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Day 30: The Redeemer Who Writes a Better Ending
Scripture:
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. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 3 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. 4 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[a] 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.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth[b] the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 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.”
7 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 attesting in Israel. 8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal. 9 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 Chilion and to Mahlon. 10 Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, 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.” 11 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, 12 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.”
Ruth and Boaz Marry
13 So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. 14 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! 15 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.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood 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.
The Genealogy of David
18 Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron,19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, 20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, 21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, 22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
Ruth 4
Every story has moments when it feels like the end has already been written. Maybe you’ve felt that too, in marriage where the problems seem too hard to fix, in parenting when the weariness feels endless, in health when the diagnosis seems final, or in discouragement when hope feels gone.
At long last, we arrive at the end of the story. In the final turn of events, Boaz must act to bring the closure to the redemption of Ruth and Naomi. He gathers at the town gate where he tells the closer kinsman-redeemer to have a seat. This man is given no name, perhaps to spare his relatives the embarrassment over his choice, or because the one who chose his inheritance over passing on the family’s name deserves no name in the story. Either way, we don’t know who it is. But initially, he agrees to redeem the property for Naomi.
Now, this decision would put him in a place of financial benefit. Naomi was old, and he would have been able to have the property after she passed. What a perfect ending to his story! But isn’t this the way we often think and work? We make decisions and choices too often what seems best in our story. We look at how they will benefit us, not the Lord. Now, it can seem as if we’ve gotten all this way just to have someone else take Boaz’s place. How unfair would that be, given all the care Boaz has shown?
This is the problem with writing our own story. We get ahead of the Lord’s script, and from our perspective, things are going to work out well. We praise ourselves for being such excellent authors. But then, the Lord reminds us of who is really writing the story. Not us, but Him. So rather than going with the ending that we think is best, Jesus writes the better ending so that all glory goes to Him.
Just before the man says “yes” and our story ends on a different note, the Lord works through Boaz and He informs the man that His “yes” also means a marriage to Ruth and children to continue the lineage of Elimelech. It’s important that we grasp how important it was for an Israelite to have an heir living on the family land. To lose your land and your heirs was the greatest tragedy you could face. Your afterlife was even dependent upon having descendants living on ancestral soil. Without them, you would cease to exist.
The cost of redeeming the land and Ruth was more than the man was willing to pay. His own family would be impacted by the cost required to feed and care for Ruth and her children, plus the impacts that her children would have on the inheritance he would pass to his own children. The man simply wasn’t willing to absorb the cost or to see any benefit of redeeming her.
But Boaz does. He is willing to pay the price, and he agrees to meet the conditions. As the town hears, they wish a blessing on Ruth and Boaz like Perez. Perez was the oldest of twin boys born to Judah under somewhat scandalous circumstances back in Genesis 38. There, Judah refused to give Tamar his youngest son as husband, so she posed as a prostitute, became pregnant unknowingly by Judah himself, and gave birth to Perez and Zerah. Perez’s birth was as unusual as he pushed his twin aside at the last moment and was born first.
Like Ruth, Tamar was a foreigner who continued a family line threatened with extinction, one which later became Judah’s leading house, and then gained herself fame as its founding mother. The prayer then is that Ruth would also preserve Elimelech’s line, and, if that line became famous, also be known as Tamar.
In the end, the Lord does enable Ruth to become pregnant, and Naomi becomes a “mother” again, providing her with a son she can help care for. The child is a gift from the Lord, from divine initiative and not merely human initiative. But just before the story can end simply on a feel-good note with Naomi being truly full again, the Lord is not done. It turns out this child will be the grandfather of King David. And we know the rest of the story. Not only is he the grandfather of David, but he is also in the lineage of Christ himself. Now, who else could have written a better story than this?
Maybe you feel like Naomi, convinced your story is finished, that emptiness is the last word. Perhaps in parenting you wonder if the years of sacrifice will ever bear fruit, or in marriage you fear the wounds have gone too deep to heal. Maybe your health has left you discouraged, or your circumstances whisper that God has forgotten you. The book of Ruth reminds us that God is still writing with a good pen, a pen of His Hesed love.
Boaz’s redemption is beautiful, but it points to Jesus as the greater Redeemer, who writes the final ending. Jesus is better because although Boaz paid a price to secure Ruth’s future, Jesus paid the ultimate price to secure ours. Boaz turned Naomi’s emptiness into joy, but Jesus turns death into life and promises that every tear will be wiped away. Boaz preserved a family line that led to David, while Jesus places us into His family that will never end. And while Boaz gave Naomi and Ruth a future, Jesus gives us Himself, guaranteeing that the ending will be better than anything we could write.
We began with emptiness, Naomi’s bitterness, and Ruth’s vulnerability. We walked through emptiness and funerals to fullness and births. So this is the truth that carries you, that God is the Redeemer who takes empty hands and fills them, who takes broken stories and weaves them into His glory, who writes endings far better than we could imagine. Your life is not defined by the chapter you are in now. It is defined by the Author who has already secured the final word in Christ. When you feel like the story is over, remember Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz. And most of all, remember Jesus. He is better. He is enough. And He is writing your ending.
Pastor Josh Gerber |
