The kinsman-redeemer

The book of Ruth opens with three funerals. Naomi, an Israelite living in Moab, loses her husband and both sons. She heads home to Bethlehem empty and bitter. Her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth refuses to leave her: “Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

In Bethlehem, Ruth gleans leftover grain to keep them both alive, and she just happens to end up in the field of Boaz. When Naomi hears his name, she lights up: “The man is a close relative. He is one of our kinsman-redeemers.”

The Hebrew word is go'el. Under God's law, a kinsman-redeemer was a close relative with the right to buy back family land that had been lost, to rescue a relative sold into debt, and to carry on the family name. He had to be related, he had to be able to pay, and he had to be willing.

At night on the threshing floor, Ruth asks Boaz, “Spread the corner of your garment over me, for you are a kinsman-redeemer.” It is a proposal and a plea for protection. Boaz says yes, then settles things with a nearer relative who won't risk his own inheritance to redeem her.

Boaz pays the price at the city gate and marries Ruth. Their son Obed becomes the grandfather of King David. The foreigner from Moab is written into the line of Israel's kings, and in Matthew 1, into the family line of Jesus.

Now look at Jesus through that lens. To redeem us He had to be our relative, so He became flesh. He had to be able to pay, and only the sinless Son of God could. And He had to be willing, and He laid down His life freely. He is our Go'el.

The women of Bethlehem said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a kinsman-redeemer.” Whatever you have lost, whatever has left you empty, you are not without a Redeemer today.