I apologise if the blog title gives away the ending, but if you don't already know the story then you must at least be able to see where it's heading!
Naomi is right to say that Boaz will not rest until the matter is settled, as at that moment he is making his way to the town gate. I don't know if the gate was where official matters were conducted or if it was simply the best place to find people, but Boaz waits there until the kinsman-redeemer he has mentioned comes along. He calls him to sit down then gathers ten of the elders of the town and tells them to sit too. It seems that this was not a day for official business or Boaz could simply have approached the elders where they met, and the fact that he was able to convene an impromptu court in this way suggests that he was a man of some standing.
Boaz tells the kinsman-redeemer that Naomi is selling a piece of land that belonged to her husband and that he wishes to bring it to his attention and suggest that he redeems it as is his right. He also makes his own interest in the matter clear, asking that the kinsmen tell him if he does not wish to redeem it as he is next in line. The kinsman-redeemer jumps at the chance to increase his property and wealth and immediately says that he will redeem it, making our ending seem a little uncertain.
Boaz then points out to the man that when he buys the land from Naomi he will also acquire Ruth, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property. This gives the kinsman-redeemer pause and he declares that he cannot redeem the land as he does not want to endanger his estate. It's not clear how marrying Ruth would do that, but perhaps he is already married and does not want to cause strife in his household, or perhaps he fears that she will give him many children who will bear her husband's name but still demand a share of his wealth, or maybe he simply thinks that marrying a poor foreigner will harm his standing. Whatever the case, he tells Boaz to redeem the land instead and takes of his sandal to legalise the transaction.
This scene is interesting for a number of reasons. First of all, Boaz makes the matter about the sale of a piece of land, with Ruth as part of the package, which seems a little strange. The previous chapter had led us to believe that it was Ruth who was to be redeemed, and there has been no mention of any land before, but Boaz has thus far shown himself to be a man of quality and so me must trust that he is acting honourably here. It may be that Ruth did not have to be redeemed without the land as while she had the land she was not destitute, or that the law considered the land above the woman, and so it had be done that way around. For all the problems and inequalities women still face in developed countries, I am glad we have at least moved on far enough for us to not be acquired like property or ranked below fields.
We may however consider the possibility that Boaz is framing the proposition in this way to disguise the fact that he is approaching the court with ulterior motives. He surely stands to lose as much as the kinsman-redeemer does by marrying Ruth, but there has always been a great tenderness in the way he has treated her, and so it seems possible that he genuinely wants to marry her, and doesn't want to jeopardise his chances by being accused of trying to usurp the kinsman-redeemer. He is noble enough to allow the kinsman-redeemer his right, but perhaps he is also wise enough to play the game he needs to play.
Secondly, I had understood that the kinsman-redeemer had a legal responsibility, but this man is able to refuse to redeem the land in the presence of the elders without any repercussions. Perhaps he was so distant a relative that his obligation was weakened to the point of being a right rather than a duty, or perhaps he was only obliged to redeem in case of destitution and there being no other kinsman-redeemers.
Whatever the technicalities of the law, Boaz announces that he will redeem the land and take Ruth as his wife. The elders bless their marriage and offspring, praying that Boaz will become famous in the land and Ruth will be like Rachel and Leah, who built up the house of Israel. Their prayers are quickly answered, as Ruth soon gives birth to a baby boy called Obed, who the concluding genealogy tells us will be the grandfather of David, Israel's greatest king. When Naomi is presented with the boy, the women of the town say that "Naomi has a son", perhaps in recognition of the fact that legally speaking the boy is of her son's line even though he is no blood relation, but perhaps in recognition of the fact that he is a new life for her as much as he is for his parents. I am often teased for my rather sober taste in films, but sometimes I do love a happy ending!
I suggested in my first post that Ruth's story would be an important one, and I think it is. We have learnt from Naomi about courage and love, we have learnt from Ruth about loyalty and trust, and we have learnt from Boaz about honour and responsibility. And if that's not enough, the New Testament tells us that Jesus comes from the line of David, and so Ruth finds herself as one of only four women in the genealogy of Christ. Ruth's story didn't begin with her and it doesn't end with her either, because there is so much more to come. Each life is only one part of a much bigger picture, but that doesn't make it insignificant, it makes it the most important thing in creation.
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