I’ll never forget it. My brother and I went to the same private school. I was in 2nd grade and he was in the 6th. After school everyday, a teacher walked us out to a place on the asphalt that was drawn off by a yellow painted box. About 30 students would wait for their parents in that box. Well, my dad has always been a stickler for being early and never just on time for anything so we knew something might be wrong when we didn’t see the family car in the parking lot immediately after school. After 15 minutes there were still about 5 students left. We were really worried after 30 minutes of waiting. Now I couldn’t read a clock very well, so I have to rely on my brother for this last bit of memory but 45 minutes after school, we finally saw the dad’s maverick driving up. When we got into the car, dad told excitedly, “Boys, I made a new high school on Q-bert!” Here we were afraid that we had been abandoned and dad was finishing a game of Q-bert.
Have you ever felt forgotten like that?
I know of a woman who felt forgotten. Her name is Naomi. She had a husband named Elimelech and two boys named Mahlon and Kilion. The nation was in unrest. She lived during the time of the judges. A phrase characterized the nation of Israel during this time, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” Doesn’t the last part of that phrase fit today? Everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes, aren’t they? There are no absolutes. You can’t tell me what to do because I make my own rules.
In the midst of this chaos, a family decides they are going to move. They’re moving because God has been judging Israel with a famine. It was taking place because of a lack of rain and the amount of raiders who were stealing the remaining food. God has given his people a promised land but this family decides to leave. They go to the land of Moab.
Mahlon and Kilion find themselves women they want to marry. The youngest, Kilion, marries Orpah, while Mahlon marries Ruth. Both are nice girls but, neither is able to have children. Being barren is a curse in a culture that requires children. To make matters worse, within a few months of each other, Elimelech, Mahlon, and Kilion all die. The culture is patriarchal, so without a man, these ladies are going to struggle to live.
Although the ladies have grown close through the tragedy of losing their husbands, Naomi decides to move back to Bethlehem because the famine is over. She encourages her daughter-in-laws to go back to their father and mother. Orpah decides she will go, but Ruth pledges herself to Naomi.
When Naomi returns, the ladies of Bethlehem can’t believe what they see. Naomi has changed so much. She asks them not to call her Naomi, which means pleasant, but Mara, which means bitter, because the Almighty has made her life bitter.
Ruth tries to help Naomi pick up the pieces of her life. She decides she is going to get a job picking up grain after the grain harvesters. While she’s out working in the fields, the owner of the field, named Boaz, began asking about her.
Naomi and Ruth needed a kinsman-redeemer. Let me explain the main job of the kinsman redeemer. Since in Jewish culture, families tried to keep land in the family, if a close relative had to sell their land or themselves to pay debt, another close relative would be expected to pay or redeem the debt. Everyone did not qualify as a redeemer. One had to be a kinsman or close relative.
HOW BOAZ FULFILLED THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER ROLE
J. Vernon McGee in his book on Ruth and Esther talks of five requirements of the kinsman-redeemer.
1. The redeemer must be a near kinsman. Boaz realized he was not the nearest of kin. After Ruth asked him to redeem Naomi and herself, Boaz promised to have her redeemed the next day.
When he found the closer redeemer at the city gate, Boaz offered him the land as the right of the redeemer. The man gladly accepted the offer until Boaz included Ruth. The man was afraid his family would lose some of its inheritance, so he offered Boaz the chance to redeem the land and the woman. Boaz quickly made the decision legal with the help of the city leaders at the gate. Boaz cleared the one hurdle that kept him from becoming the near kinsman.
2. The redeemer must perform in willingness his work of redemption. I know that Naomi and Ruth were willing and excited for someone to redeem them from their sorry situation. They needed a kinsman redeemer to bail them out. But Boaz had to be willing. After the nearer kinsman decided he didn’t want the land and Ruth, he offered all of it to Boaz.
Read Ruth 4:8-10. Boaz was willing to take Ruth as his wife and start a family with her. He could have refused to help her. He had the right, but instead he chose to help her.
3. The redeemer must possess the ability to redeem. Like we just said, Boaz had a little obstacle to overcome before he could redeem Naomi and Ruth. He had to get permission from the first kinsman and make that agreement legal. Also Boaz had to pay a financial price to Naomi for the land. Very few in the city could fill this role that Boaz was willing and able to fill. He could marry Ruth without hindering his families’ inheritance. He not only had the finances to redeem these ladies, but he by marrying Ruth, he was able to keep the redemption continuous.
4. The redeemer must be free himself.
When I took swimming lessons in high school, we spent one day learning to tread water. We had to do it for 2 minutes. We did it I turns. At about 1 minute and 45 seconds, I started having trouble swimming. With a few seconds left almost my whole body was under the water. I hoped someone would help me. My teacher reached out to me with a knee board that he used to pull me out of the water with. I needed someone out of the water to pull me out because I didn’t want to stay in the water.
