Genesis Bible Study: Kinsman Redeemer and Levirate Marriage

The Kinsman Redeemer & Levirate Marriage

To really understand Genesis 38, we must take a side-trip to understand two very important principles that are central to the chapter: The Kinsman Redeemer and Levirite Marriage.

DEFINITIONS:

Redeem (Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - 1913):: To purchase back; to regain possession of by payment of a stipulated price; to repurchase.; To ransom, liberate, or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying a price or ransom; to ransom; to rescue; to recover; as, to redeem a captive, a pledge, and the like.; To rescue and deliver from the bondage of sin and the penalties of God's violated law.
Redemption (Source: American Heritage^® Dictionary fourth Edition - 2003):: (Christianity) the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil.; Recovery or preservation from loss or danger.; Repayment of the principal amount of a debt or security at or before maturity (as when a corporation repurchases its own stock); The act of purchasing back something previously sold
Kinsman (Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - 1913): A man of the same race or family; one related by blood.
Kinsman-Redeemer (Source: http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b1ruth.htm): The definition of "kinsman" is "nearest male blood relative." If anyone from poverty was unable to redeem his inheritance, it was the duty of the kinsman to redeem it. The Hebrew word for "kinsman" is "goel." "Redeemer" is defined as "one charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging his wrongs." The Hebrew word for Redeemer is also "goel." In Biblical times, these words were interchangeable. If a man was the redeemer of a family, he must have been a kinsman. And if he was a kinsman, then it followed that he was a redeemer for the family. Back in Ruth’s day, the kinsman redeemer avenged deaths, claimed inheritances for poor family members, and married the widow of a dead male relative. He played a role very similar to the one that Jesus played for all mankind.
Levirate marriage (Source: Wikipedia): Hebrew: Yibbum (pronounced "yee-boom"); The practice of a woman marrying one of her husband's brothers after her husband's death, if there were no children, in order to continue his line.; The Biblical significance of Yibbum is emphasized by various Judaic teachings that the Jewish messiah will be directly descended from both Judah and Tamar as well as through Ruth and Boaz.

"Redemption" in the King James Version of the Old Testament is usually the translation of the Hebrew words geullah, a redemption by a kinsman who is the gaal or kinsman-redeemer. Gaal: The earliest reference to a Goel or a "Kinsman-Redeemer", is in Job 19:25: "I know that my Redeemer liveth".

In the New Testament, it is usually the translation of the Greek words lutrosis or apolutrosis, which are derived from luo which means "to loose".

Ephesians 1:7-
: New Living Translation: He is so rich in kindness that he purchased our freedom through the blood of his Son, and our sins are forgiven.; King James Version: In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Colossians 1:14-
: New Living Translation: God has purchased our freedom with his blood and has forgiven all our sins.; King James Version: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins
Romans 3:24 -
: New Living Translation: Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.; King James Version: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

The nearest of kin had the responsibility of redeeming his kinsman's lost opportunities. If a person was forced into slavery, his redeemer purchased his freedom. When debt threatened to overwhelm him, the kinsman stepped in to redeem his homestead and let the family live. If a family member died without an heir the kinsman gave his name by marrying the widow and rearing a son to hand down his name. When death came at the hands of another man, the redeemer acted as the avenger of blood and pursued the killer. The right of redemption and the office belonged to the nearest kinsman. God is the great Kinsman of His people. When their liberty was lost in Egypt, He rescued them from bondage. I am the LORD . . . I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments (Exodus 6:6). Job's faith is seen reaching out and proclaiming that Yahweh will provide His Goel (Kinsman redeemer)! For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. (Job 19:25). Job's hope looked to the coming Messiah. He affirmed his faith that his redeemer will come to the earth.

Redemption Through His Blood Source: http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg1904.ht
by John MacArthurm

Redemption is God's paying the ransom or price for sin Himself. Redemption is deliverance by the payment of a price.

agorazo/exagorazo - Both those words are translated "redemption" in the New Testament. The Greek root of both is agora, which means "marketplace."

lutroo/apolutrosis - The Greek word translated "redemption" in Ephesians 1:7 (apolutrosis) is an intensified form of lutroo, which refers to paying a price to free someone from bondage. During New Testament times, the Roman empire had approximately twenty million slaves, and the buying and selling of them was major business. If a person wanted to free a loved one or friend who was a slave, he would buy the slave for himself and then grant him freedom. He would testify to that deliverance by a written certificate. Lutroo was used to designate such a transaction.

We are all born in the state of slavery - everyone is held captive by sin from birth:.

