Ruth 4:7-12

00:00:00:34 – 00:00:19:58
Clint Loveall
Friends, thanks for joining us after the holiday weekend. Hope it was good for you. Hope you’re doing well. Thank you for being with us as we continue through the book of Ruth. We are in the the last, the fourth chapter, and we are up a good bit through the chapter, at least in terms of the story we’re picking up at the seventh verse.

00:00:19:58 – 00:00:47:37
Clint Loveall
And just a very quick, summary recap of what has happened. Boaz has gone to the elders of the town. There was a person, a man who was unnamed in the story that has a right to claim, his place in line to to have the property of Naomi’s, to have the first right of refusal to buy the property.

00:00:47:42 – 00:01:14:29
Clint Loveall
However, Boaz also told him that either depending how you read the text that man would then be responsible also for Ruth or possibly, maybe more likely, that Boaz intends to marry Ruth and so that their children would would jump him in line. So, wow. However that is supposed to be understood in the translation is a little bit tricky.

00:01:14:29 – 00:01:43:32
Clint Loveall
There. He declined. He sees that it won’t be to risk that he’s unwilling to take. So he declined the offer. And now, with that aside, we move into the next part of the story, which is a kind of finalizing of that and then a moving toward wrap up on the story. So jumping in at verse seven here. Now, this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging to confirm a transaction.

00:01:43:37 – 00:02:09:49
Clint Loveall
The one took off a sandal and gave it to the other. This was the manner of a testing in Israel. So when the next of kin said to Boaz, acquire it for yourself, he took off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all of the people today, your witnesses, that I have acquired the land of Naomi, all that belonged to Elimelech, and all that belonged to Gillian and Mahlon.

00:02:09:54 – 00:02:34:42
Clint Loveall
I have also acquired Ruth, Moabite, the wife of Mahlon, to be my wife, to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance, in order that the name of the dead may not be cut off from his kindred, and from the gate of his native place. Today you are witnesses. Then all the people who were at the gate, along with the elders said, we are witnesses.

00:02:34:42 – 00:03:01:50
Clint Loveall
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 produce children in sorry ephrathah and bestow a name in Bethlehem, and through the children that the Lord will give you by this young woman. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom tamer bore to Judah.

00:03:01:55 – 00:03:38:51
Clint Loveall
So, an interesting note. A kind of cultural note. I don’t know that much is known about this trading the sandal business. we don’t see that that I’m aware of in other places. But here, the author of the story, the teller of the story, is saying this is what they used to do to make things official. And in this case, this man does this, giving Boaz his sandal, which, indicates to all the people who are observing that this is a transaction that is completed and that it’s aboveboard.

00:03:38:56 – 00:04:03:43
Clint Loveall
And so then Boaz goes on to say, everybody has seen this, I’m going to take the land. I’m going to take Ruth. Does anyone have issues with this? This is what’s now going to happen. And at that point, really, we move into commentary that in some ways, concludes that part of the story. I think, Michael, you know, there’s a there’s a note of what happens down the road.

00:04:03:43 – 00:04:30:29
Clint Loveall
But in terms of the live telling of the story and the journey of Naomi, Naomi and Ruth, this is a kind of, a little bit of a wrap up. And now all the pieces are in place. They fall in, the path is clear, and Boaz does what he’s kind of been moving towards throughout the third and fourth chapter, which is to become Ruth’s husband and to care for Ruth and Naomi going forward.

00:04:30:34 – 00:04:52:17
Michael Gewecke
So there’s some really interesting things we can glean from a text like this, and maybe some of them even unexpected places. So one of the really interesting things that will stick out in this telling of the story very early on is this idea of explaining the tradition, because to your point, Clint, there is actually quite a bit of scholarly question mark surrounding.

