Deo Gloria
Sermon for October 18, 2020
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Ruth 4
Theme: Abundantly Blessed!
- Blessed to have a kinsman-redeemer
- Blessed to have a son and grandson
- Blessed to be included in the family line of the Savior
When we think of Ruth and the book that bears her name, the first word that comes to mind is probably not the word blessed. The book starts out with such hardship and tragedy. A famine forces Naomi and her family to leave their hometown and country and move to Moab. While in Moab, Naomi’s husband dies and later her two sons die as well, leaving both Naomi and Ruth as widows. Eventually Naomi and Ruth return to Bethlehem with little more than the clothes on their backs and out of necessity Ruth goes out to glean in the fields in order to provide for herself and her mother-in-law.
But the story ends very differently than it started. The story ends with a chapter of blessing. It ends with wedding bells and baby announcements, and even a picture of our Savior. The final chapter reminds us of how Ruth and Naomi were both blessed by God, abundantly blessed. It reminds us how we too have been blessed by God, abundantly blessed.
When we left Ruth and Boaz in chapter 3, Ruth had just proposed to Boaz. She had asked him to marry her, to spread his wings over her and be her protector. And Boaz agreed. He said “Yes.” But there was one issue that needed to be resolved. You see, there was a man who was a closer relative than Boaz. He would have the duty and the right to redeem Naomi’s property first, before Boaz. So while Ruth went back and told Naomi how the engagement went, Boaz went to the city gate to meet with this nearer relative. And that’s where we pick it up at the beginning of ch. 4. (Read vv. 1-10.) What Boaz needed to find out was whether or not this closer relative was willing to serve as Naomi’s kinsman-redeemer.
The word for kinsman-redeemer in Hebrew is goel. The goel was a close relative who was expected to do several things for you. First of all, if someone murdered you, if someone took your life, it was his job to avenge your death, to see that the person who took your life was put to death. Taking someone’s life was a serious crime and your goel was to make sure that the person responsible was brought to justice and did not get away with it.
Secondly, if you ended up becoming poor—let’s say your crops were wiped out by hail two years in a row, as happened to our family back when I was little—let’s say your crops were wiped out and as a result you had to sell some of your property in order to pay off your debts. It was the job of your kinsman-redeemer to redeem your land, to buy it back for you so your land would stay in the family. And finally, if you became really, really poor—let’s say your crops were wiped out 10 years in a row and you had no more property to sell. And as a result you had to sell even yourself and your family to pay off your debts. If that was the case, it was the job of your goel, your kinsman-redeemer, to redeem you, to purchase your freedom so you and your family would not have to work as slaves for the rest of your lives.
OK, so would this man be willing to serve as Naomi’s goel and redeem her husband’s property? If so, Naomi could live on the land and grow crops to support herself and Ruth. But after she died, since she had no sons or grandsons and thus no heirs, the property would become his. The man said, “Sure. I’ll do it. I’ll redeem the property for Naomi.”
But then Boaz told him the rest of the story. He intended to marry Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, and start a family. And if and when a son was born, he intended to have his first son serve as Mahlon’s son and Naomi’s grandson. Well, that presented a bit of problem for this other relative. If Boaz and Ruth had a son and that son served as Naomi’s grandson, that would mean he would be the heir to her property. So if this guy bought the property for her, but then Boaz and Ruth produced an heir for Naomi, that heir could later claim the property and he would be out the money. So he declined. “I’m not able to redeem it,” he said. “You redeem it.” And to confirm this action and to show that he was giving up the right of redemption and giving it to Boaz, he took off his sandal and gave it to Boaz. Obviously you and I would not confirm an agreement that way today. You and I would probably have to go to a lawyer’s office and sign 15 different documents; but that’s how they did it back then.
Next Boaz addressed the elders of the town and all the others who had gathered to see what was going on. He declared that he was willing to serve as Naomi’s goel, that he intended to redeem the land that had belonged to her husband. And he also made it clear that he intended to provide an heir for her. He was going to marry Ruth and their first son would serve as Naomi’s grandson, who in turn could inherit her property so it would continue to remain in her family. That second part Boaz didn’t have to do. He didn’t have to provide an heir for Naomi, but out of love for her he did. How blessed Naomi was to have such a gracious and loving kinsman-redeemer!
