Ruth 2

19–20 When Naomi found out it was Boaz who had been so kind to Ruth, she said, “The LORD bless him!” (verse 20). Then she said: “He (the Lord) has not stopped showing his kindness¹⁵ to the living (Naomi and Ruth) and the dead (their husbands)”—in other words, to everyone in the family. God was going to show His kindness even to the dead by raising up an heir to continue the line of Elimelech.

Then Naomi explained to Ruth who Boaz was: “That man is our close relative . . . one of our kinsman-redeemers” (verse 20).

The concept of the “kinsman-redeemer” is very important throughout Scripture. To “redeem” means to “buy back” something (or someone) that has been sold. To redeem something implies that the redeemer must pay a price or make a sacrifice. This element of sacrifice underlies the REIEMPTION provided for us by Jesus Christ: He purchased us with His own blood (1 Peter 1:18–19).

According to Old Testament law, each member of a family or clan was responsible for providing for any family member who had fallen on hard times (Leviticus 25:35); in this way the integrity of the family could be maintained. The family member who undertook to help another family member was called a “kinsman-redeemer.” Suchhelp was to be given not just to one’s immediate family but to members of the extended family as well.

A kinsman-redeemer was expected to help in various ways, depending on what the need was. First, he might be called upon to marry his brother’s childless widow in order to produce an heir for the dead brother¹⁶ (Deuteronomy 25:5–10). Second, he might be called upon to redeem land that a poor relative had been forced to sell (Leviticus 25:25).Third, he might be called upon to redeem a relative who had sold himself into slavery to pay off debts (Leviticus 25:47–49). Fourth, he might be called upon to avenge a relative’s murder¹⁷ (Numbers 35:19–21).

In all these ways, the actions of the kinsman-redeemer reflect what God has done for His larger human family. It was God who redeemed Israel from bondage in EGYPT (Exodus 6:6). And it was the Son of God who, through His death on the cross, redeemed us from bondage to sin.

These great acts of redemption on God’s part are mirrored here in the kind actions of Boaz. Boaz was not legally required to make Ruth his wife, and he gained no legal or financial advantage from doing so, since their first son would legally be Elimelech’s heir and would therefore inherit the land Boaz had redeemed (Deuteronomy 25:6). But by his gracious actions Boaz set an example of self-giving love and became a true forerunner of his own descendant Jesus, our great kinsman-redeemer, who joined our human family and paid the price for our redemption.¹⁸

21–23 In these verses, the writer describes how Ruth continued to glean in Boaz’s fields until the end of the harvest.