00:04:52:17 – 00:05:19:42
Michael Gewecke
Was this a practice that happened often? Was the the very particularized or, just region? Yeah. Was it just in a particular place? And what’s fascinating is when you get language in the scriptures, and this happens both in the New Testament and the Old Testament, but we have a good example of it here is when we have, this explanation of in verse seven, this was the manner of a testing in Israel.

00:05:19:57 – 00:05:41:56
Michael Gewecke
It begins to teach us, or to give us at least the insight that the people who were reading Ruth likely needed a little bit of explanation themselves. There’s a little bit of narrative help here to sort of make the case. This is why this is happening. And so it has something to teach us based upon how this is written about the people that received it.

00:05:41:56 – 00:06:06:36
Michael Gewecke
It’s likely that they may have been slightly detached from the meaning and practice of this as well. Commentaries. Do you make point of the fact that there may be some symbolic nature of talking about the sandal because of the idea that the person who owns the land, that, you know, when, the, the other heir essentially takes off his sandal, he says, you know, I’m not going to buy this.

00:06:06:36 – 00:06:29:34
Michael Gewecke
It’s not something I’m going to own. I’m not going to walk on it as its owner. Maybe there’s something symbolic in that. But regardless of its original meaning, we understand that that we like that audience that this is written to. We’re helped along a little bit by this idea that, this is just a part of this process, and ultimately it is a small symbol.

00:06:29:34 – 00:07:00:00
Michael Gewecke
It’s a really the land piece of this plant is a is a tiny fraction of Boaz is whole plant. And we know that because of the narrative that’s come before we, the reader, know about the threshing floor, we know about the time that Boaz has invested even prior to that in Ruth. And so because of that, we can see ahead that at the end of the day, when he says in verse ten that he’s going to acquire, he’s going to marry, he’s going to take into his family.

00:07:00:05 – 00:07:27:09
Michael Gewecke
Ruth, we know that this is more than just carrying on the lineage. We know that there is some duty, there’s some character, but there’s also relationship. There’s also connection. There’s also care in this. And I think that that is part of what makes this telling so interesting is because it combines some of the stuff you need to know for context, but it also in a way that lots of Old Testament texts, even New Testament text, doesn’t do.

00:07:27:14 – 00:07:39:13
Michael Gewecke
It’s providing some of the character, if not motivation, some character color in the background. It gives us some sense of who these people are and some of their motivations behind the scenes.

00:07:39:18 – 00:08:01:13
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I it’s a it’s an odd custom. Again, maybe the idea that if this man ever says, oh no, I actually wanted the field and Boaz took it, then Boaz just shows the sandal. But it’s a strange thing given feet. And I’m glad. I’m glad it’s no longer down that way. I don’t think we want to be changing shoes to, you know, sign off on deals.

00:08:01:13 – 00:08:31:17
Clint Loveall
But, again, it seems to have been in practice at in someone’s memory. This is the way it was done. And so it’s explained to us then what’s, I think, more interesting, less mysterious, but more interesting, I think is the commentary that comes next after Boaz announces his plan to all of the people. Their response? Fascinating. The the people, along with the elders say we are witnesses.

00:08:31:17 – 00:09:03:30
Clint Loveall
That that seems standard. But then may the Lord make the woman coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel, you would expect a blessing in that moment to say, May the Lord bless you, Boaz, and make you fruitful. And may you have children and sons. And but but again, this is a very subtle way of moving the focus back to Ruth.

00:09:03:30 – 00:09:31:39
Clint Loveall
We’ve had this little excursion here where the unnamed man and Boaz have been on center stage, and and now the spotlight moves back to Ruth. May the woman coming into your house be like Rachel and Leah, which is among the highest wish you could give a woman of that? I mean, they are the mothers of the patriarchs. They are the mothers of the tribes.

00:09:31:39 – 00:10:01:06
Clint Loveall
They are the ones who produce the the the literal men who became the tribes of Israel and established the House of Israel, as it says, together built up the House of Israel. May you produce children and bestow a name in Bethlehem. In other words, may you be best, and then at the very end, may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.

