By Madison Skaggs
Have any of you ever watched a movie where all throughout it you didn’t really know what was happening or were just kind of confused all throughout it? Then, all of a sudden, at the very end of the movie, everything just comes together perfectly? You’re sitting there just in shock because you finally get the big picture of the movie. Everything that happened all comes together to makes sense, and you’re just shocked! It kind of makes you want to go back and watch the movie all over again to appreciate everything that happens because now you know how it’s all going to fit into the bigger picture of the story at the end.
That’s what I think of when I read through the final act of Ruth in chapter 4. No movie can compare to the twist that occurs here in this book!
Background of Ruth
Act 1
So the curtains open for the first act in Ruth 1 on Naomi, her husband Elimelech, and their two sons. They are journeying from Bethlehem to Moab because there is famine in Bethlehem. When they get to Moab, Elimelech dies suddenly, and then Naomi’s two sons die, and she’s left with two Moabite daughters-in-law Orpa and Ruth.
Naomi decided to head back to Bethlehem because she hears of food and blessing there. Orpah decides to stay in Moab, and Ruth commits herself to staying with Naomi. Naomi has seemingly has lost everything. She says that the Lord has dealt bitterly with her.
Act 2
We then move on to the next day where Ruth goes out into the fields and finds herself in the fields of Boaz who takes to her, protects her, provides for her, and sends her home with plenty of grain to last them throughout the year.
Now there are two main problems in this book. These ladies (Naomi and Ruth) were widowed and childless. In the ancient Israelite culture this means they needed food and they needed family. It was the ultimate curse to not have a family to be able to continue on with the family name. In Act 2, the first need is met; they are provided with food.
Act 3
Now Ruth finds herself day after day, week after week, working in these fields and nothing is happening. From what we can tell at least, Boaz is not making any moves on Ruth. It does not seem like he is doing anything else to pursuer her. As a result of this, Naomi comes up with a plan. This plan is really just not a good plan. So it’s a nighttime on the threshing floor and Ruth basically proposes marriage to Boaz! He is humbled by this proposal, but then a twist happens.
Boaz reveals to Ruth that there is someone else, another man who has the right to marry Ruth before he does and the curtain closes on Act 3.
And we are in the audience and are thinking, “What in the world? You’ve got to be kidding me!” We finally think something good is about to happen and now there is another setback. We are left with this huge cliffhanger. The scene closes as Boaz promises to her that on that very day he would get this resolved and find out if this other man will marry Ruth. If he agrees to it, then so be it. If not, then Boaz has agreed to marry her.
So that brings us to our fourth and final act. We are picking up from where we left off with the cliffhanger and this is where everything will come to light.
Act 4 – Ruth 4 – The Story Continues
The scene opens with Boaz going into the city and waiting by the gate for this kinsman redeemer to arrive (Ruth 4:1). When he finally does, he calls him “friend” and asks him to sit down.
Now let’s pause here for a moment. It is important to understand what a kinsman redeemer is. The idea here is twofold: 1) the kinsman is the nearest adult male relative, the nearest of kin to someone. In order to be a kinsman to Naomi and Ruth, this guy had to be a near relative to Elimelech and his sons. 2) Redeemer meaning that that kinsman would have the right to be able to purchase the property acquired which in this case belonged to Elimelech and His sons.
Fascinating to this story, there is no mention of this kinsman redeemer’s name; he is only referred to as friend. Now Boaz knows this guy’s name, and the narrator more than likely knows this guy’s name. Yet, we only get the generic “friend.” Why? This kind of casts some light on this man to show that he is fairly insignificant. There is no point in mentioning him by name.
Boaz then gathers 10 witnesses alongside him and this kinsman redeemer (Ruth 4:2). More than likely there is also a crowd of other people beginning to gather around them as well. Boaz begins.
The Kinsman-Redeemer
Boaz says, “Naomi who has come back from the country of Moab and is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you’” (Ruth 4:3-4).
Boaz has just laid out an offer to this kinsman that he cannot refuse.
The “friend” immediately responds, “I will redeem it.”
At this moment as the audience, our hearts just sink! This unnamed man without even a second though says, “I will redeem it.” We are thinking to ourselves, “How can this guy, the one who’s so insignificant he’s not even named, come in here and just mess everything up?!” All hope seems lost. Ruth loves Boaz. Boaz loves Ruth. Now an insignificant man gets Naomi, Ruth, everything. Boaz nothing.
Boaz wisely responds, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead in his inheritance” (Ruth 1:5).
