When the Redeemer Pays the Price - Ruth 4:1-22 (Session 5)

Ruth chapter 4 brings the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz to its beautiful conclusion.

Boaz goes to the city gate, gathers the elders, and properly follows the law to settle the question of redemption. A closer relative has the first right to redeem Naomi’s land, but when he learns that Ruth must also become part of the family inheritance, he declines. Boaz then steps forward and publicly declares that he will redeem both the land and Ruth.

The transaction illustrates what redemption means. Something has been lost, a legitimate claim exists, and a price must be paid to restore it. Boaz pays that price and gains the legal right to redeem Ruth and restore the family inheritance.

The session connects this with Jesus Christ. Scripture teaches that believers were bought with a price. Christ paid the debt of sin in full through His death on the cross. Redemption is not merely forgiveness in the abstract—it is a costly act in which the Redeemer pays what we could not pay for ourselves.

Ruth’s progression throughout the book is remarkable. She begins as a foreigner, then calls herself a maidservant, then becomes Boaz’s maid, and finally becomes his wife. She moves from poverty and exclusion to belonging, inheritance, marriage, and blessing.

Naomi experiences a similar transformation. She once asked to be called Mara because she believed the Lord had dealt bitterly with her. By the end, she holds a grandson in her arms while the women of Bethlehem celebrate with her.

The book closes with the genealogy leading to King David, showing that God’s providential work in the lives of Ruth and Boaz becomes part of the larger story of redemption that ultimately leads to Jesus Christ.

Scripture: Ruth 4:1–22
Series: The Book of Ruth — An RTTB Study

Questions discussed in this session include:

• What does it mean when we say Jesus paid for our sins?
• What is redeeming and why is it important to us? 
• How is Jesus our redeemer? 
• What is the state of a person before and after they come to Christ? 

Transcript

Legal Redemption of Land in Ruth

Speaker 1 0:20

Here we are in Ruth , chapter 4 , as we've been doing our verse by verse study through the book of Ruth . And the book of Ruth is a wonderful book . It's a lot of fun . It talks about a sacred romance between us and Christ . The story is about this woman , ruth , who falls in love with this man , boaz . He notices her first . He notices hey , who is this young woman ? He goes , he does things for her , he leaves her gifts , he showers her with blessings . She is wooed in by him . This is the same picture that Christ wooes us in . He draws us into a relationship with him . This is a wonderful picture in this book .

Speaker 1 0:59

Ruth and her mother-in-law , naomi , started out in the book as widowed and destitute in the land of Moab . They've lost their husbands . They've lost their future . Ruth begins gathering food near Jerusalem when she's noticed by Boaz , and now she's about to be redeemed by him . Boaz is what is called a kinsman redeemer , which is a part of the Mosaic Law that gave a brother the responsibility to marry his brother's widow and raise up children for her . This had a lot of benefits . At the end of the previous chapter , ruth has asked Boaz to fill this role and has promised to make sure she gets married one way or the other . There's one other person that is a closer relative than Boaz . Here we're going to find out in chapter 4 what happens , because now Boaz is off trying to work out this deal with this other relative . I'm going to read here in Ruth , chapter 4 , starting at verse 1 .

Speaker 1 2:01

Now Boaz went up the gate and sat down there and behold , the close relative of whom Boaz spoke was passing by . So he said turn aside , friends , sit down here . He turned aside and sat down . He took 10 men of the elders of the city and said sit down here . So they sat down . Then he said to the close relative , naomi , who has come back from the land of Moab , has to sell the piece of land which belonged to our brother Alemolec . So I thought to inform you , saying buy it before those who are sitting here and before the elders of my people . If you will redeem it , redeem it . But if not , tell me that I may know , for there is no one but you to redeem it . I am after you . And he said I will redeem it . Then Boaz said on the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi , you must also acquire Ruth , the Moabitis , the widow of the deceased , in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance . The close relative said I cannot redeem it for myself because I would jeopardize my own inheritance . Redeem it yourself , that you may have the right of redemption for I cannot redeem it . So this was our little legal transaction that happened here .

