If a man was unwilling to redeem his kin, you were to spit at him (Deut 25:9). But why Jesus?
A new day dawns over Bethlehem. If all goes well, the Moabite maid will no longer need to glean with the poor—she’ll share in the ownership of the fields and all they grow! Boaz arrives at the city gate, the seat of local government. “And behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by” (Ruth 4:1). Boaz invites him to take a seat. He then rounds up ten elder citizens as witnesses, reminiscent of the Decalogue, for the Law’s demands must be met. Now the BIG question is posed. Will the nearer kinsman redeem the land Naomi forfeited when she left the Promised Land? Yes, he replied, “I will redeem it” (v 4). I hope that’s not how the story ends! Well, no. Boaz has something else to say: “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance” (v 5). This isn’t just a real estate deal; the destiny of the Messianic line hangs in the balance. The man replies, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance” (v 6). How true this is! The Law must be satisfied, but the Law could not do it (see Rom 8:3). “Buy it for yourself,” he told Boaz (Ruth 4:8). Only Love could do the deed. Then we read, “So he took off his sandal.” The way “to confirm anything” (v 7) was to present an empty shoe. We have instead an empty tomb as our confirmation that the redemption price has been fully satisfactory to God. Then said Boaz, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s” (v 9). No limited redemption here! The fact that Orpah refused to come didn’t change the generosity of the redeemer’s heart. He paid it all (see 1 Jn 2:2)!