God Promises a Kinsman Redeemer

Ruth 4:12-14, 16-17 “Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” 13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!...16 Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
 
THESE five verses tell us much about Jesus’ ancestry and God’s generosity. From Judah and Tamar came Perez. (See Genesis 38. Once more God’s sovereign grace overcomes human sin.) From Perez came the lineage that led to Boaz. Boaz and Ruth marry. They are David’s great grandparents.
   Ruth is another powerful story of God’s redemptive work. Like Rahab, Ruth was not an Israelite. She was born in Moab, the nation that began in the sin of Lot and his elder daughter. Balak, king of Moab, sent Balaam to curse the Israelites as they journeyed to the Promised Land. Moab and Israel were generational enemies, and God often used Moab to judge Israel’s sins. But out of this pagan nation God raised up Ruth to be a faithful daughter-in-law to Naomi. As Rahab confessed God’s power, Ruth also confessed her allegiance to Naomi, Israel and God: Ruth 1:15-17 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”  Ruth became a new creation under God’s power. During the time of  the Judges when everyone did as he saw fit (Judges 21:25), God anointed this young woman to please the LORD.
   Naomi and Ruth lived in Bethlehem. Ruth worked to feed her mother-in-law by harvesting grain on the edge of the barley fields during harvest as God’s law commanded (Leviticus 23:32). Ruth found safety in Obed’s fields and earned a reputation of integrity as she worked diligently, learned Bethlehem’s customs and listened to Naomi’s instructions. Obed was a wealthy landowner who favored Ruth’s devotion.
   In the Jews’ law there is the rule of kinsman-redeemer. When a man died and his widow wanted to sell his land to relieve any debt, his closest kin had the option to purchase the land to redeem the debt. Boaz, a close relative to Naomi’s husband, purchased the land. And he also married Ruth to redeem her from widowhood.
   In a like manner, Jesus is your kinsman-redeemer. With his blood, Jesus redeems sin’s debt from your soul. You become a new creation as Christ’s bride when you confess he is your Savior. Out of sin’s foreign territory you enter his eternal kingdom to live under his gracious care.  
   Ruth’s story is a story of redemption. It reveals God’s mercy and love to transform lives into the truth of his commands.