Ruth 4:4-10

Context

In Ruth 3, Ruth asks Boaz to act as her "kinsman-redeemer." Boaz replies that there is a kinsman nearer than he and promises first to learn that man's intentions. In Ruth 4:1-2, Boaz sits at the city gate and calls together that kinsman and ten elders of the city. In the present passage, Boaz asks the kinsman whether he will redeem the field belonging to Naomi. The kinsman at first agrees to redeem it. When he learns, however, that in buying the field he must also take Ruth, the wife of the deceased Mahlon, "to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance" (Ruth 4:5), he gives up his right, fearing that he would mar his own inheritance. He seals the transaction by drawing off his shoe and handing it to Boaz. Boaz then declares that the elders and all the people are witnesses that he has acquired the property of Elimelech's family and has taken Ruth as his wife.

Here "to redeem" means to pay a price in order to recover land or persons on behalf of a relative. "Inheritance" refers to the land and property handed down from generation to generation.

Interpretation

• A legal and customary reading: This scene is read as a case in which two institutions are intertwined: redemption, by which a kinsman buys back land that has been sold (Leviticus 25:25), and levirate marriage, by which the name of a deceased brother is perpetuated (Deuteronomy 25:5-10). Scholars differ on exactly how the two institutions are connected in this text. The kinsman's reason for withdrawing (v. 6) is commonly explained as follows: the land he paid for would eventually pass to the son to be born of Ruth, that is, the child who would carry on Mahlon's name, and his own estate would thus be diminished.
• A covenantal and redemptive-historical reading: The genealogy at the end of chapter 4 traces the line from this marriage to David. For this reason many interpreters read the scene within the providence of God, which embraces a Moabite woman, and connect it with the genealogy in Matthew 1:5.
• A typological reading: Typology is an interpretive approach that sees Old Testament persons or events as foreshadowing realities yet to come. In this reading, Boaz, who pays a price to recover an inheritance and a bride, is seen as a figure foreshadowing the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ. The unnamed kinsman is sometimes likened to the law, which cannot save.

Debates and Issues

This passage is not the subject of significant doctrinal controversy between denominations. Several issues, however, are discussed.

• Differences in the shoe ceremony: In Deuteronomy 25, a brother who refuses his duty has his shoe removed by the widow and is put to shame. Here the kinsman removes his own shoe. Verse 7 explains this as a custom for confirming a transaction.
• The textual issue in verse 5: The Hebrew text is known to contain a place where the written form and the form to be read differ (ketiv and qere). Because of this difference, there is discussion over whether the one who acquires Ruth is the kinsman or Boaz, and translations vary somewhat in their wording.
• The scope of typology: Some have criticized preaching that matches each of Boaz's actions one-to-one with Christ, arguing that it excessively allegorizes the historical meaning of the text.

In the Korean Church

In Korean church preaching, this passage is frequently treated as a text that connects the expression "kinsman-redeemer" with the redemption accomplished by Christ.

Related Passages

• Leviticus 25:25
• Deuteronomy 25:5-10
• Ruth 3:12-13
• Ruth 4:17-22
• Matthew 1:5