Ruth 3:10-11

10 Then he said, “Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. 11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.

Ruth is a Moabite woman and not only that, she is a widow and she has no children. The same applies to Naomi her mother-in-law but Naomi is much older. Even though they have been finding provision by Ruth gleaning at the field of Boaz, this is a temporal situation. Their future is still uncertain. As the harvest season comes to an end, Naomi comes up with a plan to speed up things in the hopes of a better future for Ruth. Naomi’s plan and intentions may be a bit questionable but we will not focus on that today. We want to look at the response of Boaz.

Ruth represents the Gentile church and Boaz represents Christ who bought us back, made us new covered us and took us in to become part of his body. Boaz is the kinsman redeemer for Ruth and Naomi. A kinsman redeemer was a person whose responsibility was to “act on behalf of a relative who was in trouble, danger, or need.

Some of the responsibilities a kinsman redeemer took on included; Marrying a childless widow of a deceased brother and Buying back family land that had been sold. This ensured the continuation of the family name and lineage and also a covering for the woman and provision.

Even though Boaz found himself in a tricky situation waking up to find a woman sleeping at his feet, he did the right thing and did not take advantage of her. Ruth was very direct with Boaz when she says; “Take your maidservant under your wing for you are a close relative.” Boaz may have not considered taking Ruth under his wing probably because he may have thought that Ruth may have wanted a younger man closer to her age and secondly he was not the closest relative, there was someone else before him. Boaz being the just man that he was does the right thing and even gives the other relative the opportunity to do what’s right before he steps into the picture.

This is a representation of the character of our redeemer that though he became one like us taking on a human body, he did not sin but walked in righteousness giving him the right to redeem us and make us like himself.

Just like Christ, Boaz was a willing and capable redeemer who went on to do the right thing and this redemption turned the trajectory of a Moabite woman who ends up becoming one of the five women in the lineage of Christ our Savior.

Reflections

• Have you ever tried to do the right thing through the wrong methods, what happened?
• What are your thoughts about Boaz, his character and how he responded to this situation?
• Do you have the same character as your redeemer?