LIFE ON THE ALTAR

Taken from the book, Reflections on the Book of Ruth, by A. B. Saint

Chapter 11

“And now is not Boaz of our kindred………”
Ruth 3: 2

As the days slipped by, exciting times were ahead for Ruth. She was well aware of the concerns that Naomi had for her. Life would not be great for a young widow living in a strange land; something had to be done. Naomi only ever wanted the best for her, she knew that. Through the many kindnesses which Boaz metered out towards her in this somewhat daily liberal pouring out into her lap, Ruth quickly began to know and recognise something of the heart of this wealthy landowner during those long tiring weeks labouring in the open-air. She found that under his care and protection she had never left his field hungry or thirsty, and never once had she returned home to Naomi empty handed, or even with just a meagre offering at the end of the day, far from it. When calculated, what she took home was indeed a bountiful amount. 

Although a stranger, never was there a moment when she had suffered harassment of any sort during her daily toil, but now it seems the time had come where she would be given the opportunity to get to know Boaz better and on a more personal level. Soon, God would open that door for it was time for her to begin to know more the giver, and not just the gifts he gave.

How often, when I was young, did I hear those ministers of the gospel who had taken charge over our spiritual state, challenging us that we must ever seek to know Christ in a more intimate way. They told us that we must never only seek after His provision but get to know more the Provider. They would tell us, “Know the Giver and not just the gifts!” For those that were older amongst us and perhaps by now a little infirm in body, they were advised never only to just seek a touch of healing for their bodies, these were encouraged to seek to know the Healer better and not just the healing He brings! These inspiring truths have remained with me all my life.

Boaz, it would seem, was drawn in particular to Ruth. From the very beginning his eyes had lighted upon her as she gleaned in his field, and Ruth it would appear was conscious of Boaz. It was very possible that romance could well be in the air. Perhaps it was now time for the relationship to move on? This was exactly what was on Naomi’s mind, and in those early verses in chapter three she begins to introduce Ruth to the ways of the Israelites concerning the subject of marriage. Ruth being a Moabite would know nothing of such customs and they would have to be explained to her. The Moabite culture and Moabite practices were quite different from those belonging to Israel.  

Here in this chapter, we have the Mosaic Hebrew ‘Law of Redemption’ coming into view, something which we took a little look at earlier on in the narrative. If you recall, to understand its earliest beginning’s, we looked at the book of Leviticus chapter 25, and chose to look at verse 23. This time we will take a look at it again and read verse 25 which says: “If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold.”

This was to do with property, but it must also be noticed here that even though the redemption price had been fully paid, it was not returned to the less fortunate relative before the time of the year of the Jubilee. Rather, the kinsman redeemer took it for himself and administered it for his own purpose. The important thing was that the land was kept within the original tribe and family. The wonder of it all was that Almighty God had made it possible in such a way that someone else within the close ties of that family link could step in on their behalf and help retrieve what was lost.

The plight of the widow and the orphan was particularly helped by these measures, as were those who through extreme poverty were sold as slaves, for this redeeming was also to do with persons. Take a look at Leviticus chapter 25 again and this time verses 47 to 49 which tell us: “And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother which dwelleth by him wax poor and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger’s family: After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem him: Either his uncle, or his uncle’s son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.” 

These were the duties of the kinsman-redeemer, and as we move on we shall find that Boaz was without doubt involved in one of these roles. He became the kinsman-redeemer on behalf of the house of Elimelech. He paid the price and immediately took up ownership of the property or land on behalf of his relative and in so doing then began to exercise control over it. If he failed in this last measure and did not take immediate possession of that parcel of ground, he could find himself having problems evicting trespassers from the site, even to the point of having to use force. 

When Boaz first appeared on the scene, the Word of God mentioned him, as it were, only in passing where he was quickly introduced as perhaps merely an acquaintance or friend of the family, but later on in the book the Hebrew word ‘Goel’ is used which is a much more descriptive and fitting word for the man who God put in place to perform this important duty of redeeming that which had been lost by Elimelech.    