John 8:34 - Jesus said, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Romans 6:17 - Paul described the Roman Christians as the servants of sin before they were saved.

Romans 7:14 - Paul also said that he was sold under sin.

Romans 8:21 - In the future, creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption.

Sin demands a price be paid:

Romans 6:23 - Ultimately the price that must be paid is death: The wages of sin is death.

Hebrews 9:22 - Without shedding of blood [imagery of a violent death] is no remission [of sins].

Ezekiel 18:20 - The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Jesus redeemed us by paying the price sin required.

Galatians 5:1 - It was for freedom that Christ set us free (NASB).

Galatians 1:3-4 - Our Lord Jesus Christ ... gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age.

Colossians 1:13 - God hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

Romans 6:18 - Being, then, made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Galatians 3:13 - Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.

Hebrews 2:14-15 - As the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same [i.e., God became a man], that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Here are excerpts from Charles Spurgeon's Sermon "Bought with a Price", which I suggest you read in full at http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/1004.htm:

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (King James Version): ...ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

"...Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Peter 1:18-19)

"What meant this purchasing us with blood? ... It was pain that bought you... But pain alone could not have redeemed us; it was by death that the Savior paid the ransom. Christ's death was the substitute for the death of the ungodly, he was made a curse for us, and the presence of God was denied him. His death was attended with unusual darkness; he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ... The Ever-living died to redeem us; the Only Begotten bowed his head in agony, and was laid in the grave that we might be saved."

"Your being "bought with a price" will be the most important fact in all your future existence. What say they in heaven when they sing? They would naturally select the noblest topic and that which most engrosses their minds, and yet in the whole range of their memory they find no theme so absorbing as this: 'Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood.' (Revelation 5:9) Redeeming love is the theme of heaven. When you reach the upper realms your most important memory will not be that you were wealthy or poor in this life, nor the fact that you sickened and died, but that you were bought with a price.

"There in the midnight hour, amidst the olives of Gethsemane, kneels Immanuel the Son of God; he groans, he pleads in prayer, he wrestles; see the beady drops stand on his brow, drops of sweat, but not of such sweat as pours from men when they earn the bread of life, but the sweat of him who is procuring life itself for us. It is blood, it is crimson blood; great gouts of it are falling to the ground. O soul, thy Savior speaks to thee from out Gethsemane at this hour, and he says: 'Here and thus I bought thee with a price.' Come, stand and view him in the agony of the olive garden, and understand at what a cost he procured thy deliverance. Track him in all his path of shame and sorrow till you see him on the Pavement; mark how they bind his hands and fasten him to the whipping-post; see, they bring the scourges and the cruel Roman whips; they tear his flesh; the ploughers make deep furrows on his blessed body, and the blood gushes forth in streams, while rivulets from his temples, where the crown of thorns has pierced them, join to swell the purple stream. From beneath the scourges he speaks to you with accents soft and low, and he says, 'My child, it is here and thus I bought thee with a price.' But see him on the cross itself when the consummation of all has come; his hands and feet are fountains of blood, his soul is full of anguish even to heartbreak; and there, ere the soldier pierces with a spear his side, bowing down he whispers to thee and to me, 'It was here and thus, I bought thee with a price.'

"Our body and our spirit are God's; and, Christian, this is certainly a very high honor to you. Your body will rise again from the dead at the first resurrection, because it is not an ordinary body, it belongs to God: your spirit is distinguished from the souls of other men; it is God's spirit, and he has set his mark upon it, and honored you in so doing. You are God's, because a price has been paid for you.

Per Deuteronomy 25:5-10, A man was required to raise up a line of a near relative who had died without children through that one's widow. This is known as the "leverite law" (from Latin "levir", "brother-in-law").

Deuteronomy 25:5-10 (New Living Translation): If two brothers are living together on the same property and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Instead, her husband's brother must marry her and fulfill the duties of a brother-in-law. The first son she bears to him will be counted as the son of the dead brother, so that his name will not be forgotten in Israel. But if the dead man's brother refuses to marry the widow, she must go to the town gate and say to the leaders there, 'My husband's brother refuses to preserve his brother's name in Israel--he refuses to marry me.' The leaders of the town will then summon him and try to reason with him. If he still insists that he doesn't want to marry her, the widow must walk over to him in the presence of the leaders, pull his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She will then say, 'This is what happens to a man who refuses to raise up a son for his brother.' Ever afterward his family will be referred to as 'the family of the man whose sandal was pulled off'!

