Ruth 4:1-6

00:00:00:36 – 00:00:20:40
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for being with us as we close out the week by starting a new chapter in the book of Ruth. We are in the last chapter. today. Today we won’t cover a lot of ground, but there is a lot in it. we’re going to open up chapter four here with just the first six verses.

00:00:20:45 – 00:00:50:04
Clint Loveall
And some of this is going to maybe feel disconnected or feel like it drops out of the blue. And that’s okay. We’ll come by, we’ll try to unpack it for you, but, there is a significant change of tone here in the story as we jump in. And and we do so at verse one, chapter four. No sooner had Boaz gone up to the gate and sat down there than the next of kin who Boaz had spoken of came passing by.

00:00:50:09 – 00:01:11:37
Clint Loveall
So Boaz said, come at once, friend, and sit down here. And he went over and sat down. Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city and said, sit here. So they sat down. He said to the next of kin, Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling a parcel of land that belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.

00:01:11:42 – 00:01:31:46
Clint Loveall
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’s no one prior to. For there is no one prior to you to redeem it, and I come after you.

00:01:31:51 – 00:02:00:33
Clint Loveall
So he said, I will redeem it. Then Boaz said, the day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead man, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance. At this the next of kin said, I cannot redeem it for myself without damaging my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself for I cannot redeem it.

00:02:00:37 – 00:02:25:16
Clint Loveall
So, a couple of things. There’s a lot going on here. This is a very interesting passage in lots of ways. First of all, it describes some things out of legal code, but those things are not as they are written in other places. And so there’s a reach for an explanation of why it would be happening this way.

00:02:25:21 – 00:02:57:42
Clint Loveall
Secondly, there’s some difficult language, some interesting translation choices that have to be made. and, and third, there’s just this legal proceeding as Boaz now tries to work on Ruth and Naomi’s behalf. but if some of this sounds confusing to you, don’t be worried by that, because some of the best scholars in the world read these things and say, we’re not exactly sure how we should translate it or what it means.

00:02:57:43 – 00:03:37:27
Clint Loveall
So let’s try to walk through. And the first thing to know is that at many Israelite towns by the gate there are benches. And so literally there’s a kind of elder council. When a matter needs decided, the men of the city can come and they can have these discussions. And Boaz invites them along with this other kinsman. by the way, that one of the confusing things that happens here, the word kinsman in this passage is literally the word brother, leading some to even suggest that there’s a very close relationship between Boaz in this person and Elimelech, Naomi’s former husband.

00:03:37:31 – 00:04:03:38
Clint Loveall
it’s pretty clear it’s not literally brother. Brother is one of those words that’s used for a variety of connections, but it’s an interesting word you can hear. in my translation, they try to make that less confusing by changing it to kinsman. The other thing that’s interesting here is that this man isn’t named. Boaz calls him friend, but the word friend here, or the word that’s translated friend.

00:04:03:43 – 00:04:40:19
Clint Loveall
It is kind of a storyteller’s word that is often used of a character that doesn’t really matter, or in some cases doesn’t deserve a name. some translators suggest that maybe the best equivalent would be something like so-and-so, you know, the man so-and-so or the unknown man, the unnamed man. But the main thing is the point of this early part of the passage is Boaz gets everybody together, and he wants to settle this matter legally of this property.

00:04:40:19 – 00:05:07:46
Clint Loveall
And Michael, this is the first we hear about that. This is another detail that kind of drops into the story that Naomi has within her name. And women could own property in Israel. they could manage property. But she’s been gone ten years, and it’s very unlikely that this property has just been sitting there unused. And it’s very likely that this other unnamed man maybe has been managing it or farming it.

00:05:07:51 – 00:05:18:48
Clint Loveall
but but now in the story, we find that there’s a potential asset for Naomi, but it has to be navigated legally to figure out how she could, have access to it.

00:05:19:01 – 00:05:42:39
Michael Gewecke
So there are many layers to that, though. It’s not just the matter of the the revelation that there’s this property or this possibility. There’s also what we’re going to discover to be some strings attached to that. And I don’t want to run ahead, but I do think it’s important that we we recognize here that there are many layers happening within this story, within its culture.

