Boaz and So-and-So

1Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. He said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down. 2He took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here,” and they sat down. 3He said to the near kinsman, “Naomi, who has come back out of the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s. 4I thought I should tell you, saying, ‘Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it; but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know. For there is no one to redeem it besides you; and I am after you.” He said, “I will redeem it.” 5Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must buy it also from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance.” 6The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, lest I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption for yourself; for I can’t redeem it.” 7Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: a man took off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the way of formalizing transactions in Israel. 8So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” then he took off his shoe.

God has given wisdom to every person. Whether it is wisdom for the spirit or wisdom for the body, he has given people the wisdom they need to live. Presumably he gave spiritual wisdom to be used in bringing souls to life, and granted wisdom for the body because human life cannot go on without it. But if all that wisdom is spent on ourselves and on the world alone, it means nothing, because it is wisdom we have failed to share wisely.

Wealth is no different. When God entrusts it to us along with wisdom, he gives it as an instrument for saving souls. Yet if we spend the wealth God has given on ourselves alone, it too means nothing, since it is wealth that has never been shared. If we use our means to help the poor and the weak as God wills, or use our wisdom so that the foolish and the senseless may come to meet God, then, because they have been put to their proper use, the goods and the wisdom we have scattered abroad will shine all the brighter and come back to us as a great blessing.

Now and then I see someone who does not believe in God write wisely, or pour out their whole life for some empty cause, and I think how wonderful it would be if they spent that effort and that wisdom on the eternal God. For however wisely they write, and however faithfully they give their lives for the world, they do not know the eternal world, and so their wisdom remains confined to this one. If that person knew the word of God, they would leave behind writing that brings souls to life, like clear, cool water drawn up from a deep well.

The same holds in the church. Suppose a member has the wisdom of the word and is well able to fulfill a calling, yet does not give themselves to the work. God would call that person proud, because the wisdom and talent they have are of no use to anyone. God gave wisdom and spiritual gifts so that we would serve as a lamp and keep our weaker brothers and sisters from stumbling. And since that task cannot be done without material means, he has supplied those as well, so that the work may go more easily and smoothly.

Of course, it is not easy to share what is ours. But wisdom and understanding do not belong to us. If only we give ourselves in faith, God will take charge of our lives and work on our behalf as each need arises. So, if only to receive the blessings God gives, we must be diligent, and we must learn to make good and wise judgments quickly.

Consider the people of faith whom God has blessed. They do not weigh up the calling they were given and then act on their own judgment; they quietly live it out. It is their names that God remembers. But those who live for themselves alone—God does not remember even their names. Like a mist that scatters and vanishes, their very existence fades away and is gone.

Ruth 4:1

1Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. He said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down.

Ruth had come under Boaz’s covering without asking, yet he knew she was a worthy woman. So he told her, “Tomorrow I will meet your near kinsman and ask him on your behalf.” And he swore, as Yahweh lives, that if that man would not take up the duty of a near kinsman, Boaz himself would take it up in his place.

Boaz goes to such lengths because he knows that God is blessing Naomi’s household through Ruth. That is why, even after Ruth did something as startling as lifting his covering and lying down beneath it, he called her a worthy woman and said that if the near kinsman shirked his duty, he would bear it himself. Since a man can have no greater gift than to take a worthy woman as his wife, Boaz had no reason to hesitate in choosing Ruth.

Proverbs 14:1

1Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

Proverbs 12:4

4A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, but a disgraceful wife is as rottenness in his bones.

As Proverbs shows, the same is true when a woman finds a wise and generous husband. But for a husband to find a wise wife is God’s blessing, by which he builds up that man’s house, and to find a virtuous woman like Ruth was a reward God gave Boaz, like a crown.

Boaz knew it would be a great blessing to marry Ruth, a woman who loved God’s word and obeyed it. Yet because he truly cared for her, he wanted, if he could, to ask a younger and more capable man first rather than an old man like himself. When morning came, Boaz went straight up to the city gate and waited there with ten elders for the near kinsman. He must have chosen So-and-So because he believed him fit to stand as Ruth’s redeemer.

Just then the near kinsman came by, and Boaz called him over. He told him how things stood with Naomi and Ruth and pleaded with him to redeem the family’s inheritance. So-and-So thought for a moment, judged that it would be greatly to his advantage, and agreed. Instead of weighing carefully what it meant to redeem Naomi’s inheritance, he thought first of how much he stood to gain. Israel had a law that land bought from its owner had to be given back after fifty years. Because land with no heir did not have to be returned in the Year of Jubilee, the fiftieth year, this man would have reckoned it a handsome profit.