The levirate marriage custom says that when an Israelite dies without leaving male issue, his nearest relative SHOULD marry the widow and continue the family of his deceased brother through the firstborn male child of their union. All the other children would be considered his own, but the first male child was considered the dead brother's son and his inheritor. If the nearest relative, e.g., a brother, chooses not to marry the widow, she subjected him to gross insult by telling the city elders, who would then call the brother to the city gate and try to persuade him to do his duty. If he persists, the widow is to go up to him in the presence of the elders in the open public, and pull his sandal off of his foot and spit in his face and she shall answer and say, "So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house." And the name of his house shall be "the house of him that had his sandal pulled off." In the Old Testament, this family law custom is found only three times: Genesis 38, Ruth, and Deuteronomy 25:5-10. The duty of levirate (as shown in Ruth) is not binding only on the brother-in-law, but also other male relatives.

"According to Biblical law, the brother of a deceased childless man is required to marry his brother's widow. The levirate marriage is referred to in Hebrew, as yibbum. When the levir (yavam) does not wish to marry the childless widow (yevamah), the ceremony of halizah (Hebrew, literally 'removing the shoe') must take place. This ceremony releases the woman from the levirate tie (zikkat ha-yibbum) and she is free to marry someone else. Halizah, pulling off the shoe and handing it over, symbolizes an act of transfer or renunciation, is described in the Book of Ruth: 'To make any transaction valid… the ancient custom in Israel was that one party would take off his sandal and give it to the other; this was how exchanges were attested to in Israel.' The purpose of levirate marriage was to obviate what was regarded as a great calamity - the danger that a man's family line might become extinct and his property passed on to heirs who were not his descendants. Though the duty of marrying a brother's childless widow was not enforced, the refusal to do so was considered disgraceful in ancient times; the act of halizah was a public demonstration of communal discredit vis-a-vis the yavam who had refused to 'carry on the name of the dead man in Israel.'" Quoted from the Jewish Heritage Online Magazine (www.jhom.com/lifecycle/marriage/halitza.htm).

The meaning of the custom is explained in Deuteronomy 25:6: that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. Secondary economic factors are also present. The widow cannot inherit her husband's property - only her children can, so she is reliant on them. If she has a child by the levirate custom, the property of the deceased then passes on to that child. Women were considered the property of their fathers, then of their husbands. An unattached woman couldn't just "get a job" to support herself. To be unmarried was a disgrace, and widows had no one to protect or support them. They might end up in prostitution or even starve to death. By having a law ensuring that even a widow would have sons to protect her as she grew old, the Israelites showed an enlightened and practical view: protecting their women while also guaranteeing more offspring.

Another practical aspect of the law was that it kept all the inheritable property in the family. If the widow married someone else, her dowry and other property would go to the new husband's family. So there were financial incentives to keep her in the original family through levirate marriage.

The earliest biblical example of a levirate relationship concerns Judah’s sons: Er, Onan and Shelah (Genesis 38). When Er died, Judah told Onan to have children by his brother Er’s widow, Tamar, so that Er’s name would carry on. Onan, knowing that any children borne by Tamar would legally be Er’s, slept with Tamar but selfishly ensured that she did not have any children. God was displeased and put Onan to death. Judah did not then give Tamar to Shelah as his wife, lest Shelah die also. When Tamar realized that Judah would not allow Shelah to fulfill the obligations of levirate marriage, she disguised herself as a prostitute and sat where she knew Judah would approach. Judah did not recognize her and purchased her services. Tamar became pregnant and bore Judah twin sons, Perez and Zerah. Through her son Perez, Tamar became an ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:3, 16).

Luke 20:27-38: Then some Sadducees stepped forward--a group of Jews who say there is no resurrection after death. They posed this question: "Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will be the brother's heir. Well, there were seven brothers. The oldest married and then died without children. His brother married the widow, but he also died. Still no children. And so it went, one after the other, until each of the seven had married her and died, leaving no children. Finally, the woman died, too. So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her!" Jesus replied, "Marriage is for people here on earth. But that is not the way it will be in the age to come. For those worthy of being raised from the dead won't be married then. And they will never die again. In these respects they are like angels. They are children of God raised up to new life. But now, as to whether the dead will be raised--even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush. Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' So he is the God of the living, not the dead. They are all alive to him."

The basis for the Sadducees' trick question, rests on the practice of levirate marriage. The Sadducees are referring to the passage in Deuteronomy 25:5 shown above. Whose wife will she be at the resurrection if there is a resurrection? They are arguing against the resurrection by trying to show up problems and inconsistencies with an opposing view.