Speaker 1 3:14

In verse one he goes to the city gate . What's the deal with the gate , steve ? Why are the gate ?

Speaker 2 3:19

It was the place of commerce . It was the place where people went in and out from the city . It's where the elders sat , and when we looked at the cities of refuge , it was a place where the trials would take place , the determinants , where the elders were . We see that same thing here . We also saw it in regards to the Deuteronomy that we spoke about . It was where commerce took place . It was where judgment took place . It was the place what we might call the city center in those days , the gate to the city itself .

Speaker 1 3:51

Exactly in our day . In our country they will have a downtown area and usually all the official business happens downtown . In those days there were walled cities , there were smaller cities , things happened at the gate , so people would hang around the gate . That's where all the activities were . When verse two , he gets 10 elders and got them to sit and watch the conversations .

Speaker 2 4:12

Witnesses .

Speaker 1 4:13

These are witnesses . What they didn't have was like paper records that are recorded at the city hall or the courthouse .

Speaker 1 4:21

They had witnesses . He's about to do some legal business here , so he wanted witnesses . So he gets 10 respected people that if there was any dispute they would all be able to say I heard it and here's what they agreed to . So this was just a method of officially recording it , because they didn't have paper records in those days . They got witnesses . Boaz does this the right way . Boaz is an honest man that wants to follow the law . He didn't cheat . He didn't do something underhanded . He followed the law and did it .

Speaker 2 4:56

The right way . It shows that he's also a worshiper of Yahweh , doing the right and proper things that he's supposed to . He's not off doing what's right in his own eyes and he's not going off on his own . He's doing it the proper way .

Speaker 1 5:11

He's doing it the proper way and because he knows he's gonna be answered to God at some point . So in verse three he starts with the land . The land of Israel is also very important , so he starts there . The people of Israel start and end with the land . One reason God set up the families to stay together was to keep the land and the family we talked about that . It gave the family a permanent livelihood .

Speaker 1 5:34

We have here where it describes that she was selling the land . We have to think exactly what's going on here . When the Limolek went to Moab , there was a famine , remember . He picked up his family and left . So either Naomi's husband , a Limolek , had already sold the rights to the land before he went to Moab , in which case now they're buying it back , or it's possible Naomi had the right to the land and that she was selling it now because she didn't have an heir . One of those things is probably true . The land had to go to a relative . You couldn't just sell it to any old buddy unless there was . There's another little quirk in the Mosaic Law there was every 50 years there was a year of jubilee . If you sold your land to somebody , you got it back and they're here . Jubilee . You could not legally buy land from people and just keep it forever . That's where forgiven .

Speaker 2 6:35

That's where forgiven and the year of jubilee . Those that were sold , maybe for debt purposes or for other reasons , were given back .

Speaker 1 6:43

So without a kinsman , redeemer Naomi has no heir , so something had to happen to the land . That's what they're dealing with here . Somebody had to redeem it , which is what they're talking about . One thing I think we haven't done here is this whole idea of redemption and what it means to redeem . It's just not a word we use all the time . What I think of , in the way I tend to explain it , is , at least nowadays , if somebody gives you a coupon for , say , a free hamburger or a free meal or something like that , the coupon gives you the legal right to the free meal , but you have to take it down to the restaurant and Redeem it . Redeem the coupon , you have to give them the coupon and they give you the hamburger or the meal . The coupon gives you this legal right , but there has to be an exchange . That's what's going on here , both spiritually and practically . Legally , he is paying money to redeem this land , to get it back from whoever had the right to it then we had described redemption what it meant in our first session .

Speaker 2 7:50

Part of that was to redeem something . You have to have ownership of it in order to then get it back In your illustration of the coupon . You have ownership of that hamburger or meal , but it's not in your actual possession .

