhanger. There's a closer relative who's next in line and has the legal right to marry Ruth.

Boaz says he'll sort it out, but what's he going to do? So we get to today's chapter. Will Boaz get the girl? Will Naomi and Elimelech's family live on? First part of today's chapter.

Chapter four deals with that tricky situation Boaz finds himself in. As we've heard, there is another unnamed person that has more of a right to the estate and to marry Ruth than he does. And this person's not named. He's not named. Perhaps out of kindness, not to shame him.

We don't know. Instead, as we've heard, the translated language is simply so and so. Now, back when I was a child, about the worst insult my gran could come up with was to call somebody a real so and so so maybe that's what it means. We don't really know, but I really like to think of this guy as a real so and so. Anyway, Boaz goes out to the city gate, a place where business was often done.

And seeing Ruth's relative, he calls him over. He also gets ten of the local elders to join them. So there is no doubt that it's all above board and witnessed correctly. And Boaz kicks off by reminding this relative that he is the kinsman Redeemer. That's the relative that's got the right to buy another's land if it needs to be sold to provide for the remaining relatives.

And mister so and so says, yes, I'll buy it. That is, until Boaz reminds him that according to convention, if he buys the land, he's got to marry Ruth as well. Now, Boaz is a bit clever here. He throws in that she's a moabite, she's a foreigner and that she, when she becomes his wife, if they have any children, the children have to be given a Limilex name and they'll have to be raised as though they were elimelechs. It seems that mister so and so has a change of heart once he realises there's a really high price to acquiring the land, not just financial, but in taking on Ruth and the family commitments.

And he also says that it would endanger my own estate. In other words, he's worried about his successors, who will inherit his assets and maybe his own status. Maybe he just doesn't want to marry a foreigner. Maybe he is a right so and so. Who knows?

It doesn't matter. Boas has convinced Mister so and so to excuse himself from his kinsman Redeemer role, which means that obligation can now pass to the next in line. And since Boaz is the next relative, he is free to marry Ruth and they can live happily ever after. And this whole business, the chap seals the arrangement by taking off his sandal and giving it to Boaz, a way of agreeing the deal. And it was a very visual thing that all those elders could see, so they knew that it was all above board.

So Boaz becomes the relative with the kinsman Redeemer. Right. And he could marry Ruth. And there's some things to note here. There's three things.

Boaz's decision to become the kinsman redeemer is costly. There's a great cost to him taking on the family. It's sacrificial because the offspring will take on the name of the dead husband, Elimeleche. And of course, it's godly. He did the right thing.

So Boaz a sacrificed a great deal to marry Ruth. And it was all done in the presence of the witnesses there. And those witnesses realised what a big deal this is. Verse eleven and twelve. The elders offer a prayer of blessing to Ruth, that she would be like Rachel and Leah.

And we know they're the mothers of the sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel, and they pray that Boaz would be famous and that he would have children. These witnesses have seen something unusual and it's something that they know will be talked about in the history for a long time. And yes, we're still talking about it. So Ruth and Boaz were married. And as we read on, we find that there is confirmation that God really is in this.

Ruth, who hadn't been able to have any children, was able to conceive. And it's an action directly attributed to God. This is seen as a miraculous conception. After not having a baby with Marlon, despite being married for ten years, Ruth gives birth to a son and we get a second blessing scene. We had the elders at the gate blessing the marriage and now we have the women praising God that he has provided a guardian redeemer to Naomi, somebody who will look after her into old age.

There's a thing to note there. The women say that the guardian redeemer of Naomi is not Boaz, but the new child, obed. And their prayer for the baby is that he'll be renowned in all Israel. They give that prophetic word that he will renew Naomi's life and sustain her in old age. And those women recognise what we've heard through the story, that Ruth has always been kind and loving to Naomi, even better than seven sons would have been, they say.