When Boaz heard him say he would redeem it, he explained the matter again in detail. If he bought the land as near kinsman, he would have to give it back to Naomi’s family; and beyond the land, he would have to marry Ruth and give the son she bore to Elimelech’s house as its firstborn, so that the family would not be cut off. Then So-and-So saw that the land would never become his own property. He realized, too, that a son born to him by Ruth would have to keep Elimelech’s name alive and so could never be his own. Judging that he had no reason to spend his own money rescuing a widow, he turned the offer down.

The man Boaz met that day had been given the chance to serve God deeply and to receive, through Ruth, the blessing of heaven that God gives. Yet because his human reckoning told him there was no earthly gain in it, he threw that chance away all too easily. God had plainly laid down in his law the duty a near kinsman owed his family, and still this man thought only of profit and loss.

We too are always being given opportunities by God. Yet we often let them slip while we are busy weighing profit and loss. It was our own lack of wisdom that kept the opportunity from becoming a blessing, and still we complain and ask God why he does not favor us. If the opportunities God gives are to become blessings, we must train ourselves to live with his word at the center. That training matters because only then can we turn the moments that rush past us into occasions of blessing.

The Bible does not even record the name of the man who refused Boaz. Verse 1 tells us only that Boaz called him over as “friend.” Scripture records the names of a great many people, yet this man who would not redeem Naomi’s inheritance is not given so much as a name. Had he paused, when Boaz told him of Naomi’s plight, not to tally his own profit and loss but to ask once more why God had made him hear these words, we would know his name today.

He answered lightly that he would not be the near kinsman, and that answer reveals what kind of faith he had been living by all along. From what he did, we can judge which mattered more to him, the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit. Believers, too, show this kind of faith at times. Even after years of learning the word and following the Lord, some imagine that believing in God means prospering, seeing their children do well, and then entering heaven to eat well and live well forever. Because that is what they think, they abandon their faith at the first small difficulty.

In the end, it is true that those who serve God well will live well and enter heaven. What matters is the standard by which we measure living well and doing well. It matters because a person’s life, and what awaits them after death, depend on which of the two they fix their eyes on, the spirit or the flesh. Those who serve God for the sake of the world cannot be blessed, any more than So-and-So was; but those whose faith is for the serving of God will be blessed.

So-and-So turned down Boaz’s request, and God did not take his wealth away. Yet we still think of him as a man God did not bless. That is because the standard of blessing is not the world but heaven. Just as becoming a near kinsman demanded self-sacrifice, so there must be self-sacrifice if we are to be people of true faith. Those who look only at what lies right before their eyes miss many opportunities. Rather than live foolishly, thinking only of what we can see, we would find life far easier if we thought a little more deeply and had the wisdom to look ahead.

Human desire and the work of the Holy Spirit are bound to collide. Human desire wants the profit of this world, while the Holy Spirit works for the glory of God; so the Spirit’s work and the cravings of the flesh can never be the same, nor travel the same road. We must therefore walk as the Spirit leads, because those who do not obey the word will, like So-and-So, fail to have their names written in the book of life that lies open before Christ. In the end they will become chaff, vanishing nameless into the darkness, like the man who refused Boaz’s earnest plea. So-and-So, who could not see the world through God’s eyes, lost both the blessing of God and the good things this life might have given him.

When So-and-So refused, Boaz declared that he would be the near kinsman, just as he had intended from the first.

Ruth 4:8

8So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” then he took off his shoe.

Glad to think he had shifted a heavy burden onto Boaz, So-and-So promptly took off his shoe and handed it to Boaz in front of the ten elders. By doing this he was declaring that he gave up his claim to the land. From now on he will be remembered forever as the man who defied the law God had laid down, that a man should stand as redeemer for his own flesh and blood—the man who dodged his duty and took off his shoe.

Had So-and-So not decided so hastily, he would have seen that becoming the near kinsman was not an earthly loss but a gift from God. But now that he had given Boaz his shoe, he had taken a step he could not reverse, however much he might wish to turn back. Because it is very easy for us to throw away the faith God has given, but not easy to repent of that sin, we must never decide anything lightly. I hope you will not judge by the world’s standards as So-and-So did, but will seek God’s will and settle every matter with care.

Later, when Boaz married Ruth and they had Obed, the grandfather of David, So-and-So would have seen people bless them from the heart and give glory and praise to God. Watching it, he must have realized how great a gift that moment had been when Boaz asked whether he would be the near kinsman, and regretted that one wrong judgment had cost him that chance forever. This is why it matters so much to have the wisdom of God.

