Redeemed and Redeemer

Read Ruth
 
Ruth 1:20 “Don't call me Naomi,” she responded. “Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me.”
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Ruth 2:20 “May the Lord bless him!” Naomi told her daughter-in-law. “Boaz is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. Boaz is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers.”
 
Ruth begins as a sad account of a family destroyed by doubt, drought and death. Not trusting God’s provision amid difficult times, Elimelech moved his family to the pagan Moab, a country born of sin and continually oppressive against Israel. Elimelech and his sons die leaving three widows. Orpah and Ruth are Moabites. In truth, Naomi could be alone physically and spiritually. Hope was not with Naomi.
   There is no record Naomi sought God’s provision and direction for her life. She even encouraged Orpah and Ruth to return to their gods. Orpah left. Then Ruth spoke the first words of faith: Ruth 1:16 But Ruth replied, “Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”
   To Bethlehem Ephrata – the House of Bread – Naomi returned, and hope one day, too, returned to Naomi. Ruth volunteered to gather grain in the harvest fields. The Spirit sent her to Boaz’s field. Boaz receives and protects her.
   This is the Lord’s redemptive work in two ways. First, God cares for the poor: Leviticus 19:9-10 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.”
   Second God provided a way to redeem a widow from poverty and a life without children. Boaz is a kinsman, a relative, to Naomi through her deceased husband; and thus, he is also kinsman to Ruth. Because both Naomi’s husband and sons are dead, Boaz has a right by Hebrew law (Leviticus) to buy land Naomi’s husband owned. He also can choose to marry either Naomi or Ruth. In short, Boaz can purchase the land and give Naomi income to live for her lifetime. And through marriage, he can redeem Ruth from  childless widowhood. Now there is hope for a future heir.
   That hope is wonderfully fulfilled. From Boaz’s and Ruth’s marriage comes Obed, then Jesse, then David and ultimately Jesus. As Boaz is the women’s kinsman redeemer who paid what the law required, he is an illustration of Jesus to come. Jesus, fully God and fully man, is born through the ancestral blood of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah. Jesus is our brother, born of woman, lived, died, risen to redeem all who call him “Lord” from sin’s poverty, separation and death. He has paid what God’s law required. He has paid the debt for you. Through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith, you are an heir of God. He has given you the right to be called a child of God, a kinsman of the King.