Ruth 4

⁸ The Hebrew word for kindness used here is often used for God’s “kindness” or unfailing love (Exodus 15:13) toward His people. Those who show kindness to others may expect to receive God’s kindness in return.

⁹ Naomi recognized that both good times and bad times were brought about by the LORD’s hand; nothing ever happened by chance. The thought that the Lord was against her made her life more bitter than ever (see verses 20–21).

¹⁰ When Naomi told Ruth to go back to her gods, she was not implying that those gods were real gods; they were only objects of misguided worship.

¹¹ Most Israelites held the simple belief that God sent blessings to the righteous and misfortune to the unrighteous (Leviticus Chapter 26). However, the truth is often more complex than that. For further discussion about why the Lord “causes misfortune,” see Exodus 15:25–27; Numbers 4:17–20 and comments.

¹² Nothing is ever “by chance” in God’s universe.

¹³ The expression “under the wings” means “under the protection” (Psalm 91:4; Matthew 23:37). It is a place of refuge. The Hebrew word for “wing” used here is also used for the corner of Boaz’s garment in Ruth3:9; as we shall see, that too was to become a place of refuge for Ruth.

¹⁴ In New Testament times, Jews (Israelites) refused to eat with Gentiles (non-Jews) such as Ruth (Acts 10:28).But this was a distortion of God’s law, which required the Israelites to welcome aliens and encourage them to become part of the community of Israel. Therefore, Boaz was acting in accordance with Old Testament law.

¹⁵ Again the word kindness used here is the same word used for God’s unfailing love (see Ruth 1:8).

¹⁶ This law applied only to brothers; but in a non-binding way, the principle of the law could be applied to marrying any childless widow in one’s extended family—as in the case of Boaz and Ruth.

¹⁷ In Hebrew, the same word is used for “avenger” and “kinsman-redeemer.”

¹⁸ For further discussion on the subject of redemption, see Exodus 13:11–16 and comment.

¹⁹ The threshing floor was a flattened area of hard ground where grain was threshed and then winnowed.

²⁰ The Hebrew word for corner in verse 9 also means “wing,” which signifies protection (Ruth 2:12).

²¹ It is likely that Elimelech had sold his family’s land during the famine, when he and Naomi had been forced to move to Moab (Ruth 1:1). Yet Naomi maintained the right to redeem that land—provided she had the money. Since she didn’t have the money, the land was about to pass out of the family; thus Naomi was, in effect, “selling” the land. The land could remain within the family only if it was redeemed by a kinsman-redeemer.

²² If one were to follow Deuteronomy 25:5–6, the kinsman-redeemer would ordinarily have married Naomi. But since she was too old to have children, and since Ruth was also a childless widow, Ruth was the obvious one to marry. Ruth’s first son would carry on the name of Elimelech and inherit his land. In ancient Israel, the family name and the family land were extremely important; both were to be preserved if at all possible.

²³ This unnamed relative did not want to endanger his estate (verse 6). But in seeking to save his estate, he lost something much greater: the chance to be useful to God. Today we don’t even know his name—but we do know the name of Boaz (see Mark 8:35–37).

²⁴ In verses 7–8, a quaint custom is described. If one renounced his right to be a kinsman-redeemer and transferred that right to another, he would signify the transfer by taking off his sandal and handing it to the other man. In this case, declining to be Ruth’s kinsman-redeemer entailed no disgrace because the man was not Ruth’s actual brother-in-law, only a close relative. But if he had been Ruth’s brother-in-law, he would have been disgraced and Ruth herself would have removed his sandal and even spit in his face! (Deuteronomy 25:7–10).

²⁵ The story of Tamar and Judah is found in Genesis Chapter 38.

²⁶ To an Israelite, the number seven signified completion, fullness. To have seven sons was considered the highest blessing an Israelite family could have.

²⁷ As with many biblical genealogies, less important names are omitted from this genealogy.