Since a redeemer often had to pay for a family member to be freed from slavery, he could not be a slave himself while paying for another to be freed. Boaz had to free of the debt to help another pay off their debt.
5. The redeemer must have the price of redemption.
Boaz had the financial capital to pay of the debt that Naomi and Ruth needed paid.
Read Ruth 4:13-22. Because Boaz was willing to be kinsman-redeemer, great things happened. Boaz and Ruth got married. She had a son who could help Naomi in her old age. The women of the city no longer called her Mara, but instead praised God for not forgetting her.
This is not just another family story, though. Ruth was the great-grandmother of King David. More importantly, David is important because he is the ancestor of an even greater king. That man is Jesus. Jesus came to be a kinsman-redeemer for us.
HOW CHRIST FULFILLS THE KINSMAN-REDEEMER ROLE
Boaz is only a picture of what Christ has come to be. Boaz could only redeem Naomi and Ruth while Christ came to redeem the whole world.
1. The redeemer must be a near kinsman. Remember that Boaz had to clear a hurdle to become the near kinsman. Jesus had a hurdle. He had to become flesh with us.
Some of those who think that Jesus did not really become all man but instead was a spirit are denouncing salvation through Christ. If Jesus was not all man, then he could not be our near kinsman. He could not die for our sins until he became like us.
2. The redeemer must perform in willingness his work of redemption. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed this prayer, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” Does that sound like a willing Savior? It sounds like Jesus is trying to find a way out. But that is part of the problem of taking scripture out of context. Jesus says, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Not my will, but your will be done.”
If some still question whether Jesus was willing, let me remind you of what my friend David Johnson says. Jesus in eternity stood from his royal throne, laid down his robe, took off his crown, and put his scepter on his throne. He began the walk down from heaven to earth, putting on the robe of flesh. I can’t explain it but Jesus was all God and all man. Jesus didn’t come for the scenic tour of earth. He created it. He came to seek and save the lost by dying on a cross and rising from the dead like he said he would do.
Was Jesus willing to redeem us? Yes.
3. The redeemer must possess the ability to redeem.
Jesus had the ability to redeem us because of his person and his power. Jesus died for us on the cross to pay the debt we owe. His blood washed our sins away. But his power comes into play because he keeps us saved. John 10:28 says, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
4. The redeemer must be free himself.
Boaz was free from slavery and free from debts which made him a great choice to be the kinsman-redeemer.
Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin in death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We owe a debt because of our sin. We are slaves to sin and can do nothing to free ourselves. But Jesus lived a sin free life. He was never enslaved to sin. Because of this, he is a natural redeemer for us.
When Jesus, who is free, makes us free, we are free. Often we act as if we are shackled by our salvation. Our pet sin is threatened by Jesus because he wants to redeem us from all sin and the effects of sin. As Jesus is trying to rip sin away from us, we may run back to our sin and enjoy it for awhile. This shows that we are shackled by sin. Jesus didn’t come to free
5. The redeemer must have the price of redemption. In the Old Testament, the people were told to offer sacrifices for their sins. They would sacrifice a bull or a goat for their sin but that sacrifice did not cover their sin. Hebrews 10:3-4 says, “But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Every time a sacrifice was made, it was just a symbol of the ultimate sacrifice that had to be made for us. Once a year, the high priest would go into the Holy Place to sprinkle blood on the Ark of the Covenant. Since the blood offering of bulls and goats could not cover our sins, people had to offer sacrifices regularly.
But when Jesus died for us, the final sacrifice was made. In Hebrews 9:12, it says, “He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” Jesus was the only one able to pay the price owed for our sins.
HOW CHRIST WILL RETURN AS REDEEMER
Look at Ruth 4:14. “The women said to Naomi: ‘Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel!’” The women were afraid that God may have forgotten about Naomi. Now that this child had been born, they knew that God had not forgotten about her.
Some people are afraid that God has forgotten about them. He promised he was coming back but it’s been a long time without his return. Is he still coming back? He hasn’t forgotten about us. Jesus came the first time at just the right time and he’s coming back the next time at just the right time.
Job said it best when he said in Job 19:25, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” He may not have known all of the Pauline resurrection theology, but he knew that he had a Redeemer and that he was living.
Like the women we can say, “Praise be to the Lord!” because our Redeemer lives.
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the Blood of the lamb;
Redeemed through his infinite mercy, His child, and forever I am.
Redeemed, Redeemed, Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, Redeemed, His child, and forever I am.
Praise be to the Lord!