00:05:42:39 – 00:06:07:40
Michael Gewecke
And so therefore, you have this idea of gathering the council, beginning to have conversation about what are we going to do with this asset. You also have underneath it the question of who is going to redeem the responsibility in light of those relational connections. And there’s been so much of this relational who’s responsible for what already in the story that was set up when Naomi lost her husband and then her sons.

00:06:07:53 – 00:06:48:46
Michael Gewecke
The question of who’s going to care for Naomi? Well, that’s been over and over again, answered when Naomi and Ruth are taking agency, when they’ve been caring for themselves on one aspect, on the other aspect, how God has been caring for them behind the scenes, how Boaz came into the picture as a vessel of that care. Now for just a moment here we see as Boaz steps up to call people to redeem themselves the thing that that is owed so here, when he comes to this next of kin, and my commentator Clint actually said that you could translate that the so in so like, you know, just that person he calls up that person and

00:06:48:46 – 00:07:18:39
Michael Gewecke
says, hey, come on in here. And, this is the plot of land that you should do due diligence. You should do the, the right thing with in character. You should redeem this land and you should purchase it from Naomi, which is interesting because the response to that is initially positive. It’s a initially, yes, I’m going to do that until Boaz moves on to then begin to illustrate what else that redemption would entail.

00:07:18:39 – 00:07:40:49
Michael Gewecke
In other words, at first it sounds like Boaz is just calling for a property purchase, and then when he says no, but the property is tied up with much, much more than that. Then we begin to see that whatever amount of intelligence and creativity, maybe some cunning that Naomi and Ruth have used up to this point. The story.

00:07:40:58 – 00:07:49:19
Michael Gewecke
We now see Boaz using his very own measure of it as he addresses the circumstance with this so-and-so kinsman.

00:07:49:24 – 00:08:18:40
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And essentially what’s happening here, maybe in terms that we might be familiar with, this this man, this unnamed kinsman, he has the first right of first refusal. So he’s the first in line to say whether or not he would like to buy the property. And he indicates, yes, I would like to. But now Boaz says, and this is a this is a major point of translation here.

00:08:18:45 – 00:08:47:53
Clint Loveall
looking at verse five here, I think the day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead man, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance. Now, this is actually not a law that’s in effect. This could be a local custom. This isn’t what is described in what we would call the Old Testament, those laws.

00:08:47:58 – 00:09:17:49
Clint Loveall
But but significantly the word you there. So Boaz says the day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, the best translation of that in Hebrew is probably I am acquiring Ruth the Moabite. And so it is very possible that originally this was meant to say, just so you know, I’m going to marry Ruth to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance.

00:09:17:49 – 00:09:48:33
Clint Loveall
And what does this mean for the unnamed kinsman? It means that in the year of Jubilee, that property reverts to its family lineage. He will lose the property to, Boaz and Ruth’s children. If they have a son, that son then will jump over the kinsman and be first in line for that property. So when he says I can’t redeem it without damaging my own inheritance, in other words, well, I’m I’m likely to lose on this deal.

00:09:48:37 – 00:10:21:32
Clint Loveall
I could buy the property and then lose the property if you all. And so there’s arguments you can make for translating this. You are acquiring Ruth. There’s arguments you can make for saying, I am acquiring Ruth. But either way, the the addition here of the dead man’s inheritance, the idea that a claim will be staked through Ruth for this property in the future, but pushes this man off and now he says, no, I’m not interested.

00:10:21:32 – 00:10:40:53
Clint Loveall
And I think to your point, Michael, it’s hard for us to read because we don’t understand everything that’s going on here. But there’s been a little Boaz has done a little bait and switch here. He’s got this guy in front of everybody. He this guy may have been farming the field already. he may have already been benefiting.

00:10:40:53 – 00:11:02:20
Clint Loveall
He may not have wanted to talk about what was going to happen. Naomi can’t really challenge impossibly so. But Boaz, is being very shrewd here and kind of turns the tables to some extent, or at least you can clearly read it that way, that that there is a gotcha moment here where Boaz backs into the corner. He says, yeah, I want the field.

