Ruth 4:1-12 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Ruth said to Boaz on the threshing floor, “for you are a near kinsman” (Ruth 3:9). Boaz agreed, but said, “there is a kinsman nearer than I” (Ruth 3:12). Naomi told Ruth, “the man will not rest until he has settled this today” (Ruth 3:18).
In this lesson, Boaz goes to the city gate. Neither Ruth nor Naomi is there; the matter is settled before the elders and the people.
1Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. Boaz said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down.
2Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here,” and they sat down.
3He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi, who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s.
4I thought I should tell you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.” He said, “I will redeem it.”
5Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.”
6The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it.”
7Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his sandal, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel.
8So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” then he took off his sandal.
9Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi.
10Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
11All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.
12Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which the LORD will give you by this young woman.”
At the gate. “Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there” (v. 1). He asks the near kinsman to sit, and then “Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city” (v. 2). This is not done on the threshing floor, nor in private, but in front of everyone.
First, the land. Boaz first raises “the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s” (v. 3). He puts it plainly: “there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you” (v. 4). The man answers, “I will redeem it” (v. 4).
Then, Ruth. Next Boaz says that on the day he buys the field, “you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance” (v. 5). The man changes his answer: “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance” (v. 6).
Only his words are recorded. Why he was concerned for his inheritance, the passage does not say; nor does it say whether he was right or wrong not to redeem. The passage never even gives his name; Boaz addresses him only with “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” (v. 1). We who read know him only as the passage records him: he gave up his right to redeem — “Take my right of redemption for yourself” (v. 6).
The sandal as a witness. The passage itself explains the custom: “Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his sandal, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel” (v. 7). The man says, “Buy it for yourself,” and takes off his sandal (v. 8).
You are witnesses today. Boaz tells the elders and the people two things: he has bought everything that belonged to Elimelech’s family from Naomi (v. 9); and he has taken Mahlon’s wife Ruth to be his wife, “that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place” (v. 10). Twice he says, “You are witnesses today” (vv. 9, 10).
The blessing at the gate. The people and the elders answer, “We are witnesses” (v. 11). They bless the marriage and name three women: Rachel and Leah, “which both built the house of Israel” (v. 11); and Tamar, of “Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah” (v. 12). All these names come from Genesis. In the next lesson, this blessing has its sequel.
The law had a provision for redeeming land: “If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold” (Lev 25:25). The law also had a provision for keeping a dead man’s name: “the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel” (Deut 25:6).
The book of Ruth does not quote either law, nor does it say which one Boaz was following. But what Boaz says cares about the same thing the law cares about: “that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers” (v. 10).
Perez, named in the blessing, was a son of Judah (Gen 38:29). Bethlehem was in Judah, and Boaz was a descendant of Perez (Ruth 4:18–21).
In this lesson, no one works a miracle, and no one hears God speak. A man simply sits down at the city gate and, step by step, settles a matter in front of everyone.
Perhaps what you are waiting for is not a miracle either, but for something that needs doing to be done. God’s work is sometimes hidden in plain, clear, witnessed things like this.
This week: Think of something you have kept putting off and have never made clear — a debt, a promise, an apology. This week, make it clear in front of the people who need to know.
Scripture: World English Bible.