In that specified period of time, when the right of redemption had come, or the reversionary clause, then you could bring the title deed, and you could break the seals and you could, with the elders of the city there present, and you will show that you have the right and the ability to buy the field back. Usually they would write up the deed in a scroll, and then they would seal the scroll. Now another Jewish law declared that whenever you sold a parcel of land there was always a reversionary clause where you had the right to buy the land back again within a specified period of time. And he said, I will redeem it ( Ruth 4:1-4 ). And if you will redeem it, redeem it: but if you will not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it besides thee and I am after thee. And he said to the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, is selling a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's: And I thought to let you know, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and the elders of the people. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit down here. So when Boaz rose up he went to the gate of the city, he sat down there: and, behold, the kinsman of which he was speaking came by, and he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. 'Our brother Elimelech's.' The term `brother' is used here in the sense of `brother Israelite,' as frequently in the Bible. Thus, what Naomi was selling really amounted to the use of the land for that unspecified number of years. In that event, the land would have reverted to Elimelech's heirs in the year of Jubilee. Matthew Henry supposed that Elimelech had been compelled to mortgage the parcel during the famine that drove the family to Moab. We do not know how Naomi came to possess this land, but the probability is that she was acting as an agent for her deceased sons in whom the land title was probably vested. the land.' This is the first intimation that Naomi had any land, and it indicates that there had been far more extensive contact between Boaz, Naomi, and Ruth than had been mentioned thus far in the narrative. 'And he said unto the near kinsman, Naomi that is come out of the country of Moab, selleth the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech's. The child not merely carried on the name of Naomi’s husband and son, but he became the grandfather of King David and an ancestor of Jesus the Messiah (16-22 cf. History shows that the onlookers’ good wishes for Boaz and Ruth’s child were fulfilled in a greater way than they could possibly have expected. The child born to Boaz and Ruth meant a lot to Naomi, but what most enriched her life was the love and care of her daughter-in-law Ruth (13-15). The witnesses and onlookers at the ceremony blessed Boaz and Ruth with the wish that God would make them as fruitful and prosperous as Israel’s ancestors (11-12). This gave Boaz the chance to keep alive the family name of Elimelech (and Mahlon), to hold on to their family property, and to marry the woman he loved (7-10). The way was now clear for Boaz to marry Ruth. The man was willing to buy Naomi’s land if that was all he was required to do, but to marry Ruth as well would cause him financial loss (4:1-6).īy the ceremony of handing over his shoe, the man with the right to buy Naomi’s property indicated that he was handing this right over to Boaz. That meant that the close relative who bought Naomi’s land would later lose it if he produced a son through Ruth.

But should such an heir be born, he would also inherit the family property. In this case that person was the same one who had to produce through Ruth an heir who could carry on the names of the late Elimelech (Naomi’s husband) and Mahlon (Elimelech’s son and Ruth’s husband). To prevent the land from passing out of the family, she had to ensure that it was bought (or redeemed) by the nearest relative (cf. Feeling the effects of the poverty of widowhood, Naomi decided to sell her late husband’s land.

Ruth 4 bible study