You and I are blessed as well, because we also have a goel, a kinsman-redeemer even more loving and gracious than Boaz. You see, like Naomi and Ruth, we too are poor, extremely poor, not because of drought or famine, not because our crops were wiped out two or three years in a row—no, you and I are poor because of our sins: all the lies we have told; all the nasty things we said to others and about others; all the times we failed to show love and kindness to people in need—people like Naomi and Ruth—people like the neighbor down the street who was injured in an accident and has been out of work for the past six months or the co-worker who got laid off or the classmate whose parents can’t afford to buy the things he or she needs for school—all the times we ignored people like that and left them to fend for themselves even though we were in a position to help. On top of that there are all the times we took advantage of others for own personal gain. Shall I go on? Over the years you and I have built up an enormous debt of sin, a debt we could never repay no matter how much land we sold. Indeed because of our sins, we have lost our place, our property, in the kingdom of heaven. And we could never get it back. No matter how much silver or gold we offered or someone else offered on our behalf—no matter how much money was offered, we could never regain our place in the kingdom of heaven.
But what we could not do, Jesus, our goel, did. In love he came into this world to be our kinsman, our relative, our brother. In love he went to the cross to redeem us, to pay off the enormous debt of our sins. And the price he paid was not a million dollars or 10 million dollars or 100 million dollars. The price he paid was his own life—his holy, precious blood, and his innocent suffering and death. In love he redeemed the property we lost, our place in heaven. With his life he purchased a place for us so that we might live with him—forever. How blessed we are to have a kinsman-redeemer like that, a kinsman-redeemer named Jesus!
A second blessing we notice in this chapter is the blessing of a son for Ruth and a grandson for Naomi. We pick it up at v. 13. (Read vv. 13-15.) Yes, the wedding bells rang for Boaz and Ruth and about a year later they were sending out baby announcements. God had blessed them with a baby boy. Did you catch that little phrase in the second part of v. 13? “The LORD enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son.” Sometimes we look at having children as such a natural thing, something that automatically happens after a couple gets married. But is it? Is it something that just automatically happens? Talk to the childless couple, the one that has been trying to start a family for years but hasn’t been able to. Or talk to the wife who has become pregnant three or four or five different times and every time she has lost the baby through miscarriage. Having a baby isn’t an automatic thing. It’s a blessing from God, a blessing we too often take for granted. As Solomon reminds us in Psalm 127, “Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him”(v. 3). Ruth and Boaz were rewarded by God. They were blessed with the gift of a son.
And someone else was blessed as well. “Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, ‘Naomi has a son’”(vv. 16+17). Yes, Naomi finally had the joy of having a grandchild. In fact, for her this child was more like a son than a grandson, a replacement for the two sons she had lost. She did more than babysit him once in a while and bring him presents on his birthday. She cared for him as if he was her own son. And in a certain sense he was. He was going to be her heir and inherit her property and carry on the family name.
Ask any grandparent what is one of their greatest joys in life and they’ll probably pull out a picture and show you—a picture of their grandchildren. They love their grandchildren, love spending time with them, love playing games with them, love going to their baseball games and soccer games and dance recitals, love watching them grow up and mature and become fine young men and women. Thank God for the blessing of children and grandchildren! As this story reminds us, they are a blessing from God.
There is one final blessing we see in this chapter of blessings. We find it in the last section, starting in the middle of v. 17:
And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nashon, Nashon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David.(vv. 17-22)
Perez, you may remember, was the son of Judah by Tamar. So that means Obed was a descendant of Judah. Can you think of another rather significant person in the Bible who was also a descendant of Judah? As mentioned in v. 17, Obed was the grandfather of David, the second king of the nation of the Israel. Can you think of another great king in the Bible, a king who came from David’s family line? That’s right, Jesus. Jesus was a descendant of Judah. Jesus was a descendant of David. Jesus was a descendant of Obed. Jesus was a descendant of Ruth and Boaz. Isn’t that amazing? Our Savior came from this family, the family that was started right here in Ruth ch. 4, the family of Ruth and Boaz. And let’s not forget, Ruth was a foreigner. She was not a Jew from the land of Israel, but a Moabitess from the land of Moab. And yet, God included her in the line of the Savior so that Ruth became the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother of Jesus. What an honor and blessing for Ruth!
What an honor and blessing for you and me! Our Savior Jesus had Ruth’s blood running in his veins. He had the DNA of both Boaz and Ruth in his cells. You and I are blessed through both Ruth and Boaz because our Savior came from their family tree.
But we are blessed in another way as well. While we may not be able to claim to be ancestors of Jesus, we can claim to members of his family. By grace through faith God has adopted us into his family as his own children. So we too are related to Jesus, not by blood, but by faith. He is our brother. We are his brothers and sisters. And being included in his family tree is the greatest blessing of all, because those who are members of his family will have the honor and the joy of living with him in his heavenly home forever. Yes, along with Ruth and Naomi, you and I are indeed blessed, abundantly blessed! Amen.