00:11:02:20 – 00:11:15:34
Clint Loveall
And he says, oh, well, that field comes with strings attached. And at that point the guy says, well, then I’m out. I’m no longer interested in. So Boaz plays this game really well.

00:11:15:39 – 00:11:39:32
Michael Gewecke
And that is probably the first level of discomfort that’s going to hit any of us. You know, as a modern reader, reading this story, specifically when you come in and you see here this idea, the land that, was owned by our kinsman Elimelech in verse three, and then you come here and then you say in verse five, now you’re acquiring Ruth the mobile.

00:11:39:34 – 00:12:15:57
Michael Gewecke
I mean, that’s a hard stop for anyone in the modern world. And I think the point that maybe you’ve got to see here is that Boaz is working within his own time and custom to resolve the problem that presented itself in our last study, when Ruth comes and Ruth makes this advance and Boaz responds positively, if you remember, Naomi herself says here in verse 18, you know my daughter to Ruth, the man will not rest, Boaz will not rest, but the matter will be settled.

00:12:15:57 – 00:12:37:10
Michael Gewecke
Well, as we transition into today’s text settling, it looks like calling the people together the right get the right people at the table, the people that need to be addressed. And then you bring in the relative that needs to be dealt with, and then you present before the relative. Okay, here here’s the value proposition. And are you willing to take it?

00:12:37:10 – 00:13:14:24
Michael Gewecke
And as long as that relative thinks, well, this is a simple investment, me taking the land and getting the benefits thereof, I’m all in the moment that Boaz reveals his ultimate interest. The matter that Boaz is trying to settle is not the land, it’s his relationship with Ruth. It’s the fact that he believes that his calling is to be reunited, or to rather, redeem the responsibility of the family member to Ruth, who has come into the family by her her filial piety, her her promise, her oath to Naomi.

00:13:14:29 – 00:13:47:53
Michael Gewecke
And so what’s happening is, on one level, this, this kind of cultural bound tradition. On the other hand, what’s happening here is someone who is wisely taking whatever action is necessary to follow with his deeper principle. And here his deeper principle is not about acquisition in that kind of very financial language. His deeper value is that he needs to do right by Naomi’s family and and to do right by Ruth as one who’s come into the people of God.

00:13:47:58 – 00:14:11:07
Michael Gewecke
The fact that she’s a moabite is is no longer an issue. For now, it is being faithful to her place within the covenantal family because she has, oh, she’s called Naomi’s God, her own God. So from the faith context, I just think there’s multiple layers beneath what’s maybe a hard reading for us to get to if you’re willing to live into those, those layers.

00:14:11:07 – 00:14:12:12
Michael Gewecke
I think there’s a lot here.

00:14:12:27 – 00:14:44:57
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And I and I want to I want to be clear. Boaz here is not doing anything immoral. These are this is all very much aboveboard. He gives this person the right. but then he says, you know, Ruth, a responsibility to Ruth comes with this, most likely indicating that Boaz is going to take Ruth as his wife, possibly, though less likely, insinuating that the kinsman will have to do that, that that’s not a requirement.

00:14:45:01 – 00:15:16:26
Clint Loveall
it wouldn’t in this situation normally be something that would be required, but maybe they have a different understanding. But Boaz is working the system. He he is taking advantage of backing this man into a corner. but he’s not he’s not doing anything. He’s he’s not, you know, crossing boundaries. There’s nothing like that happening here. He simply, forced this man to a decision and then made sure that this man would understand the full cost of the decision.

00:15:16:26 – 00:15:39:36
Clint Loveall
And as soon as it’s no longer in the man’s best interest, he’s not interested in. And I don’t know that that makes him of some kind of, you know, villain in the story. I’m not sure that’s there. I think he just simply realizes it’s no longer worth it to me. If if I have if I have to run the risk of my own children’s inheritance.