An interesting extra note to bring in just now is that such an important position did these kinsmen-Goel play in the lives of their individual tribes and with those individual family ties, that not only people and lands were to be redeemed, but there was also a role played by them when it came to the retribution or retaliation of a murderous act. Here he takes on no less a role than that of an Avenger. Sad to say, sometimes someone’s life would end suddenly in accidental death. A stone inadvertently thrown may fly through the air and unintentionally land upon a person causing not just injury but death. Again, someone perhaps engaged in felling a tree unfortunately finds that his axe head comes adrift from the haft and strikes some unsuspecting victim below, which again results in his demise.

God saw to it at these times that there were cities of refuge to which people could run or escape to and be given the opportunity to have a hearing before the elders of that city so as to prove their innocence. If he was proven innocent, the crime was characterised as an accidental death. If death was indeed by misadventure, even though innocent in a sense of the crime, the manslayer was forced to stay in that particular city of refuge until the death of the High Priest. However, if a person died through a deliberate act of murderous intent and was found guilty by the elders, he would never be offered sanctuary within that city but would be given up to the Goel for retribution. The Goel had the power to then execute justice upon him. An ‘eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ comes into play here.

As we know in the story of Ruth, Boaz is seen very much as an Old Testament type of the Lord Jesus Christ in His Redeeming power. An old hymn we used to sing included the lines: ‘He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood.’ For those of us who have been redeemed and been brought back to God we say ‘thank you Lord for this wonderful work of redemption.’

The word redemption means ‘to buy back,’ or ‘to retrieve.’ It means ‘to deliver’ or ‘to rescue.’ The bible tells us that sin came into the world through one man, therefore it would be through another man that Salvation would be procured for us, the other man being Jesus. How wonderful that God as man should leave the ivory palaces of heaven to come down to this sinful world to redeem a lost mankind through His agonising death upon the Cross.  Jesus willingly took upon Himself the form of humanity. In the Gospel of John chapter 10 and verse 18, we read how no man took His life from Him but rather Jesus laid down His own life willingly and of His own accord. Jesus became one of us in order to save all of us. In this He became our kinsmen redeemer, our Goel. One Peter chapter 1 and verses 18 and 19 say: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed ……… but with the precious blood of Christ………”

A kinsman redeemer never acted out of mere sentimentality, but he still had to have the heart and the will to want to redeem. Also, in this work of redemption, the full redemption price had to be paid and you had to have the means to provide for this. Had you the means to do this or would you come up short? In the Old Testament what was the redemption price? Simply put, it was the sum of money equivalent to the rent for the years the lease was still to run, namely until the time of the Jubilee when the land would automatically revert back to the original owner.

See Leviticus chapter 25 and verses 27 and 28. Thank God in His Work of Redemption Christ did not come up short. As the old hymn puts it: ‘Love found a way to redeem my soul, love found a way to make me whole.’ Even in this the picture portrayed is one of Christ, not only being willing but also having the means to redeem us.   

Before closing on this subject, it is well to remember that Jesus in fact is also our Goel Avenger. When He first came to earth He came meekly, even as a lamb, and as the Lamb of God He died for our sins; but in His Second Coming He will be seen as a Lion. God’s judgement is coming soon upon the earth, and the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to establish His righteousness and justice upon the earth, and also to execute vengeance upon Satan and the kingdom of darkness. Before this, His desire is that all men be saved, all we have to do is say ‘Yes!’ but it is blatantly obvious that not everyone will.

Someone once shared with me a true story which I think is well worth repeating here. It is the story of an American man who went by the name of George Wilson.

It was 1829 when George was arrested for a heinous crime which he had committed. It seems he came from a well-known family who made appeals for his release on his behalf. The President at that time was a man called Andrew Jackson who reviewed the files, and because the family’s background was well known to him, he decided to offer him clemency and pardoned him. The family were delighted to receive this news and rushed to the prison to tell George.

Strangely, George Wilson refused this pardon, even though it was a presidential pardon, saying he was guilty of the crime and deserved to die. This raised a very important legal battle which even went to the Supreme Court. The man who was to make the ultimate decision was Chief Justice John Marshall. In his summing up this is what he said: “A pardon is of no effect until it is accepted by the one for whom it is intended. Though it is almost unconceivable that a condemned criminal would refuse a pardon, if he does refuse it, the pardon is of no effect.” George Wilson must die and die he did because he would not accept the pardon offered.

Going back to the narrative, next time we shall see how not only Boaz, but Ruth also had a part to play in all this.

Taken from the book, Reflections on the Book of Ruth, by A. B. Saint