HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down.

Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."

"I will redeem it," he said.

Then Boaz said, "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property." At this, the kinsman-redeemer said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

(Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.)

So the kinsman-redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it yourself." And he removed his sandal.

Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"

Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."

Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, "Naomi has a son." 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 Nahshon, Nahshon 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.

Ruth 4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Ever have a night seem to last forever as you faced an uncertain event the following day? I know I have and so I can relate fully to what Naomi and Ruth must have endured as they waited for morning and Boaz’s encounter with the other kinsman-redeemer…the one who had first rights to buy the land owned by Elimelech and marry the widowed Ruth. One way or another, Naomi and Ruth knew they would be claimed by a kinsman-redeemer. The suspense came in whether that would be the preferred Boaz or the other kinsman.

Well, as promised, Boaz “went up to the town gate and sat there” the next morning and “when the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz called for him saying, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." As the man sat down where Boaz had told him to, “Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and asked them to sit there as well. They would serve as witnesses for the matter that was about to be resolved.

With everyone in place, Boaz spoke and explained the situation as follows:

"Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."

Note that Boaz only mentioned land in his discourse…land that the other kinsman-redeemer was obviously interested in because he told Boaz and the elders, “I will redeem it." Only then, after the kinsman said he would redeem the land, did Boaz add more to the deal saying, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property." So there was more than land involved. Marriage was in the package as well and as we see, that changes the mind of the kinsman who tells Boaz and the elders, “…I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it….Buy it yourself.” And with that, he “removed his sandal” which the scripture explained was a sign of a “legalized transaction”…one showing that “the redemption and transfer of property (had) become final”.

So with the deal completed, we read where Boaz made the following announcement to “the elders and all the people”:

"Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are witnesses!"

And with this, the “elders and all those at the gate” proclaimed, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

And so it came to be that Boaz became the kinsman-redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. Boaz took Ruth as his wife and “the Lord enabled her to conceive”, leading her to give birth to a son who they named Obed which means servant or worshipper. This son, Obed, would end up being the father of Jesse who would bear David, who would become the King Of Israel. What a blessing God bestowed on Boaz and Ruth.

He also richly blessed Naomi…a point recognized by the town women who said, “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth." And Naomi, like any other proud grandmother, took Obed in her lap “cared for him”.

If we could use an age-old cliché to describe the account of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, we would say that their story ended with everyone living happily ever after. And we would be just as accurate saying that as we would saying anything else.

Because this is what happens when redemption becomes a reality. One’s life is changed forever…happily ever after…because in Christ, this is what we gain. Infinite joy and life from where it was once finite as we are rescued and set free from the clutches of death by the only One through which we can come to the Father (John 14:6). For Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10) And in Him, we get just that. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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