Ruth 1 (New Living Translation):

In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a man from Bethlehem in Judah left the country because of a severe famine. He took his wife and two sons and went to live in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion ... Elimelech died and Naomi was left with her two sons. The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her husband or sons. Then Naomi heard in Moab that the LORD had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah. But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back to your mothers' homes instead of coming with me. And may the LORD reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. May the LORD bless you with the security of another marriage." Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept. "No," they said. "We want to go with you to your people." But Naomi replied, "Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents' homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD himself has caused me to suffer." And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi. "See," Naomi said to her, "your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same." But Ruth replied, "Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will die where you die and will be buried there. May the LORD punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!" So when Naomi saw that Ruth had made up her mind to go with her, she stopped urging her. So the two of them continued on their journey. When they came to Bethlehem, the entire town was stirred by their arrival. "Is it really Naomi?" the women asked. "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Instead, call me Mara, for the Almighty has made life very bitter for me. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me home empty. Why should you call me Naomi when the LORD has caused me to suffer and the Almighty has sent such tragedy?" So Naomi returned from Moab, accompanied by her daughter-in-law Ruth, the young Moabite woman. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest. Now there was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem named Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi's husband, Elimelech. One day Ruth said to Naomi, "Let me go out into the fields to gather leftover grain behind anyone who will let me do it." And Naomi said, "All right, my daughter, go ahead." So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. While she was there, Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters. "The LORD be with you!" he said. "The LORD bless you!" the harvesters replied.
Then Boaz asked his foreman, "Who is that girl over there?" And the foreman replied, "She is the young woman from Moab who came back with Naomi. She asked me this morning if she could gather grain behind the harvesters. She has been hard at work ever since, except for a few minutes' rest over there in the shelter." Boaz went over and said to Ruth, "Listen, my daughter. Stay right here with us when you gather grain; don't go to any other fields. Stay right behind the women working in my field. See which part of the field they are harvesting, and then follow them. I have warned the young men not to bother you. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the well." Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. "Why are you being so kind to me?" she asked. "I am only a foreigner." "Yes, I know," Boaz replied. "But I also know about the love and kindness you have shown your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. I have heard how you left your father and mother and your own land to live here among complete strangers. May the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully." "I hope I continue to please you, sir," she replied. "You have comforted me by speaking so kindly to me, even though I am not as worthy as your workers." At lunchtime Boaz called to her, "Come over here and help yourself to some of our food. You can dip your bread in the wine if you like." So she sat with his harvesters, and Boaz gave her food--more than she could eat. When Ruth went back to work again, Boaz ordered his young men, "Let her gather grain right among the sheaves without stopping her. And pull out some heads of barley from the bundles and drop them on purpose for her. Let her pick them up, and don't give her a hard time!" So Ruth gathered barley there all day, and when she beat out the grain that evening, it came to about half a bushel. She carried it back into town and showed it to her mother-in-law. Ruth also gave her the food that was left over from her lunch. "So much!" Naomi exclaimed. "Where did you gather all this grain today? Where did you work? May the LORD bless the one who helped you!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law about the man in whose field she had worked. And she said, "The man I worked with today is named Boaz." "May the LORD bless him!" Naomi told her daughter-in-law. "He is showing his kindness to us as well as to your dead husband. That man is one of our closest relatives, one of our family redeemers." Then Ruth said, "What's more, Boaz even told me to come back and stay with his harvesters until the entire harvest is completed." "This is wonderful!" Naomi exclaimed. "Do as he said. Stay with his workers right through the whole harvest. You will be safe there, unlike in other fields." So Ruth worked alongside the women in Boaz's fields and gathered grain with them until the end of the barley harvest. Then she worked with them through the wheat harvest, too. But all the while she lived with her mother-in-law. One day Naomi said to Ruth, "My daughter, it's time that I found a permanent home for you, so that you will be provided for. Boaz is a close relative of ours, and he's been very kind by letting you gather grain with his workers. Tonight he will be winnowing barley at the threshing floor. Now do as I tell you--take a bath and put on perfume and dress in your nicest clothes. Then go to the threshing floor, but don't let Boaz see you until he has finished his meal. Be sure to notice where he lies down; then go and uncover his feet and lie down there. He will tell you what to do." "I will do everything you say," Ruth replied. So she went down to the threshing floor that night and followed the instructions of her mother-in-law. After Boaz had finished his meal and was in good spirits, he lay down beside the heap of grain and went to sleep. Then Ruth came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down. Around midnight, Boaz suddenly woke up and turned over. He was surprised to find a woman lying at his feet! "Who are you?" he demanded. "I am your servant Ruth," she replied. "Spread the corner of your covering over me, for you are my family redeemer." "The LORD bless you, my daughter!" Boaz exclaimed. "You are showing more family loyalty now than ever by not running after a younger man, whether rich or poor. Now don't worry about a thing, my daughter. I will do what is necessary, for everyone in town knows you are an honorable woman. But there is one problem. While it is true that I am one of your family redeemers, there is another man who is more closely related to you than I am. Stay here tonight, and in the morning I will talk to him. If he is willing to redeem you, then let him marry you. But if he is not willing, then as surely as the LORD lives, I will marry you! Now lie down here until morning." So Ruth lay at Boaz's feet until the morning, but she got up before it was light enough for people to recognize each other. For Boaz said, "No one must know that a woman was here at the threshing floor." Boaz also said to her, "Bring your cloak and spread it out." He measured out six scoops of barley into the cloak and helped her put it on her back. Then Boaz returned to the town. When Ruth went back to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, "What happened, my daughter?" Ruth told Naomi everything Boaz had done for her, and she added, "He gave me these six scoops of barley and said, `Don't go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.' " Then Naomi said to her, "Just be patient, my daughter, until we hear what happens. The man won't rest until he has followed through on this. He will settle it today." So Boaz went to the town gate and took a seat there. When the family redeemer he had mentioned came by, Boaz called out to him, "Come over here, friend. I want to talk to you." So they sat down together. Then Boaz called ten leaders from the town and asked them to sit as witnesses. And Boaz said to the family redeemer, "You know Naomi, who came back from Moab. She is selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. I felt that I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem it if you wish. If you want the land, then buy it here in the presence of these witnesses. But if you don't want it, let me know right away, because I am next in line to redeem it after you." The man replied, "All right, I'll redeem it." Then Boaz told him, "Of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow. That way, she can have children who will carry on her husband's name and keep the land in the family." "Then I can't redeem it," the family redeemer replied, "because this might endanger my own estate. You redeem the land; I cannot do it." In those days it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a right of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party. This publicly validated the transaction. So the other family redeemer drew off his sandal as he said to Boaz, "You buy the land." Then Boaz said to the leaders and to the crowd standing around, "You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today." Then the leaders and all the people standing there replied, "We are witnesses! May the LORD make the woman who is now coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you be great in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem. And may the LORD give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah." So Boaz married Ruth and took her home to live with him. When he slept with her, the LORD enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. And the women of the town said to Naomi, "Praise the LORD who has given you a family redeemer today! May he be famous in Israel. May this child restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you so much and who has been better to you than seven sons!" Naomi took care of the baby and cared for him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, "Now at last Naomi has a son again!" And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David. This is their family line beginning with their ancestor Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. Salmon was the father of Boaz. Boaz was the father of Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David.

