1Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by. Boaz said to him, “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” He came over, and sat down. 2Boaz 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 sandal, 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 sandal.
9Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. 10Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
11All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. 12Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which Yahweh will give you by this young woman.”
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, laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to him. 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.
The next day, Boaz went to the Town Gate (the place where the elders assembled every day to make community decisions). He got there just as the closer relative came along (coincidence?). There were 10 elders there also; 10 being the number to form a quorum to make decisions on behalf of the community (coincidence?). Boaz told the man that Naomi was selling a piece of land and to keep it in the family the man had first dabs on it, but if he didn’t want it, he would buy it. To our dismay the kinsman said he would redeem it. We don't want him to redeem it; we want Boaz to do it. We don’t even know who this guy is. We don’t know his name. This cannot be right. Then Boaz told the man about Mahlon’s widow, Ruth and he would have to marry her. The man reversed his decision and Boaz got his blessing to buy the land and to marry Ruth. We are all cheering. YES. That’s the way the way the story should end, the good guy gets the girl! But that is not the end of the story.
In 1:9 Naomi prayed for Ruth that she would have a husband and a good home. The Lord answered that prayer by bringing the most eligible bachelor in Bethlehem across their paths.
In 2:12 the day that Boaz met Ruth, he prayed for her that the Lord would repay her for what she had done for Naomi. The Lord answered that prayer even though Boaz had no idea that he would be the answer to his own prayer.
Here in Ch 4 the elders pray that the Lord will give Boaz and Ruth children. YES, that’s the ending we were hoping for. Ruth and Boaz have a son.
Verse 17 is the great destination of Naomi's long and twisted road. "And the women of the town gave him a name, saying, 'A son has been born to Naomi.'" Not to Ruth, but to Naomi! In 1:21 Naomi said that the Lord had brought her back empty from Moab. Here He filled her arms with a child. If only we too could just learn to wait and trust in God, maybe He could just make all things work together for our good also.
The story of Ruth doesn’t end in the Judean town of Bethlehem with an old grandmother hugging a new grandson. We read in V17 that the child Obed (meaning, servant) was the father of Jesse and Jesse was the father of David. All of a sudden, we realise that all along something far greater than we could imagine has been going on. God was not only looking out for one family in Bethlehem. He was preparing for the coming of the greatest king that Israel would have, David. Beyond that, in the line of David, 30 generations after Obed, the Servant King, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world would be born in Bethlehem
This simple little story opens out like a stream into a great river of hope not just for one family but for all the families of the earth.