Ruth and the Kinsman Redeemer

This one won’t be for beginners.

Here’s a summary of the book of Ruth:

A man from Bethlehem has problems and moves his family to Moab. He and his two sons die, leaving his wife (Naomi) and his two daughters-in-law (Ruth and Orpah). So Naomi decides to move back to Bethlehem, and releases the two daughters-in-law to go about their business in Moab. Ruth decides to stick with Naomi, though Orpah doesn’t.

Back in the region around Bethlehem, Naomi and Ruth are poor widows. They’re forced to live from the bits of grain purposely left at the edges of fields during harvest. (Leviticus 19:9, 10)

God’s Law also says a man must marry his brother’s childless widow (Deuteronomy 25:5). Naomi knew of a relative named Boaz who was legally obligated to marry Ruth and produce an heir for Ruth’s late husband. It was Boaz’s field in which Ruth “gleaned” grain. He was the hoped “Kinsman Redeemer” for Ruth.

There was also a plot of land that, according to Leviticus 25:23, should also be redeemed for the family. However, Boaz knew he wasn’t the closest relative.

He went through the legal process of telling the “other relative” (who wasn’t named) about the land (which he wanted), but to claim it he needed to marry Ruth (which he didn’t want). He refused the marriage, leaving Boaz open to marry Ruth and claim the land according to the Law of Leviticus.

That’s basically a summary of the book of Ruth, leaving out a lot of the details I don’t need to go into for the purposes of this entry.

I’ve heard many times over the years about the parallels between Boaz and Jesus, being the Kinsman Redeemer who is the salvation of Ruth and mankind. But I’ve never heard anyone equate Ruth’s field with the world given to Adam and Eve.

When those two sinned, they “sold” the rights to the Earth. Satan took over, in essence “buying” it up like the field in the book of Ruth. When Satan offered Jesus the whole world if He would bow down and worship the Prince of Lies, it was a serious offer.

But like Boaz, Jesus knew the deed wouldn’t be legal without marrying the kinsman who had the

legal right to buy it back. That kinsman, mankind, couldn’t afford the price. Only Jesus could pay that price.

So He did.

And the entire portion of the human race who believes in Him is called the Bride of Christ because He must “marry” the ones who have the legal right to possess that deed. Only then can He buy the land God gave to Adam and Eve, which is ours by right because we are the heirs.

So if you “marry” Jesus, you’ll get the benefits He paid for.