Previously....
Last week we introduced the concept of a kinsman redeemer.
While arguably a "chick book" with a heroine main character, a Prince Charming, feminine wiles, and a rags-to-riches "happily ever after", Ruth is the best pictorial reference in all of scripture to the topic of the kinsman redeemer. Elsewhere in scripture, it is details in legalize or related in obscure narrative such as the Levirate marriage custom (single men marrying their brother's widow to raise children up in his name and inheritance). But the kinsman redeemer concept is a central point to the plan of salvation. The book of Ruth puts meat on the dry bones of the Levitical law.
God communicates with us in ways that we can understand. Our western (aka Greek) thought is very abstract and based on definitions, bullet lists, etc. The eastern way of thinking is very concrete and filled with imagery and pictures. For instance, the difference between the saved and unsaved in the image of wheat and chaff, of God's leading and tending His people in the imagery of sheep and shepherds, Jesus as living water (untainted, refreshing, and life-giving), Jesus as the cornerstone, God as our strong tower, God as our shield, the way to Jesus imagined as narrow and wide paths and gates, and such.
We’ve covered the character studies of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz and the setting’s cultural aspects in the first 2 sessions. As the imagery of a kinsman redeemer is the primary purpose of the entire book of Ruth, and that is the full content of the last two chapters, let’s start there with this last session.
Getting Started Early
In the previous posts, we saved the discussion questions for the end. This time, to set a particular stage, we'll begin with some questions now.
1) Easy question to start: What man was created directly by God?
Hopefully, you answered "Adam".
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.Genesis 2:7
...the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.Luke 3:38
Notice the descriptor of Adam in Luke 3 is "the son of God."
2) Ok. That first question was a bit of a trick question, but so is this one. What only other man was created directly by God?
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.Luke 1:31
The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God."Luke 1:35
Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.Philippians 2:6-7
Hopefully you answered that it was the Jesus. Technically, Jesus wasn't created, but the human body He would take on Himself was. Note that Jesus' identity was "the Son of God" in Gabriel's prophetic declaration to Mary. Although Jesus pre-existed Adam as the second person of the triune Godhead, He entered humanity after Adam in Adam's lineage.
3) Now think again; who else was created directly by God and called "sons of God"?
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before te Lord, and Satan also came among them.Job 1:6
Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.Job 2:1
4) You may be wondering how these questions tie into the topic of a kinsman redeemer. Well, what was the inheritance that Adam's sin forfeited?
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."Genesis 2:16-17 (emphasis mine)
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, til you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.Genesis 3:19
From the very beginning, it was intended for Adam and Eve to have life eternal in personal communion with God. As Adam's heirs, that eternal life of personal communion with God was to be our eternal inheritance.
But the free choice between choosing life or death was placed before Adam and Eve in the form of the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That choice is always before us:
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; [.....] I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.Deuteronomy 30:15, 19
Adam and Eve's command to be fruitful and multiply was not acted on until after they were under the slavery of sin. It was Adam's disobedience which caused his death (both spiritual and eventual physical) and loss of his right to eternal life. Those born after Adam and Eve's slavery to sin are born under slavery of sin too. We - his progeny, every person who has ever lived - as sinners are incapable of redeeming that inheritance. We lack the requirement, ability, and means (sinlessness / perfection) to purchase back the lost inheritance.
5) What was God's very first promise of full redemption?
Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.Genesis 3:14-15
Of special note here, God hints at Jesus' incarnation as a human in using the term of "her offspring". While still a descendent of Adam's heritage by His human form developing inside Mary and being born of her, Jesus' uniquely miraculous conception without human reproduction would make Him singularly Mary's offspring.
Through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, Adam sold his inheritance (his birthright, if you will) in similar fashion to how Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. They surrendered them for payment - a forbidden fruit and a bowl of red stew.
God would later provide a way through the Levitical law for the redemption of property. If a man sold his property or himself, and he was unable to redeem it himself, the duty and right to redeem it for him fell to his nearest kinsman that had legitimate means to do so.
If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the stranger with you or to a member of the stranger's clan, then after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle, or his cousin may redeem him, or a close relative from his clan may redeem him. Or if he grows rich, he may redeem himself.Leviticus 25:48-49
The key point here is that if he is unable to redeem himself, his redeemer must be one of his kinsmen. Adam's nature changed from being sinless and righteous to being sin stained and unrighteous.
Here's the bad news: The kinsman would have to be sinless and righteous in order to redeem Adam and his heirs. But that sinful nature [the inclination to exhibit and enact sinfulness] has passed to all of his descendants.
6) Angels are sons of God. Could they redeem man-kind?
The angels, although also referred to as "the sons of God" are a different type of being than humans. Angels, though sinless, are not close kinsmen of humanity and therefore could not redeem what was lost for humanity.
This is why Jesus took on the form of a human being. Jesus' human form was created directly by God inside Mary's womb free of the stain of sin through human reproduction. He was then born of Mary in a physical manner just as all other humans.
Jesus differed from Adam in that He is eternally God, the second Person of the triune Godhead while Adam was created both in spirit and body. Jesus remained God, but set aside His divine privileges in order to be born a man.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.Philippians 2:5-7
In essence, Adam and Jesus were top-tier sons of God the Father within humanity and brought about directly by God. All other people that have ever existed have descended through human parentage by biological means all the way back to Adam. [Except Eve, and she technically came directly from Adam and was under sin's curse and Adam's federal headship.]
For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.Romans 5:19-20
So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became the life-giving spirit."1 Corinthians 15:45
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.1 Corinthians 15:22
The Spirit Himself bears witness with out spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.Romans 8:16-17
Take a closer look at Philippians 2:5-11
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.Philippians 2:5-11
The kinsman redeemer has to be a close blood relative:
"but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men."