Naomi left the land and went out to exile, picturing Israel's departure from God. Ruth pictures the Gentile bride of Christ. Boaz is a picture of Christ, the Kinsman Redeemer. The brother of Boaz is a picture of the law that cannot redeem.

The book of Ruth is a story about Naomi's Goel. Naomi (Pleasant One), a picture of Israel, had wondered away from Bethlehem (house of bread). She was the poorest person in Israel, but her kinsman was the richest man in Israel. Because of the death of her husband, Elimelich (God is my king), and two sons Mahlon (sick) and Chilion (pining), she and her daughter-in-laws lost all income and their homestead. Naomi became bitter. The nearer kinsman, a picture of the law had the first right to the property and Boaz came next after him. If Ruth’s closer relative would not redeem or purchase it, Boaz (In him is strength) was prepared to do so. The man who was nearest of kin agreed to redeem the piece of land until he found out there was a young widow involved. He backed out because it would mar his own inheritance! That left Boaz as the rightful nearest of kin who had the privilege of redeeming her land and her with it. The Moabitess and the Jew became one.

Our salvation has been purchased at a great and personal cost because the Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins in order to deliver us from them. Our forgiveness is based on the ransom price of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7). The redemption work of Jesus Christ delivers believers from the slavery to sin. The means of redemption is the substitutionary death of Christ as a sacrifice for our sin. It is through His blood which is the ransom payment. Only the death of Christ completely satisfied God’s justice (Romans 3:24-25). Go back to ancient Israel in the time of the Judges. Can't you see Naomi holding her grandson in her arms? Her neighbors said, "A son has been born to Naomi!" They named him Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David, of the lineage of the Messiah, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5). God had redeemed her. And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel.

Above from http://www.hopeofisrael.net/kinsman.htm

2 Timothy 3:16 states that "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.". What lessons are here for us?

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