Speaker 1 8:07

It's legally yours but it's not in your possession until you redeem the coupon , that exchange happens , the exchange happens .

Redemption Through Transformative Power of Love

Speaker 1 8:13

Boaz was following the letter of the law and the spirit of the law , but what he does do in verse five is he makes sure the other guy knows Ruth is a Moabitis , don't forget , she's a foreigner . Well , he uses that , I think , and that she's acquired to .

Speaker 2 8:32

In other words , she becomes part of the family . She comes with it . It's not just redeeming the land to keep it in the family , it's . Ruth also comes with it .

Speaker 1 8:41

So then in verse six the other man backs out and he says no , I can't do it because it would the way he phrases it there it would jeopardize my own inheritance .

Speaker 1 8:49

So a little bit about what that means . He probably had sons himself . He had land himself . Now if he brings in somebody else into his family , then his inheritance the land he owned , that his family inherited , the land he got from his father and he's given to his sons that now gets split one more way because now there's somebody else in the family . If that he raises up maybe two or three children , then it divides not only the land that Naomi had , but now it's all his other land too .

Speaker 2 9:24

When you mentioned that he made sure that he knew that she was a Moabitis . The Moabites and the Ammonites didn't meet Israel , the Israelites , when they came out of the wilderness with food and water . They didn't provide for them whenever they were asked . The Moabites also hired Balaam from Mesopotamia to curse Israel and we have that whole story and how that backfired on them . Because of that , god forbid them , the Moabites , and all their descendants , from entering the assembly of the Lord . So it could also be , in that he was referring to that , that she's a Moabitis . That could also ruin or jeopardize my inheritance .

Speaker 1 10:06

So let's find out what happens next . Steve , if you could start at verse seven and go down to verse 12 .

Speaker 2 10:11

Now , this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land . To confirm any matter , a man removed his sandal and gave it to another . This was the manner of attestation in Israel . So the closest relatives said to Boaz buy it for yourself . He removed his sandal .

Speaker 2 10:32

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people you are witnesses today that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belong to Alemolach and all that belong to Chilion and Malin . Moreover , I have required Ruth the Moabitis , the widow of Malin , to be my wife in order to raise up the name of the deceased on his inheritance , so that the name of the deceased will not be cut off from his brothers or from the court of his birthplace . You are witnesses today . All the people who were in the court and the elders said we are witnesses . May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah , both of whom built the house of Israel . May you achieve wealth and Ephrathah and become famous in Bethlehem . Moreover , may your house be like the house of Perez , whom Tamar bore to Judah through the offspring which the Lord will give you by this young woman Wonderful story .

Speaker 1 11:43

A lot of positive , happy smiles there towards the end . A couple of things we've noticed as we go back through this . Verse seven there's a little clue here as to the dating of the book . It talks about in former times . This gives us a clue that the book was originally written early back during the time of the judges . It was probably edited a little bit later , at least long enough down the road to where the customs had changed . But again , as we said at the beginning , it was probably . The genealogy at the end of this chapter goes through David . So that's about as far down as it could have been compiled . Contrast that with Joshua who said that Rahab was still alive whenever that one was written .

Speaker 1 12:22

Now , the idea here of redemption and atonement we talked about redeeming being this exchange there's . Actually , if you read the theology textbooks , there's more than one way that they can try to explain this Today's . Not a theology lesson , necessarily , but this idea is that we are separated from God . Christ dying on the cross , atoned for , paid for our sin , and that we are then reconciled with and made right again . That's the idea . The idea here is Ruth was bought because Boas paid for her . She paid for the right to redeem her . There was an obligation that needed to be met . That's what this whole little legal exchange was about .

Speaker 1 13:13

If you read the theologies , there's some slightly different theories on how this would happen . One is Christ paid a ransom for us . Remember judges ? It said that God sometimes sold Israel after they disobeyed . Well then there's the buying back would be a redemption . Or that Christ paid a debt that was owed to God . Or that Christ is our substitute . He paid by taking the punishment that was ours . All of those are kind of wrapped up here in this redemption . That's really what's going on with this little transaction .