As the scene unfolds, it becomes apparent that Ruth, if taken in marriage by a family protector, would be part of a package deal along with the land owned by Elimilech. Furthermore, by marrying Ruth, the relative would assume the responsibility to produce offspring for the deceased Elimilech and Mahlon so as to perpetuate their family line and keep the family inheritance intact.
The kinsman responds again (almost as quickly as before) and says, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
The kinsman backed away from the deal rather quickly after hearing about the conditions of the deal. What a moment before had seemed to be a “can’t miss” real estate deal—taking care of an old lady in return for the long-term payoff of a field—had suddenly become an investment nightmare.
If there were to be a child from the relationship with Ruth, the redeemer would lose the field and there would be no benefit to his own children and estate to compensate for the costs involved in taking care of Naomi and Ruth. In other words, the kinsman was interested in ministry to the poor only if there was a payoff for himself and his family. He then transfers his right to the inheritance to Boaz and seals the deal.
Boaz Gets His Girl
The narrator continues the story for us with a bit of explanation (Ruth 4:7-8). “Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, ‘Buy it for yourself,’ he drew off his sandal.”
To give you an illustration of what is happening here, the kinsman is giving Boaz his sandal in order to make this transaction of giving him the right to the inheritance official. Giving Boaz the sandal is like one of us using money, sealing the deal with a handshake, or signing a contract to make it all legal.
After this transaction takes place between the kinsman and Boaz, Boaz formalizes the agreement by appealing to the witnesses. He affirms that he is acquiring from Naomi all that belonged to Elimilech, and his sons, including Ruth.
Boaz finishes his speech and ends with saying “Today you are witnesses” (Ruth 4:9-10).
The witnesses respond with a prayer – which you do not want to miss (Ruth 4:11-12). Their prayer emphasizes two things: fertility and blessing. These witnesses understand that it is God who is in control of the womb, and so they pray that God would allow Ruth and Boaz to bear a child. They asked God to open Ruth’s womb to have a child. This is where the blessing comes into the prayer. They essentially ask God to carry on and bless the family line through a Moabite woman, an non-Israelite.
If you are following closely, we have hit the climax of the story. Everything is going great finally. The curtain closes for remission.
Ruth Has a Baby
The story opens back up with a change in venue, no longer at the city gate but now in the home of Ruth and Boaz. We know that some time has gone by, at the very least nine months. The story continues, “So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son” (Ruth 4:13).
Boaz has married Ruth. After he married Ruth, God has blessed this marriage by giving Ruth conception and enabling her to bear a son! In one verse we see the resolution to the story. They marry and Ruth has a child. This is significant because for ten years Ruth had been unable to bear a son for Mahlon, but through the Lord’s intervention she conceived and bore a son for Boaz.
Take a look at verse 13 again with me, notice what the Scripture says: “The Lord gave her conception.” This is only the second time in the Book of Ruth that the Lord has been in the foreground of the action as the subject of a verb, the other time being equally significant in Ruth 1:6 where the Lord visited his people and gave them food. It was the Lord who provided the food just as it is the Lord who has enabled Ruth to bear a Son.
There were two problems that we talked about at the beginning in the book of Ruth. A need for food and a need for family, and both of these the narrator intentionally mentions that it is God who fulfilled these needs.
The women of Bethlehem now respond (Ruth 1:14-15). They serve as a chorus of this drama having heard of the birth of a son to Boaz and Ruth, they respond with an outburst of praise to God for His kindness to Naomi. They say a prayer for the child who was born, and then they end with an encouragement to Naomi.
“Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
Now who is the redeemer that’s being spoken about here? The son. This is really interesting because this is the only time in the Old Testament that someone who is not an adult is named a redeemer.
The child is the redeemer because it is he who is going to carry on the family line and will continue to provide for Naomi even after she is gone. It says that he will be a restorer of life and a nourisher of Naomi’s old age.
They also emphasize the extraordinary gift that Ruth was to Naomi, especially her love. While today many people attribute the word love with an emotional expression or a feeling, in the Hebrew Bible love expresses covenant commitment demonstrated in action in the interest of the other person.
Naomi Becomes the Baby’s Nurse
We are now coming to the conclusion of the final act in this story. This would be the point of the movie where we would look around say, “That was an incredible story, it was everything I hoped for and more!”
The next verse says, “Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse” (Ruth 4:16).
But There’s More!
