Ruth 4

Boaz goes to the city gate and settles Ruth’s and Naomi’s future in public, before witnesses. The nearer relative steps aside, Boaz redeems the family land and marries Ruth, and a son is born who restores Naomi’s joy. The book ends by tracing that child to King David.

Ruth 4:1

Boaz goes to the gate, where a town’s legal business was done, and waits for the nearer relative he had mentioned. When the man appears, Boaz calls him over and seats him. Boaz handles Ruth’s cause openly and patiently, not behind the scenes.

BSA: gate (“the city entrance, a place of gathering”): The gate was the town’s courtroom and meeting place, so the matter would be settled publicly. kinsman-redeemer (“the near relative, the one responsible for redemption”): This man had a family duty to rescue a relative’s property and family line.

See also: Ruth 3:12-13; Deuteronomy 25:7.

Ruth 4:2

Boaz gathers ten elders of the town to sit as witnesses. Having them present gives the decision legal weight and keeps it honest. He asks them to sit, so the matter will be done properly and openly.

BSA: elders (“respected leaders, old men”): These were the town’s trusted leaders, whose presence made the agreement binding.

Ruth 4:3-4

Boaz announces that Naomi is selling Elimelech’s land and offers the man first claim. The man readily says he will redeem it. Boaz honors the proper order of family responsibility, even though he himself loves Ruth and wants to act.

BSA: redeem (“buy back, restore”): To redeem is to buy back what was lost, returning it to the family it belonged to.

See also: Leviticus 25:25.

Ruth 4:5

Boaz now adds a condition: buying the land also means taking Ruth, the widow, so her dead husband’s name will continue on his inheritance. The land and the widow come together. What looked like a bargain becomes a costly duty.

BSA: raise up (“establish, preserve”): The goal was to keep the dead man’s family line alive and secure.

See also: Deuteronomy 25:5-6.

Ruth 4:6

The relative backs out. He fears that a son born to Ruth would take the land, and his own estate would be damaged. He cannot afford the cost. He hands the right of redemption to Boaz, who is willing to pay it.

BSA: jeopardize (“ruin, destroy”): He feared that paying for the land and then losing it to Ruth’s son would ruin his own estate.

Ruth 4:7-8

The writer explains an old custom: a man confirmed a deal by removing his sandal and giving it over. The relative does so and tells Boaz to buy the land himself. A sandal stood for walking on and claiming land, so handing it over meant giving up his claim.

BSA: confirmation (“testimony, witness”): The sandal was a visible sign that everyone could see and remember.

See also: Deuteronomy 25:9.

Ruth 4:9-10

Boaz calls the elders and people as witnesses. He is buying all that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion and Mahlon, and he is taking Ruth the Moabitess as his wife. A foreign widow is received into Israel’s family line, so Mahlon’s name will not vanish.

BSA: witnesses (“those who see and attest”): They would remember and speak for the agreement, making it public and lasting. disappear (“be cut off, forgotten”): To be cut off from the family and the town’s records was the great fear of a childless line.

See also: Ruth 1:16.

Ruth 4:11-12

The people bless the couple. They pray that Ruth will be like Rachel and Leah, who built Israel, and that Boaz’s house will be like Perez’s. Perez was born to Judah and Tamar, another unlikely family story. Their prayer proves more true than they could know.

BSA: built up (“established, strengthened”): Rachel and Leah together raised up the tribes of Israel, so the blessing asks for a family that strengthens God’s people. Perez (“breach, breakthrough”): His name means a breakthrough, and his line led to Boaz and David.

See also: Genesis 38:29; Genesis 29:31-35.

Ruth 4:13

Boaz marries Ruth, and the LORD enables her to conceive. The writer credits God with the child. The same God who guided Ruth’s steps all through the book now gives the family its future.

BSA: enabled her to conceive (“to become pregnant, receive new life”): The birth is shown as God’s gift, not merely a natural event.

See also: Genesis 29:31.

Ruth 4:14-15

The town women praise the LORD for giving Naomi a redeemer in this child. They say he will bring her new life and care for her in old age. Ruth’s love for her is worth more than seven sons, the number that stood for a full family. Naomi’s emptiness is turned to fullness.

BSA: renew (“restore to vitality, give new life”): The child is a sign that God is bringing life back to a woman who thought she was finished. loves (“has affection for, cherishes”): Ruth’s faithful love is what the women single out as the family’s greatest blessing.

See also: Ruth 1:20-21.

Ruth 4:16

Naomi takes the baby and holds him on her lap, caring for him as a nurse. The bitter woman who said she had gone out full and come back empty now holds a grandson in her arms. Her tenderness shows her grief turning to joy.

BSA: nurse (“faithful one, trustworthy caregiver, to support”): Naomi takes up the loving, steady care of a trusted guardian for the child.

Ruth 4:17

The neighbor women say a son has been born to Naomi, and they name him Obed, meaning servant. The line then leaps ahead: Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David. A quiet story of faithfulness in Bethlehem leads to Israel’s great king.

BSA: Obed (“serving, a servant”): His name means one who serves, fitting a child who would serve and sustain his family.

See also: 1 Samuel 16:1.

Ruth 4:18-19

The book closes with a family record that begins with Perez. Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, and Ram fathered Amminadab. The list shows that God’s purpose runs through ordinary generations, even those with messy beginnings.

See also: Matthew 1:3.

Ruth 4:20-21

The line continues: Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed. Boaz, a kind and faithful man, stands in the middle of this chain. Ruth the Moabitess is among the ancestors Matthew later names in the line of the Messiah.

See also: Matthew 1:4-6; Numbers 1:7.

Ruth 4:22

The record ends with Obed fathering Jesse and Jesse fathering David. The story that began with famine, death and a widow’s loss ends with a king in the making. God was working in small, faithful acts, and that line would lead to Jesus.

See also: Matthew 1:5-6; Luke 3:31-32.