CHAPTER 4

(1312 B.C.)

THE INHERITANCE

¹Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there (this is where business was conducted in cities of that day): and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by (the one who was nearer kin to Naomi than was Boaz); unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down (desirous of knowing what business that Boaz wanted to discuss).

²And he took ten men of the Elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down (they were to serve as witnesses).

³And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, who is come again out of the country of Moab, sells a parcel of land (has determined to sell this parcel of land), which was our brother Elimelechs:

⁴And I thought to advertise you, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before 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 none (before you) to redeem it beside you; and I am after you. And he said, I will redeem it (but found he couldnt!).

⁵Then said Boaz, What day you buy the field of the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. (This means that the man must marry Ruth, as well as redeem the land. If a child was born to such a union, that child would inherit the land when the parents died, even though the father may even have other children who were older. In this manner, the inheritance would not be lost, which was the intention.)

⁶And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance (he was probably already married): redeem thou my right to yourself; for I cannot redeem it. (Boaz had to purchase Ruth from a kinsman who had a prior claim, but who declared that he could not redeem her. The Law has a prior claim to sinners, but it cannot redeem them. Christ, the Divine Kinsman, became Man in order to redeem. It cost Boaz nothing to redeem Ruth, beyond the setting aside of himself and his own interests, but it cost Christ everything to redeem sinners.

Thus, Ruth, a wild olive tree, was grafted into, and became a partaker of, the root and fatness of the olive tree, i.e., Israel; but she could not boast that this was due to any commanding personal claim; all she could say was, Why have I found grace in your eyes, seeing I am a Gentile? [2:10] Williams.)

⁷Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel (when land was sold, the one previously owning the land would give his shoe to the one who had bought it, signifying that he freely gave up his right to walk upon the soil in favor of the person who had acquired the possession).

⁸Therefore the kinsman said unto Boaz, Buy it for you. So he drew off his shoe (in other words, Boaz bought the land).

⁹And Boaz said unto the Elders, and unto all the people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelechs, and all that was Chilions and Mahlons, of the hand of Naomi (by all the names being mentioned here, even though there was only one estate, there was a succession in the proprietorship).

¹⁰Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day.

BOAZ MARRIES RUTH

¹¹And all the people who were in the gate, and the Elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman who is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the House of Israel: and do you worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Beth-lehem (the latter phrase is more a Prophecy than a statement; Bethlehem will ever be famous; the reason is that the Son of David, the great Descendant of Ruth, would be born in Bethlehem some 1,200 years later; how beautifully and wondrously this Prophecy has come to pass):

¹²And let your house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bore unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give you of this young woman (to be sure, this House was blessed far more than the house of Pharez could ever be blessed, and, in fact, every other house, for it would be the House of the Lord Jesus Christ).

¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. (When she looked at her newborn baby, I wonder what the thoughts were in her mind. Little did she realize the consequences of it all, and neither do we!)

¹⁴And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left you this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. (It is Ruths little son who is the kinsman referred to, the nearest kinsman, still nearer than Boaz. To be sure, the child, who was the ancestor of David, and, ultimately, the Son of David, is linked to fame in a greater way than even these women could think.)

¹⁵And he (the child) shall be unto you (Naomi) a restorer of your life, and a nourisher of your old age: for your daughter in law, which loves you, which is better to you than seven sons, has born him (given birth to him).

¹⁶And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.

¹⁷And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi (meaning that he was born to Naomi through Boaz and Ruth, who were fulfilling the Law by raising up seed for the dead [Ruths dead husband], and keeping his name alive; their seed was reckoned, or counted, to carry on his place in Israel [Deut. 25:5-10]; this Son, Who would be born of Israel [Naomi], will one day rule the world; His Name ultimately would be the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham [Mat. 1:1]); and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

RUTH, BOAZ, AND DAVID

¹⁸Now these are the generations of Pharez: Pharez begat Hezron (Esrom),

¹⁹And Hezron begat Ram (Aram), and Ram begat Amminadab,

²⁰And Amminadab begat Nahshon (Naason), and Nahshon begat Salmon,

²¹And Salmon begat Boaz (Booz), and Boaz begat Obed,

²²And Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David. (Most of the time, the genealogies given in the Bible, exactly as here, are not complete, and neither are they meant to be complete. They are merely meant to link certain individuals with others, although several times removed.

We know that Jesse was the father of David; however, we dont know if Obed was the immediate father of Jesse, or several times removed. In the Hebrew, there is no word for grandfather, or great-grandfather, etc. They are all looked at as the father.

We also know that Rahab married Salmon [Mat. 1:5]; however, we also know that Salmon was not the immediate father of Boaz, simply because Rahab and Salmon lived several hundreds of years before Boaz; however, we do know that Salmon was the father of Boaz several times removed.

All of this is very important, because it is an integral part of the genealogy of King Davids great descendant, his Lord, and ours. In other words, it pertains to the Incarnation of Christ, God becoming Man, in order to redeem humanity by dying on a Cross. Nothing is more important than that!)