Speaker 1 13:46

How did Jesus redeem us ? How did that happen ? He paid the price . He has the legal right to us Once . He paid the price for my sins . I think of 1 Corinthians 619 , you are not your own for , you were bought with a price . So to the Christian , we're bought and paid for . We don't belong to ourselves . We are now adopted by , owned by , redeemed by Jesus Christ . We don't have the legal right to go off and follow other gods or follow off on our own earthly lust . As a Christian , we're redeemed to the non-Christian . What's our message to them ? There's a debt that they're going to have to pay someday , guess what ?

Speaker 2 14:27

You're not going to be able to pay it , so the question is whether or not they retain that debt that still needs to be paid or whether they accept the offer that the debt's already been paid by Christ for them .

Speaker 1 14:40

The way I explain it to people . This transaction here took place in the city gate . Someday you're going to be in the city gate or , if we put it in modern terms , someday you're going to get called into the top floor corner office and they're going to ask for an account . Are you going to be able to pay your debt or are you going to accept Jesus ? I can tell you you're not going to be able to pay the debt . So today is the day of salvation . Go uncover Jesus' feet and fall at His feet . Tell Him that you're His servant and he will redeem you . He will redeem you . That's the great message , that's the sacred romance . Think of how special Ruth must have felt . She was started out outcast , poor and destitute , with no future , gleaning barley which is not very tasty just to stay alive . Then Boaz comes along , wealthy beyond belief , falls in love . He likes her , he wants her . How do you think Ruth must have felt Ecstatic ?

Speaker 2 15:37

She has shown herself to yield herself . She was referred to earlier by Boaz that she had sought refuge by his God Yahweh . She committed to Yahweh back with Naomi . It's very much on her as well .

Speaker 1 15:54

her attitude Is our redeemer rich enough wealthy enough to redeem us .

Speaker 2 15:59

Yes .

Speaker 1 16:00

He's rich in mercy Ephesians , chapter 2 . He's rich in grace Ephesians , chapter 2 . He's rich in glory Romans , chapter 9 .

Speaker 2 16:08

He's paid the price in full . There's no outstanding debt .

Speaker 1 16:12

Paid in full . What was one of the statements that Jesus said on the Christ ? It is finished . It is finished , which is the same term that was used on a lot of the debts . They would to tell a story . If I'm not mistaken , working from memory here , it's the same statement that said paid in full .

Speaker 2 16:28

He used the term a while ago reconcile , reconciliation is an accounting term . It's where you go through and you have charges , debt and credits . You go through and reconcile , make sure everything balances out so that reconciliation to God is an accounting picture of having that debt paid in full . There's nothing outstanding . You're not under that debt anymore .

Speaker 1 16:53

So , steve , we talked for a second about how we thought Ruth most of felt . She started out destitute and now she's part of this wealthy man's family . He did it because he liked her as a person . What's it like to be redeemed in Christ ? What's it like to go from a lost state to a safe state ? I can tell you , with me it was night and day . It was very different . My motivations changed . I didn't want to do that other stuff anymore . It's like he gave me a desire transplant . I wanted to go please him . I just felt overwhelmed . For two or three years I kept thinking why me ? I mean , why would God take an interest in me when none of this great change happened to any people around me ?

Speaker 2 17:36

It's all about relationship . People miss out because they miss the fact that it's a relationship . You mentioned earlier that people think , oh , I'm going to have to give up this , I'm going to have to give up that . No , you're gaining . You're gaining a new life , you're gaining a new relationship . We see the progression of Ruth . We haven't gotten there yet , but in verse 13 , it says Soboa took Ruth and she became his wife . So now we see a full progression . In chapter two she referred to herself as a foreigner , then she referred to herself as a maid servant . Then in chapter three she said I'm your maid . Now she's a wife , she's fully into the family , she's been fully redeemed . She has that loving relationship . Becoming saved , or being saved , changes your life through the relationship that you have . It's not through just being saved and then continuing to go off and live your own life .