00:10:01:06 – 00:10:35:03
Clint Loveall
And if you were with us in the Judah Genesis study, or if you know the story of Tamar and Judah, you know that it’s a racy story. It’s an odd story where Tamar was pushed to the side and, had to find her own way into the, in the world through, actually some trickery and and yet here is celebrated and again, we get the idea that the author here is maybe fishing for very particular names.

00:10:35:07 – 00:11:09:32
Clint Loveall
Tamar, the outsider who becomes integral to the story of Israel. Tomorrow we’ll look at the passage in which Ruth, the outsider, makes the same journey. And so I think, Michael, no accident and very telling that it is these three women who are named women who made a name for themselves both by their abilities and ultimately, in some ways by their offspring.

00:11:09:32 – 00:11:16:52
Clint Loveall
And and the idea that Ruth might be in those circles, I think, sets us up for the conclusion of the book. Really? Well.

00:11:16:57 – 00:11:49:35
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. So Ruth is, as we’ve seen in this story called so many times, the Moabite, this this outsider who through varying stages, almost circles of progression has come into the family of Israel. And that increases to a substantial degree when once you start naming Rachel and Leah, certainly these these unbelievably well looked up to women, the the founder, the beginning of the nation itself.

00:11:49:35 – 00:12:16:39
Michael Gewecke
But I also want to point out there’s some interesting, I’m even going to say spiritual kind of connection in the story here, because now notice in verse 11, after you’ve got the conversation with that, other heir or the, the other potential family member, the, the one who could claim the right to the land here. Verse 11, Boaz addresses all of those gathered as witnesses.

00:12:16:39 – 00:12:50:27
Michael Gewecke
And then we have all of the people who were at the gate, along with the elders. They say, we are witnesses. And this change and transition away from the private deal making to the public conversation, it’s really important because it has a way of pointing us to God’s redemptive work for all of the people as well. And in the New Testament, we have examples where the church and it is the, it is the bride and Christ is the groom.

00:12:50:27 – 00:13:22:55
Michael Gewecke
And there’s a spiritual metaphor, a spiritual, spiritual kind of illustration of what the relation between those two bodies looks like. And here there’s in an interesting way, when it comes to Ruth and Boaz, it’s not just them going and getting married and hoping things work. In a way, there’s a kind of connection to the larger community of Israel, a kind of welcome and open hospitality and intentional choice to say that that we not only want this for you, but we want this for us.

00:13:23:06 – 00:13:49:28
Michael Gewecke
We want you, to have offspring, and we want you to be healthy and successful. And may that be like these other notable women in our history and our past have been for us. May you be as well. And I think that there’s a kind of inclusion that comes from this kind of witness. Clint, that is really beautiful because it’s one thing to just say that this is a transactional text, that this is Boaz saying, I’m going to marry Ruth.

00:13:49:28 – 00:14:09:03
Michael Gewecke
And everybody says, good, you go marry Ruth. I think there’s a way you could read this to say that there’s a kind of engram gifting in the whole communal witness in this scene. There’s a welcome. You are you are part of who we are. And that’s a kind of spiritual illustration, I think, of God’s choosing of the people.

00:14:09:16 – 00:14:24:13
Michael Gewecke
Though God doesn’t get mentioned a lot in the book of Ruth, certainly directly, though it’s not clearly a spiritual text. I think it courses underneath the words themselves, and I think that this is a not a perfect example, but yet it is an example of that, I think.

00:14:24:18 – 00:14:57:09
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I don’t want to steal tomorrow’s thunder. So just maybe mention this here and put a pin in it. But, we we will find out late in the book that not only is the mention of of Perez born to Tamar, telling from a historical standpoint, and not only is Tamar herself a very interesting character in in the Genesis account, but that Boaz is counted in the line of Perez.