Philippians 2 shows Jesus, the eternal Son of God, taking on human form after the likeness of Adam making Him the nearest kinsman to Adam and to us.
The kinsman redeemer had to be willing to redeem his kindred:
"And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Philippians 2 shows Jesus' willingness to become obedient unto death to redeem the lost condemned to death.
The kinsman redeemer had to be wealthy enough to afford to purchase back his kinsman:
"though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped"
Philippians 2 shows Jesus' infinitude of perfection and sinlessness as God the Son making Him the only one capable of paying every debt. Angels are not infinite. They, like us, are temporal with a beginning and leading into eternity.
Chapters 3 and 4
And now at last to the text of Ruth chapters 3 and 4.
It is difficult to separate these two chapters. Chapter 3 introduces the concept of the kinsman redeemer, and Chapter 4 demonstrates the execution of the kinsman redeemer role.
One of the mysteries of the text is that Naomi instructed, and Ruth enacted, to uncover Boaz's feet as he slept. This is something that the intended audience over 3,000 years ago would have understood, but is meaning has been lost over time. many liberal readers and scholars of this line make the claims that it was of a sexual nature implying to uncover his feet would have been uncovering his legs from the waist downward or otherwise somehow uncovering his genitals. There is nothing in the text to eve hint at this, and it really comes from a 20th and 21st century, sexually-bent, sexually-saturated, liberal or modern mindset. Boaz's good character has already been established, and he acknowledges that Ruth's character is already publicly viewed with "excellence."
Proverbs 31 is widely known as describing a good and godly woman. Compare Boaz's description of Ruth to the wisdom of Proverbs 31:10
And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you ask, for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman.Ruth 3:11
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.Proverbs 31:10
Depending on the translation, the word to focus to describe Ruth may be worthy, virtuous, noble, or excellent. The word is used in both verses to describe Ruth and the Proverbs 31 Woman: issa (woman) hayil (excellence).
The word hayil is also defined as wealth and attributed to Boaz in Ruth 2:1: is (man), gibor (great), hayil (wealth). This indicates that Ruth's reputation was one of worth: ie, worthy. But these are not words of describing the promiscuous, so that liberal interpretation shouldn't be given any weight.
Nonetheless, in a situation of a man with a merry heart and a beautiful young woman freshly bathed and scented being alone together in the middle of the night, one can imagine the test of integrity.
Chapter 4 opens with Boaz going to the city gate. In that ancient culture, city gates were where business and adjudication often took place. The heads of cities, including kings, would officiate at the gate. Consider these references:
Genesis 19:1, 9 - Lot is sitting at the gate when the angels arrive. The men of the city beset him because "This fellow came to sojourn and he has become the judge!"
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 - A rebellious son was to be brought to the city gate for adjudication and sentencing if guilty.
2 Samuel 15:2 - David's rebellious son Absalom held court in the gate to undermine his father.
Learning that there is a kinsman with a closer relationship to Elimelech than Boaz's was, we move to Chapter 4 of which the bulk is the execution of the redemption.
In the references above, we are saw that the matter of spiritual redemption is between the First Adam and the Last Adam (Jesus). We established earlier that both of them were top-tier sons of God. We, as heirs of the First Adam, are just as indebted as he is.
Your parents are closer kinsman than Adam. Your great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents are your closer kinsmen than Adam. Your direct lineage back for 100 generations are closer kinsmen than Adam. However none of them are capable of redeeming you from the debt because they can't redeem themselves from their own.
There are none righteous, not even one.Romans 3:10
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.Romans 3:23
Here's the Good News: The only man in history to be born without a tainting of sin, who lived a sinless life, and who is willing, capable, and wealthy enough to redeem any human kinsman who seeks Him for their redemption is the one-and-only God-man, Jesus Christ.
This concludes Chapters 3 and 4, and the Study of Ruth.
Discussion Questions (continued)
7)
What
would your reaction be when being awakened with a start and finding a person
you can’t identify sleeping at your feet?
8)
What is
the significance of Ruth lying at Boaz’ feet?
Submission and perhaps sign of trust in Boaz. He had for months of harvest time proven to be a good man.
9)
What
did Ruth mean by “spread your covering over your maid”?
Recall these passages from Part 2: Exodus 19:4, Deuteronomy 32:9-12, Psalm 17:8, Psalm 36:7, Psalm 51:1, Psalm 61:4, Psalm 63:7, Psalm 91:1-4, Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34 - This would have essentially been a marriage proposal indicating that she wanted Boaz to redeem her as part of his kinsman claim.
10)
What
was Boaz’s reason for warning to not let it be known that Ruth had been there?
If Ruth’s presence been discovered by Boaz’s workers, her reputation would have been tainted with assumed impropriety, as would have his.
11)
What
does it say about Boaz’s character that this happened secretly in the middle of
the night and he had her remain until morning?
It was the middle of the night, and he was protective of her from the real potential of dangers in the countryside, human and beast, if she was sent away. So she lay at his feet - innocently
12)
What
might have been a reason Boaz would not let Ruth return to Naomi “empty
handed”?
As a sign of answering affirmatively Naomi’s plan. Evidence of Ruth’s night time endeavor.
13)
Naomi
concludes the chapter 3 saying Boaz “will not rest until he has settled it
today.” How does that reflect Christ
acting as our kinsman redeemer?
14) Have you ever had to be bailed out of a trouble you couldn't get yourself out of?
15) How grateful were you for that help? Was your level of gratitude proportionate to the level of trouble?
16) How proportionate should our response be to being redeemed by Jesus Christ from an eternal separation from God and all He has to offer such as peace, love, joy, comfort, righteousness, contentment, etc.?
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