Speaker 1 18:36

It's certainly not like a list of rules I'm dredgingly trying to keep . It's a love relationship .

Speaker 2 18:42

These podcasts that we're doing and as we go through and look at this , this is showing the relationship between God and his creation and what's there by having that relationship . One of the feedbacks that we got from a listener was I'm looking forward to how the Old Testament meets the New Testament and we're doing part of that now as we move into the New Testament books . Everything here is one cohesive story , from Genesis all the way to Revelation of God and his love for his creation

The Blessings of Redemption and Love

Speaker 2 19:17

.

Speaker 1 19:17

Boaz . This story is the Christ figure . Boaz does the redeeming . He called together witnesses and he made a promise . He said to all the witnesses you all heard this that I'm making this promise . Can we trust Boaz to keep his promise ? Yes . Can we trust Christ to keep his promise ? Yes .

Speaker 2 19:38

If the listeners are not building a relationship with Christ , you are missing out on so much Boaz was loving and gentle to somebody that didn't deserve it .

Speaker 1 19:52

Is Christ loving and gentle to us , absolutely ? Does he shower us with gifts like Boaz did ? Yes , so happy time for Ruth and Naomi . Let's start at verse 13 and we can read down to 17 . So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife . He went into her and the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son . The women said to Naomi blessed is the Lord , who has not left you without a redeemer today . May his name become famous in Israel . May he also be to you as a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age , for your daughter-in-law , who loves you and is better to you than seven sons , has given birth to him . Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap and became his nurse . The neighbor women gave him a name , saying a son has been born to Naomi . So they named him Obed . He is the father of Jesse , the father of David .

Speaker 1 20:50

Now this is a happy time for Naomi and Ruth . They were destitute . They were doomed to a life of poverty and rags and the loneliness in their old age . People without children die lonely and alone . That's inevitable . If you don't have any children . You're going to die lonely and alone . But now they have children . They were destitute until this man of great wealth and great standing came along , took notice and redeemed them . Now they have a life of blessing . They have descendants , they have people to take care of them . In their old age , ruth knew none of this when she Dedicated herself to taking care of Naomi , merely because it was the right thing to do . Then Ruth was redeemed . The whole community was happy , for Not just Ruth but Naomi was blessed . They had blessings that lasted for generations .

Speaker 2 21:40

Look at Naomi's progression earlier in the book . She said why do you call me Naomi ? Call me Mara . I'm bitter , I'm bitter . The Lord is treating me bitterly . Now we see the progression all the way . She told him go back because I'm not gonna have any more children , so I can't . You need to go back . Now she has a beautiful grandchild Grandchild and all the other women of the town are celebrating with her . It's a great , great feeling for Naomi that now she has this ending as well .

Speaker 1 22:12

When someone comes to Christ , are other people blessed also ? Do the blessings last for many generations ?

Speaker 2 22:18

Yes , they rejoice as well . They're happy to see Other Christians , are happy to see new Christians come into the fold .

Speaker 1 22:27

In verse 13, . The Lord enabled her to conceive who controls the womb . The Lord does here the Lord controls the womb .

Speaker 2 22:35

It literally means gave her conception Gave her conception .

Speaker 1 22:38

So the Lord controls whether or not the children happen . Naomi and Ruth started out as outsiders that were poor . They were redeemed by the great , wealthy man . Ruth's son became the grandfather of the greatest king in the history of Israel , king David , and in the line of Messiah . No material blessings can compare to the blessings of Ruth , boaz and Naomi .