00:14:57:09 – 00:15:23:58
Clint Loveall
And so there again, there is the idea of continuation here, that that Boaz and Ruth stand in a lineage that includes Tamar and now perhaps includes Ruth, with the promise of the possibility of them having a child that that now is on the table as well. And we’ll we’ll try to pack, unpack that and dig into that more tomorrow.

00:15:24:09 – 00:16:12:34
Clint Loveall
But Tamar is not just a random mention of an important character here. Also, there’s a lineage thing happening and I think this is the author’s way of sort of preparing us for the ultimate reveal that that all the readers of this story would have known. But if you can imagine going through it for the first time to get the backstory of of Ruth and who her connection in the story of the past and her importance in the story of the future of Israel and the the idea that this outsider, this Moabite who has been through tragedy, who has now navigated that with Naomi being faithful to her mother in law and now with Boaz, who

00:16:12:34 – 00:16:30:14
Clint Loveall
is faithful to her? it’s just a very it’s a very interesting, I think, very, beautiful, wonderful way to kind of wrap up these storylines. And ultimately we’ll try to do that with you tomorrow, but we see them beginning to come together here.

00:16:30:16 – 00:17:03:16
Michael Gewecke
I just think it’s very fitting. And you already mentioned this, but just by way of conclusion and summarizing, I think one of the things that makes this story so beautiful in the Old Testament is how uncompromising it is in making sure the focus remains with these women, because even Rachel and Leah and the team, our story, though they are prominent women in the story, there’s a way in which they are still focused on the story, which in many ways is dominated by the men’s interest and how God’s working through those men here.

00:17:03:21 – 00:17:24:23
Michael Gewecke
Even when Boaz takes this action, Ruth is included in what the the townspeople say. The elders say they may be speaking to Boaz, but they’re speaking about Ruth. And I just think there’s an intentional focus on her. And then ultimately, we’re going to see some summary things regarding Naomi as well. It’s just these women remain central in this story.

00:17:24:23 – 00:17:36:00
Michael Gewecke
And for that, I think this this remains a compelling story in the Old Testament. It it’s doing something that is in many ways unique and that that’s probably what makes it so beautiful.

00:17:36:05 – 00:18:08:49
Clint Loveall
Yeah. And again, maybe we can come back to this tomorrow, Michael. But it’s interesting because on one hand, this is this is part of the meta story of Israel. This is all about the lineage of key people. And these names go on to become celebrated names in the way that Israel tells their story. you can find these names in the New Testament in the in the unveiling of the genealogies.

00:18:08:54 – 00:18:39:28
Clint Loveall
And on the other hand, behind that, this is a story about people trying to make their way. Naomi facing tragedy. Ruth being faithful, following her back to Bethlehem, navigating a a next of kin and a plot that needs to be sold and land that they may or may not have access to. And Boaz being upright and standing before the elders and making sure he goes through the process, and getting the sandal before.

00:18:39:28 – 00:19:06:36
Clint Loveall
This is part of the big story of God’s people. This is a story of individual people whose characters and whose challenges and whose stories play out in this small forum. And I think it’s important to remember, because it’s easy to read Ruth for who she becomes. And it’s important to remember as you do read Ruth, who she is in that moment.

00:19:06:36 – 00:19:32:15
Clint Loveall
And these are just people facing the challenges of their day. They don’t know that they’ll go on to be these great people that the writer does. But as we get the story, we see normal people unfortunately navigate normal tragedies, but in a way that matters and in a way that will, endure. And I think that gives this, this part of the text a real flavor.

00:19:32:20 – 00:19:51:41
Michael Gewecke
We certainly hope that there’s been something that endures with you in this text. we will, be having a blip. we’ll be seeing you again, hopefully tomorrow as we continue towards the end, the conclusion of this story. definitely subscribe so you can stick with us. give this video a, like if you found it helpful.

00:19:51:41 – 00:19:52:35
Michael Gewecke
And we will see you tomorrow.

00:19:52:37 – 00:19:53:11
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.