So the book ends with Naomi having gone through the deep tragedy of losing a husband and sons, to holding this new life of her grandson obed in her arms. Her journey has come full circle through God's grace, from despair to joy in the knowledge that she's part of a family that will look after her in old age. And if that was the end of the story, the events of Ruth would be worthy of a section on that tv show I was talking about, the distant relative who went through tragedy, but ultimately it all worked out. But that's not the end of the story and nor is it probably why this story is where it is in the Bible. In true tv fashion, there's a bit more and it's even more stunning.

And the book, as we've heard, ends with this geo genealogy that gives us a whole different perspective on the story we've heard. This isn't just a tragedy to rejection story designed to show us that God can fix things when they go wrong. It's instead something that makes the reader understand Naomi and Ruth's true place in history, because, as it turns out, Ruth's son Obed, is king David's grandfather. Therefore, the line goes directly to Jesus. Without Ruth marrying Boaz and their son given her by the grace of God after many years of hardship, there is no Obed, no Jesse, Obed's son, and no David.

Here we've got Obed's family tree right back to Judah and then on to David. So we know how special this family is now. We know that the very near relative, David, became the most important king of Israel, and also that he would have a descendant who would always be the king of God's people, as Nathan was commanded by God to tell David. We read it in Samuel two. Samuel, when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.

He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. This is the big news of the story of this book. The book of Ruth started with a death, three deaths, but it ends with new life. A child is born.

It started with a funeral, but ends with a marriage. It started with grieving, but ends in joy. And it feels to me that this is our story as well. This is the story of the whole Bible, from sin and death to forgiveness and life because of a redeemer, someone who will not only pay to make us whole again, but who renews and restores our lives.

Verse 14 and 15 that we've read today in Ruth, the women said to Naomi, praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer. May he become famous throughout all Israel. He will renew your life and sustain you in old age. While Boaz is the christlike figure, almost who redeems at great cost, Obed is the christlike figure in the story who renews. He is the one who gives Naomi purpose again, who renews and restores her, just as Christ does us.

There aren't many passages in the Old Testament, actually, where we see the future coming of Jesus mirrored as clearly as this. The story of Ruth is even set, as you know, in Bethlehem, where Micah promised, prophesied a few hundred years later, that our redeemer would come from. We've heard about these so and so who said no to Ruth. He wanted the land until he heard it came with a foreign woman who'd have to marry. He didn't want to interrupt his plans for her.

He didn't want the stuff he'd built up being passed to somebody else instead of his chosen heirs. He just said, I don't want that. But Boaz didn't hesitate. He didn't have to think it over. He said, yes, I will be your redeemer, as Christ says to us.

Christ doesn't say to us, I've got better things to do, or, you don't have quite the right ethnic background. Or, I'd rather my love went to others. Christ redeems us by dying for us. It's as simple as that. No strings, no ifs, no buts.

Naomi was beaten back in chapter one, she said, the almighty has made my life very bitter. She felt that God had done this to her. But it is she who receives the blessings from the women. It is to her, they point out, that her grandson, Obed, will be her redeemer. We can find ourselves in exactly the same place, a place of despair.

But at her lowest point, God brought redemption and restoration to Naomi through the son of Ruth and Boazden. And we have a kinsman redeemer of our own, someone who was sent by God to renew and restore us. Someone who, like Boaz, sacrificed his own wants and needs and was willing to pay any price so that we may be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. Just as Boaz said, I will redeem Ruth. Christ says, I will redeem you.

So, yes, this is a tragedy to salvation story that would fit great in that tv programme, but it's the last bit that grabs me. It gives context to where we as christians have come from. It shows us our christian family tree. It joins the dots and connects us directly to those people, because we know that our saviour was descended from David. The people in this story are related to Jesus.

They are part of our family tree. They are our ancestors. Even right back a thousand years before Jesus, Boaz and Obed are redeeming figures that point the way to the ultimate redeemer, Jesus, who paid the ultimate price so that we could say we belong to his family, just as Boaz could have said no. As that other relative did. Jesus kind of could have done the same.

But he didn't because he loved us and he loves you and he loves me. He was willing to go through all that he did to pay the price for us to be our redeemer. He cleared our debt because he loves us and wants us to be a part of his family. For me, this story really helps me understand who we are and whose we are. Amen.

Close.