Christ Our Redeemer, and Boaz
13So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and Yahweh enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. 14The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel. 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.” 16Naomi took the child, and laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to it. 17The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, “A son is born to Naomi”. They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. 18Now this is the history of the generations of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, 19and Hezron became the father of Ram, and Ram became the father of Amminadab, 20and Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon became the father of Salmon, 21and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed, 22and Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.
Until now we have been looking into Ruth’s life. A Moabite woman who could never enter God’s assembly became one of God’s people, met Boaz, and even held a wedding blessed by God’s people. She bore Obed and carried on the family line. Her decision of faith played its part in that, but it was possible because God was at her side, helping her without fail. As a foreign woman she must have struggled with much, but Ruth came boldly to Israel and lived as one of God’s people, obeying the Word. Because she believed that her mother-in-law rightly knew God’s will, she obeyed, and in the end her life was changed.
Ruth was a daughter-in-law better to Naomi than seven sons, because she was the child who breathed the hope of living back into her mother-in-law, who had lost everything and fallen into despair. By placing Obed in Naomi’s arms, she fully carried out her mission as a restorer of life and as one who would sustain her. It is a beautiful thing that through Ruth’s sacrifice many people could serve God like this and live blessed lives. If through your sacrifice someone can receive new life, that is not your sacrifice alone; you have carried out your mission as one of heaven’s people, who carry on God’s promise.
John 3:16
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
God said that he so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. The way God loves the world is by atoning for the sin of humankind on the cross, and by opening the tomb, overcoming death, and rising again.
Jesus carried the cross to atone for the sins of humankind. The Bible says that he was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. Because Jesus is by nature God the Son, he has nothing to do with sin. That holy God threw himself into death to make sinners God’s people. No descendant of Adam can be free from sin. This whole world is darkness and death, and that is why God the Son, who is light and life, came to this earth to complete redemption.
Our Redeemer is Jesus Christ. As he said that he is the way, the truth, and the life, there is no other redeemer besides Jesus Christ. These days not only other religions but also pastors who have not rightly understood God’s word proclaim that the way of salvation is everywhere. They say that every religion has its own way of truth and its own way of salvation, and so everyone must acknowledge one another’s religions and live in harmony.
But God never speaks that way through the Bible. He has told us clearly that the way of truth is Jesus Christ alone, and that the way to heaven opens only when we receive the Lord. It is Jesus who came from heaven, and it is Jesus alone who will rescue sinners from death and lead them to heaven. Do not listen to the words of the world; listen to God’s word alone and keep your faith.
John 17:3
3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
John says that to know and believe in the true God and in Jesus Christ, whom God sent, is in itself already to have received eternal life. He was telling us that to believe in Jesus, who came to this earth in the flesh, is to understand the deep love with which God means to save humankind. If all it takes to gain eternal life is simply to believe as the Word says, salvation is very easy and simple. But we can truly believe in Jesus only when we give up our own righteousness and admit that we are sinners. So for those who belong to the world, it would by no means be an easy road.
Jesus fully accomplished the mission God gave him. When he carried the cross for the sins of all humankind, a single ray of light came into the world of darkness. The way was opened for believers rescued from death to enter the beautiful kingdom of heaven.
John 17:6
6I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
We can know God now because Jesus led us into the light. That is how we could meet God, who dwells in glory.
The word ‘redeemed’ carries the sense of restoration or salvation, or of bringing something back to where it was. We who were in death have been restored, through faith in Christ, from children of sin to children of God. It is because of God’s amazing grace that we who lived as slaves of Satan have gained freedom and can hold the hope of heaven. We too, like Naomi, had left God and were dead, but we met Christ, gained new life, and became the fruit of salvation that everyone envies.
Ruth 4:14
14The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel.
When Naomi took Obed in her arms, the women of Bethlehem praised God, saying that Yahweh had provided her with a near kinsman that day. All that had happened was that one poor, weak woman had met a near kinsman, that is, a redeemer, Boaz, and carried on the family line. Yet the people of Israel were giving glory and praise not to Naomi alone but to God. We had no way of receiving eternal life. When we meet Christ, our near kinsman, that is, our Redeemer, and are restored to salvation, the angels of heaven and all God’s people will praise God. Just as parents receive honor when their children do well, the righteous lives of believers can lift God up and give him glory.