The screen of this movie is beginning to go dark. You can tell that the story has concluded. You have a grandmother holding the baby. You look at each other and you think, “Wow who have thought that this was how it all ended?” You are happy. You are feeling good. You think the movie is pretty much over so you grab your purse and everything you brought in and begin to pack it all up and leave.
And you are preparing to leave the theater and the credits begin to roll, all of a sudden another scene pops up on the movie screen.
If you have ever seen any of the Marvel movies, you know that you do not ever get up to leave when the credits begin to roll because somewhere in the credits there is always one more scene. This scene is always really important to the story.
That’s kind of what happens here. You think the story is finished, but it is not. The most important scene of the entirety of the book of Ruth has not been revealed yet. The narrator saves the most important part of the story for the end.
Here it is: “Also the neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “There is a son born to Naomi.” And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David” (Ruth 1:17).
Now that is a plot twist! The narrator has revealed that this was more than just a love story between Ruth and Boaz, more than just a story of God providing the needs for Naomi. This was a story that fit into God’s greater plan of redemption. Through this story this was how God was paving the way through one of the darkest times in history to the greatest king. God used a Moabite woman to provide in what was a seemingly hopeless situation so that they would have the greatest king they would ever know.
And just to make sure the narrator gets his point across he ends with a genealogy of 10 generations leading up to David.
This book began in the days when the judges ruled and ends with an introduction to the most famous king in Israel’s history.
And this is the point that we realize that this story has been about something much much greater than we could have ever imagined Something much bigger than Ruth and Naomi and Boaz could have ever imagined.
Summary and Conclusion
So why does God choose to preserve this story for us today? This story relates to a much bigger and greater story of God. God is redeeming a people for Himself. The word redeem means to buy, to purchase, or to set free by paying a price. And the history of humanity is the story of how that since the fall of man in Genesis 3, God has been about the business of setting man free.
This is not just a story of God’s covenant faithfulness to Naomi and Ruth. It is about God’s covenant faithfulness to Israel. In this time the Israelites have not even thought about asking for a king yet; they are still in the days of the judges. However, in God’s sovereignty and faithful love, God was already preparing – ahead of time – the line of the one who will ultimately meet the need. Who would have ever guessed that surprise ending at the beginning of this story?
How do we and how does Christ fit into the bigger picture of this story. Let me suggest a few applications or observation points here.
God is working.
Even in the bleakest and most difficult circumstances, God is working behind the scenes. We have all faced difficult seasons and trials, suffering is not something that is foreign to those who are in Christ. Here in the book of Ruth we see this demonstrated in the character Naomi. In chapter one she had seemingly lost everything, her husband died, her sons died, and they never bore any children. Her circumstances look very bleak. But as we continue through the book of Ruth, we see that God was working through these difficulties and through these many setbacks in her life. Ultimately we end the book seeing that God had a greater plan all along. A plan that Naomi, Ruth or Boaz could not even begin to see – providing a means for the lineage of David, which in turn would lead to the birth of our Messiah Jesus Christ. God’s plan was greater than the darkest of circumstances and we see that laid out here in the Book of Ruth.
God is in control over all aspects of our lives.
Think back to the story, did you notice that after verse 13 Ruth basically disappears from the story? The story does not end with the spotlight on Ruth as the main character, instead it ends with Naomi as the main character. The narrator does this intentionally to provide a picture. Think back to the first act of Ruth, the curtains open with famine and death, and now look here at the final act, it ends with a wedding and a birth. The book begins with death and ends with life and throughout it all God was in control of everything!
God is the provider of hope.
Throughout this story, God brings his people from emptiness to fullness! Naomi begins this book with nothing, she returns to Bethlehem with nothing on hand, and the story ends with Naomi holding a baby. She was empty and now God has made her full. From death to life, from curse to blessing, from bitterness to happiness, and finally from despair to hope. This book ends not to look back on a difficult suffering-filled past, but to look forward 10 generations into an unbelievable and unimaginable future to king David. If we look closely, we know that this story does not end here in the book of Ruth 4:22, but instead, is a smaller story in God’s ultimate plan of redemption. In Matthew 1:5, Ruth and Boaz are mentioned again. This genealogy however does not end with David; instead it ends with the birth of Christ.
If God is the one writing your story, it will always end good! We can choose to live in our suffering today or we can choose to look ahead to the future glory we have in Christ.
About the Author:
Madison Skaggs is married, serves in her local church in Aurora, MO, and is a biblical counseling undergraduate student at Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary. This article is her script from a lesson she presented to her classmates as part of her course work.
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