Speaker 1 23:01

A great loving marriage , children and grandchildren these are things that money cannot buy . There are very wealthy people that have horrible marriages . Their children are a mess and the money can't fix it . Money can buy a bed , but it can't buy sleep . Money can buy friends . You can buy company , but it can't buy love . What happens here is love . A great , loving marriage cannot be bought by money . At the beginning , ruth and Naomi were poor . They were crying and misery hugging on each other , crying with no hope for the future . Ruth told Naomi that she'd go home and die with her . All they had to look forward to was misery and death until Boaz comes along . Now they've got an inheritance , they've got land back . They've got blessings to overflowing . Naomi told everyone to change her name , like he said , tomorrow . Now she's in a beautiful state .

Speaker 2 23:54

We see a purpose by God . As we look at the lineage that's depicted at the end here , one of the things that stands out is that Solomon was born Boaz . Do you happen to know who Solomon's wife was ? I don't remember Rahab the harlot , who is also a Gentile . It also helps to date this as the time because Rahab was back at the very beginning of the conquest in Joshua . Then Boaz marries Ruth , another Gentile . This all goes down to David . From David is Mary . Through that lineage , which is the human mother , they get recorded in the Word of God for all eternity . Exactly , we see God's purpose working out in bringing about the ultimate Messiah .

Speaker 1 24:43

So Naomi and Ruth . Before they meet Boaz , they didn't have anything to look forward to . They were bitter , they were crying , they were hopeless , they were destitute . After they meet Boaz , they've got all just the opposite . They've got land , they've got inheritance , they've got family , they've got children , they've got descendants , they've got a loving relationship , a future to look towards . We sit all along . This is a comparison with salvation . Before somebody comes to Christ , what do they have ?

Speaker 2 25:11

Nothing .

Speaker 1 25:12

The best you can do is eat , drink and then die . Try to buy yourself enough distractions and then die . You really have no eternal hope . What happens after we come to Christ ?

Speaker 2 25:23

We have everything .

Speaker 1 25:24

A future on earth , doing heavenly work that has eternal consequences , being remembered by God . We have this loving relationship where God gives us spiritual blessings . We get recorded in the Book of Life . If we're remembered for all eternity , our names will be in the book . We have blessings both in heaven and on earth . We have these great blessings . That's the story of Ruth , but I would submit that on a practical level , it's also a great example of how a man and a woman can look for a spouse . Look for a spouse , a wife like Ruth , look for a husband like Boaz . These are the right ways to treat people A loving way , and not a lot of the ways that we see today , but these are the loving ways I submit to you . These ways still work after all these years .

Speaker 2 26:14

You know , glenn , as we finish up here , we mentioned that Ruth is an appendix in the Hebrew Bible to judges . The last two sessions in judges were really , really bad , especially the last session . It was about the horror that happened in the town of Gibbian . Here we see in Ruth , this takes place in Bethlehem Two complete opposite ends of the spectrum . You see , in Gibbian people can't even go out . The stranger tells them don't spend the night out . Here we see the men want to come in and rape the strangers and they actually throw his wife out to the strangers so that she's killed . Bethlehem it's a peaceful town , just the opposite Opposite . Everybody is helping each other . There's plenty there . We see the relationship with Boaz and Ruth and the house . She becomes his

Exploring the Bible

Speaker 2 27:02

wife . It's curious that Saul , the first king of Israel , comes from Gibbian and David , the greatest king of Israel , comes from Bethlehem .

Speaker 1 27:13

Saul was the one that disobeyed and did a lot of wrong things .

Speaker 2 27:18

David was the one that was faithful . There's so many different ways that the scripture just folds and blends into each other .

Speaker 1 27:25

That's the book of Ruth . It's a great book and it was really a lot of fun going through it . Our next book that we're going to be doing is the book of Matthew . I hope you'll join us as we go along this journey of going , verse by verse , through the word of God . We'll occasionally take some little side trails and study some things , but for the most part we're going to be digging out these wonderful gold nuggets as we go through the word of God . I hope people will stay with us , because it's always very interesting on our side . Send us information and feedback on how you've found these lessons , because we like hearing from you Info at reasoningthroughthebiblecom and we'll see you next time on Reasoning Through the Bible .

Speaker 2 28:02

May the Lord bless you .