Looking at Ruth’s genealogy, you will have noticed one strange thing. Boaz clearly married Ruth as the near kinsman who would carry on Naomi’s family, and he had a son and carried on the family of Elimelech.
But the passage records that Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron became the father of Ram, Ram became the father of Amminadab, Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon became the father of Salmon, Salmon became the father of Boaz, Boaz became the father of Obed, Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David. Perez was the son of Judah, born to Tamar. Whereas every genealogy begins with the descendants of Adam or Abraham, the Book of Ruth unfolds the line of Perez, the son of Tamar.
What we have understood so far about the ‘near kinsman’ is that Obed, whom Ruth bore, had to be counted without question as the son of Mahlon, the firstborn. But here Boaz stands not in the genealogy of Elimelech but in the genealogy of Perez, and his son Obed carries on the family of Judah. This means that God used Ruth’s faith to restore Naomi’s family, and restored as well the family of Boaz, who obeyed God’s word.
Boaz was of the house of Judah.
Genesis 49:10
10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
In his prophecy Jacob said that the scepter would not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and that to him would be the obedience of the peoples. This means that the Redeemer of humankind would come from the house of Judah.
Boaz stood as Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer, and in this he was a foreshadowing of Christ, who came to redeem all humankind. The family line could not go on because all its men had died, and Boaz sacrificed himself to carry that line on. In the same way, humankind in death cannot receive new life by itself, and so Christ became the Redeemer and gave life. In the end Boaz sacrificed himself to help Ruth, but God gave the fruit of it as the blessing of carrying on Boaz’s own family. In the same way, Jesus sacrificed himself to give life to sinners, but that life belongs in the end to Christ, and to God.
The parable of the vine is recorded in John 15.
Look at the parable of the vine that Jesus told. Then you can see why the genealogy of Boaz, who carried on Naomi’s line, is recorded in the Bible, and how Obed, held in Naomi’s arms, could become David’s grandfather.
Jesus said that he is the vine and his Father is the farmer. Every branch that does not bear fruit, the Father takes away, and every branch that bears fruit, he protects so that it may bear more fruit. Those who do not truly believe in Jesus receive grace without knowing how precious it is and spill it on the ground. That is why, this passage tells us, God pours out much grace on believers who live by faith, so that faithful believers can bear more fruit.
John 15:4
4Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.
This is the relationship between the Redeemer and the believers who have received Jesus. The branch is clearly attached to the vine, and the fruit each branch bears belongs to that branch and at the same time to the vine. And while the fruit belongs to the vine, all the fruit in the field belongs at the same time to the farmer. That is why the farmer does not ask the vine; he leaves the sturdy branches and cuts off the withered ones himself. The vine does all it can to help its branches, so that they will not be cut off by the farmer and so that they will bear much fruit, but taking in the nourishment is the branch’s part. If a healthy branch that has taken in nourishment well bears much fruit, the farmer will value that branch and protect it. In the same way, believers too are branches attached to the vine that is Christ. But if a branch does not bear fruit, God, the farmer, will cut it off. That is entirely the farmer’s judgment.
Ruth bore Obed with Boaz’s help, and Naomi gained fruit. Of course, because Obed was born of the near kinsman, that fruit would carry on Naomi’s family. God did two things with a single fruit named Obed.
When grapes hung on the branch, the farmer saw them as the branch’s fruit and also as fruit hanging on the vine. In God’s eyes, the fruit called ‘Obed’ was Naomi’s fruit and at the same time Boaz’s fruit as well. Going further, God not only carried on the families of Naomi and Boaz but used all these events as a channel so that the Savior could come.
God works hard, using human lives as his channel, and all of it is for salvation. Matthew records the genealogy in such detail, naming Perez, whom Tamar bore, Boaz, whom Rahab bore, and Obed, whom Ruth bore. He does so because it bears directly on the birth of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and every other person had bodies of flesh, and so had no choice but to live their lives in this world. But God uses the history woven from all those times, events and people. So one generation goes, and another generation comes, but God, for whom a thousand years are as one day, is accomplishing salvation beyond the generations.
God made one nation through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and did not let go of the line of faith, so that the Savior could come. God led the lives of dozens of generations and prepared the way solely so that Jesus, the Redeemer, could be born, and that effort was tremendous. No one can stop God’s love for the saving of souls. For the promise that he would send God the Son to this earth and give life through the blood of that Son still continues today.