It matters because, although everyone wants to be blessed, the blessing God gives does not show itself only in the kind of success people long for. If only to see whether his people judge rightly, God reveals it through suffering and trials, through loneliness and failure, or through success in this life. So if we do not judge rightly, we may fail to receive the opportunity even when he has given it.

People think their prayers have been answered only when they achieve great success in the world or earn a great deal of money. But we must understand that God’s answers are entirely unlike what people imagine. Because the blessing God longs to give is the salvation of souls, if your life is moving toward salvation, you have already received a great blessing from him. If your life is now caught up in suffering and trial, God is testing your endurance; if you have been given wealth, he is testing whether you will serve him with a faith that gives thanks in all things.

With what kind of faith are you walking with God today? God has commanded you to live by his word; are you thinking that doing his work brings you little benefit? He has told you to obey; have you gone over to sit in the seat of sin because there is nothing to see right now and nothing to hold in your hands? May you make every decision by the word, asking how God may be glorified. Then you can live without missteps and without regret.

So Boaz and Ruth, the worthy woman, were married in a beautiful ceremony before God and the people. Boaz had simply made a good decision, as God commanded, and yet this earthly wedding became a blessed one that brought God’s plan to fulfillment. Until now Naomi and Ruth had lived as poor women of no account; from now on, under Boaz’s love and protection, they would live in peace and happiness.

The book of Ruth is the story of women who strove to serve God and whose lives were turned around. They no longer had to bow and scrape, gleaning in another man’s field. Boaz would be a strong hedge around them, so they need not fear the world. Naomi and Ruth would hold Obed in their arms and raise him and live happy lives, and Obed would be a shield to his grandmother and his mother. All the happiness they enjoy is theirs because Boaz willingly gave of himself.

In the same way, it is only by Christ’s absolute grace of redemption that the saints can sit down to the wedding feast with him. Without that grace, how could a sinner ever meet God? How could sinners who have lived all their lives by their own will become the bride of Christ? It is possible because the Holy Spirit helps them without rest until they become his bride, and has turned back the attacks of Satan. This beautiful marriage supper of the Lamb is a blessing that only those who have lived by faith on this earth can enjoy.

Poor and frail as they were, Naomi and Ruth endured every affliction in faith, and they came to live the kind of life the world envies. From now on the two women will live in peace and happiness. Those outside the faith all dream of such a life and work hard for it. And certainly many do seize great opportunities in this life and live well.

But the blessing they speak of is confined to this world. It is the kind of blessing that vanishes when life comes to its end. What you must understand is that the saints must receive a blessing that is eternal, beyond the reach of time, because they have been given the privilege of enjoying the blessings of this world even after death.

Ruth 4:15

15He shall be to you a restorer of life, and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

Naomi, who had lost her husband and her sons and was like one dead, found new life through the child Ruth bore. The name Obed means “one who serves.” We are told that the women gave him this name, but I have wondered whether it might also hold Naomi’s earnest longing that he would not waste his life as she had, but would live to serve God alone.

She was one of the people of Israel, yet she had come under God’s punishment and had taken a very long road home. Because of that, I imagine, she longed for her descendants to serve no one but God. God gladly took Naomi back, and through Ruth, the fruit of her faith, he granted her the good things of this world and the further blessing of becoming an ancestor of Jesus. When we turn back in faith, we become the lovely bride of the Lord who is coming again, and so we receive blessings like these, as Naomi and Ruth did.

Ruth 4:22

22and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.

David was born of a line of faith that ran through Tamar and Ruth. For the sake of Jesus, who would come as the root of David, God used the faith of Tamar and Ruth to carry forward his promise of salvation. Because there were saints like these, working out God’s will by faith, the promise that Jesus would come into the world as the root of David was fulfilled.

Through the book of Ruth we have seen a sinner born in Moab brought into the congregation of God, and we have seen her receive a heavenly inheritance once she left the place of sin by faith. Naomi did not return to Bethlehem with any intention of becoming an ancestor of Christ. Yet we have seen that when one person strives to live by faith, God’s work and his plan come to fulfillment. Like Ruth, who became Boaz’s wife, every one of us was born a sinner. But God chose us and called us, and now we have been born again as his saints, each one a worthy woman who is to become the wife of Christ.

Now you must bring forth the fruit of salvation in Christ. Just as Boaz’s love grew deeper when Ruth gave birth to Obed, so when you bear the fruit of Christ, God will lavish on you a love that overflows. If you live like Naomi, who turned back boldly, like Ruth, who obeyed the word, and like Boaz, who gladly gave himself up, God will pour Obed, the fruit of blessing, into your life.