00:15:39:36 – 00:16:22:42
Clint Loveall
And if I have to take on this other responsibility, I don’t know that the text is trying to follow him for that. Although the so-and-so thing, it it might be leaning that direction a little bit. I think that’s one of the mysteries of the text that we’re maybe not fully aware of several thousand years later, but the takeaway is Boaz is now put himself in a position to remove the obstacles between not only taking Ruth, but maybe equally importantly, in the context of the story, providing for Ruth and Naomi not just in the moment they’re in, but even in perpetuity with this idea of a son and now some property and and I think, you

00:16:22:42 – 00:16:43:22
Clint Loveall
know, we begin to transition now from Ruth and Boaz becoming acquainted and interested in one another to Boaz turning that into a road that moves everybody forward and puts everybody in a better position. And I think that’s the the main takeaway of what’s happening in this part of the story.

00:16:43:33 – 00:17:10:12
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. So Clint, the the other character that this kinsman reminds me of is Orpah. because in both cases, they’re individuals who do the thing that is totally acceptable and, and is in no way explicitly judged. Right? So when Ruth says, with Naomi, I’m going with you, or on the other hand says, I’m going to go back home to my family, I’m going to go back to the culture.

00:17:10:12 – 00:17:31:10
Michael Gewecke
I’m going to go back to my gods. And then she exits the story of the kinsman in a very similar way. Here, the kinsman does a very common thing, a very understandable thing, a justifiable thing. He’s looking after his own family and his own interest. He’s not doing an immoral thing. He’s just sort of doing the thing that makes the most sense for his context.

00:17:31:10 – 00:18:11:04
Michael Gewecke
What that serves to do, I think, is in some way to really elevate Ruth’s choices and also Boaz is choices. They’re both doing something relatively exceptional. They’re going the extra mile, they’re doing more than what is necessary. And along the way, we’re discovering, deeply human and beautiful commitments and love and fellowship and loyalty to one another, even though that loyalty isn’t necessarily connected by race or connected by family background or even, original religion, it it’s a kind of transcendent loyalty that they’re finding in one another.

00:18:11:04 – 00:18:22:28
Michael Gewecke
And the common experience of these others isn’t negated. I just think it accentuates the exceptional experience of these others as they commit to each other in this way.

00:18:22:33 – 00:18:57:45
Clint Loveall
We will, Not tomorrow. Sorry. Monday, as we rejoin this story and look at the next section, we’ll have some conversation about the situation, the pattern of these men making decisions. But in this case, they’re less deciding than they are witnessing. There is a kind of, there’s a kind of, almost, authorization or note arising of what’s happening here.

00:18:57:45 – 00:19:22:46
Clint Loveall
And, and again, the wisdom of Boaz has been that he does this publicly. He does it in front of the elders, where immediately this becomes clear and the path becomes clear in front of everyone. And he’s now going to take the next step down that path, and we’ll have some conversation about how that happens and, and what it means and, and even maybe to some extent, the fairness or unfairness in some of it.

00:19:22:46 – 00:19:51:37
Clint Loveall
But we’ll leave that for the next time we’re together. this is one of those parts of the story, Michael, where I think there’s a lot of fascinating things happening here culturally, translation issues. This is a part of the story that you can read over, and you just be left scratching your head thinking, I’m not sure I understand what just happened, but this small passage really moves the story along a great deal.

00:19:51:37 – 00:20:17:11
Clint Loveall
And it is deep and it’s somewhat complicated, but it’s it’s very important. This is the bridge between Ruth and Boaz at the threshing floor and him saying, I will take care of this. And Naomi saying he’ll get it done. And what’s going to end up happening? This is the path that leads to the resolution, and it’s a really vital part of the story.

00:20:17:11 – 00:20:23:12
Clint Loveall
It’s just one that isn’t naturally, apparent to us.

00:20:23:16 – 00:20:39:07
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, I in some ways, you’re seeing how the sausage gets made a little bit of a way. This this is how it needs to play out. and certainly there’s a lot more to come, so we hope you’ll join us for that. If you found this interesting, if it’s challenged your understanding of the story, we hope you give it a like.

00:20:39:07 – 00:20:51:39
Michael Gewecke
It’ll help others in their own study of the text. Definitely subscribe. You can follow with us through the rest of this book and then the studies that will follow. And of course, friends, we’re always blessed to spend time with you. Hope that you are blessed. We will see you when we continue with the live study next week.

00:20:51:41 – 00:20:52:21
Clint Loveall
Have a good weekend!