When you give thanks for the circumstances you have been given and quietly carry out your mission, God will commend you as faithful and will boast of your name as he did of Job’s. Just as Boaz, who sacrificed all he had, received the amazing blessing of being named in the genealogy of Christ, the names and faithfulness of believers will receive the amazing blessing of being written in the book of life and the book of memory.
What we should look at closely is Ruth 4:21.
Ruth 4:21
21and Salmon became the father of Boaz, and Boaz became the father of Obed,
Matthew 1:5
5Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.
Salmon married Rahab the prostitute and became the father of Boaz. Rahab the prostitute hid the two spies when the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River and spied out the city of Jericho, and she became the mother of Boaz.
When the people of Israel who had come out of Egypt were entering Canaan, the Promised Land, Joshua sent two spies to Jericho. The two spies lodged at Rahab’s house beside the city gate, and the king of Jericho learned of it. Soldiers of Jericho came to seize the spies, but through Rahab’s wisdom the spies were able to return safely to the people of Israel. Rahab already knew of God, who had done many miracles and wonders. She asked the spies to deal kindly with her house when they attacked Jericho, and asked them to spare her parents and all her brothers. She knew well on whom her life depended.
The spies promised that when the people of Israel attacked Jericho, if she tied a line of scarlet thread in the window, they would spare the people in that house. Now what Rahab had to remember, if she and her family were to survive, was that she must tie the scarlet thread and must stay in that house. That scarlet thread was Rahab’s lifeline. If Rahab made the promise but was so busy with the affairs of the world that she forgot to tie the scarlet thread, she would be put to death like the people of Jericho. Hearing the spies’ words and acting on them was now Rahab’s choice.
Jesus has given us the promise of salvation that we can be saved only by relying on the scarlet thread, that is, the blood of Jesus Christ. And he said that we will be saved only if we are in Christ, where the blood flows. He also said that if we do not keep the promise and go out from Christ, we cannot be saved, and that he will not answer for that death. For carrying out that promise is the responsibility of those who heard the Word. In this way everyone lives their life in a different shape, but God is at work through the lives of believers who strive to keep the promise.
When we look into the Redeemer’s genealogy, we see that alongside the Israelites, the chosen people, there are also Gentiles who could not enter God’s assembly. This is proof that the history of redemption is not carried on by human merit or bloodline. Only the grace of God, who first made the covenant and does all he can to fulfill that promise, has in the end brought believers to salvation.
Like Naomi and Ruth, you must give thanks and rejoice even in suffering. If you know that God will protect you, you must wait with perseverance. Those who have faith are never ashamed of hardship, because they know that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.
God has given salvation to whoever believes in Jesus. Just as Ruth could become Boaz’s wife because she was worthy, believers who have lived their lives by righteous acts will take part in the marriage supper with Christ on the last day. We receive salvation wholly by God’s grace; it is his love.
When fruit hangs on a branch of the vine, it may seem that the branch receives the glory, but it is the vine, which feeds the branch, that is put to more precious use. Like the vine that helps its branches bear much fruit, Christ is doing his utmost to be a fence against the harsh world, so that believers may bear more fruit and please God, the farmer.
Ruth bore Obed through Boaz, yet Obed carried on the family of Boaz, became the father of Jesse, and continued the line through his grandson David. There were so many stories of lives like this, here and there, for the birth of Jesus, who would come as the root of David.
Now let me bring to a close the story of Naomi and Ruth, who strove to live as God’s people. As it is said that faith comes by hearing, you who have heard God’s word and met God must now live lives of obedience, like Naomi and Ruth. Look at the lives of the forebears of faith. When they obeyed, problems they could not handle were all solved, and families that were falling apart were restored. When you truly meet God, the master of all things, God will fill your empty vessel.
May you become a Naomi and a Ruth. May you be children of faith whom God always remembers, and enjoy rest within his blessing. Love, thanks and faithfulness toward God overflow in every footprint Ruth left, still clear on the road of faith she walked. As you see them, I earnestly hope you will walk that road with her. Christ, waiting at the end of that road, would open his arms and embrace you, and the Holy Spirit would always help you so that you do not come to grief on the way.