Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
Thought for Today
There are some interesting, and rather ingenious, laws in the Old Testament designed to protect families and their legacies. One such law, found in Deuteronomy 25, creates the role of the kinsman-redeemer. It states that if a member of the family dies without an heir to inherit the family property and carry on the family name, the nearest male relative shall take responsibility for his dead relatives property and take his wife (remember that marriages were generally arranged and love was a bonus). The first son she bears him will be given the name of the deceased family member and rights to inherit all of his property. It all sounds rather strange today, but in Ruth’s day it was a big deal. Boaz, being Naomi’s blood relative, agrees to fulfill this role for Ruth. He buys all the family property at great cost to himself and takes Ruth as his wife. The kinsman-redeemer law is important because of how it relates to all of us in the family of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the first-born Son of God the Father. When you were baptized you became a child of God as well. When you became enslaved to sin and death through the fall, the kinsman-redeemer law obligates the first-born Son to buy us back from our slavery and restore our inheritance. This He did when He gave up His very life on the cross to pay the debt our sin created. Because Jesus in our Kinsman-Redeemer we have a place in the family of God again!
Prayer
Jesus, blessed Brother, thank You for fulfilling Your responsibility as my Kinsman-Redeemer. Though the cost for my life was great You willing payed it. Help me never to forget what You have done for me. Amen.
Devotional Quote
The profundity of Christianity is that Christ is both our redeemer and our judge, not that one is our redeemer and another is our judge, for then we certainly come under judgement, but that the redeemer and the judge are the same. ― Søren Kierkegaard
Quote of the Day
Real riches are the riches possessed inside. — B. C. Forbes
Thank You, dearest Jesus, for willingly being my redeemer-kinsman! Knowing that only You could raise me up out of my spiritual depravity is my most precious gift from You. I love You!
Ruth: A Story of Real Joy 5
Ruth 4:9-10
Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!”
Thought for Today
There are some interesting, and rather ingenious, laws in the Old Testament designed to protect families and their legacies. One such law, found in Deuteronomy 25, creates the role of the kinsman-redeemer. It states that if a member of the family dies without an heir to inherit the family property and carry on the family name, the nearest male relative shall take responsibility for his dead relatives property and take his wife (remember that marriages were generally arranged and love was a bonus). The first son she bears him will be given the name of the deceased family member and rights to inherit all of his property. It all sounds rather strange today, but in Ruth’s day it was a big deal. Boaz, being Naomi’s blood relative, agrees to fulfill this role for Ruth. He buys all the family property at great cost to himself and takes Ruth as his wife. The kinsman-redeemer law is important because of how it relates to all of us in the family of God. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the first-born Son of God the Father. When you were baptized you became a child of God as well. When you became enslaved to sin and death through the fall, the kinsman-redeemer law obligates the first-born Son to buy us back from our slavery and restore our inheritance. This He did when He gave up His very life on the cross to pay the debt our sin created. Because Jesus in our Kinsman-Redeemer we have a place in the family of God again!
Prayer
Jesus, blessed Brother, thank You for fulfilling Your responsibility as my Kinsman-Redeemer. Though the cost for my life was great You willing payed it. Help me never to forget what You have done for me. Amen.
Devotional Quote
The profundity of Christianity is that Christ is both our redeemer and our judge, not that one is our redeemer and another is our judge, for then we certainly come under judgement, but that the redeemer and the judge are the same. ― Søren Kierkegaard
Quote of the Day
Real riches are the riches possessed inside. — B. C. Forbes