*Read Ruth 4:1-12
Changing the oil in your car is a task few of us enjoy doing, but we know that failing to do so at regular intervals will cause our engines to fail, so we do it. I used to change the oil in our vehicles at home with the goal to save a little money, but in recent years, my pattern has changed. Somewhere along the way I came to believe that the time involved, the aggravation of the task, and the subsequent need to properly dispose of the oil didn't justify the small amount of money I was saving to change my own oil, so I started paying a local business to do it instead.
But that doesn't mean I don't want to maintain some level of frugality, so before I drive to the garage, I always check to see if they have a coupon or a promotion listed on their website. Thankfully, they always do. And at the bottom of the coupon it has a message that typically says something like, "This coupon is only redeemable at our Levittown location."
I'm sure you've seen the word "redeem" or "redeemable" show up in a similar fashion. It's a word that we most typically use in a financial or business context. That word carries with it one of several meanings. In this context, it means to exchange the coupon for something of value (the discount). But in a biblical context, like we see illustrated in Ruth 4:1-12, it has a deeper meaning.
When redemption is spoken of in this portion of God's Word, it carries the meaning of buying something back and ultimately paying a price to rescue someone who was in a difficult and destitute condition. The book of Ruth is a beautiful redemption story, and for that matter, so is the entire Bible. In fact, I believe the redemption story that we're given in the book of Ruth is shared with us to give us a fuller understanding and appreciation for the work Jesus did and the payment Jesus made to redeem lost humanity.
As we've been working our way through the book of Ruth, we've been blessed to observe the unfolding events that are shared with us in its pages. We're told of Elimelech and Naomi's family, and how they chose to travel from Bethlehem to Moab during a time of great famine. While in the land, their two sons married Moabite women, but sadly, Elimelech and his sons died, leaving their wives as childless widows.
After those deaths, Naomi encouraged her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, to return to their birth families while she returned to her homeland of Bethlehem. Orpah accepted her suggestion, but Ruth pledged to remain with Naomi and stay by her side no matter what. And with that, Naomi and Ruth returned to Bethlehem together where they experienced the providential help of God in multiple ways.
In Bethlehem, the Lord led Ruth to glean in the field of Naomi's relative, Boaz. Boaz was a godly man who was led by the Holy Spirit to show kindness to these women by providing food and protection for them. As his kindness was demonstrated in Chapter 3, we're also told of a plan that Naomi devised to make sure Ruth received ongoing care for the rest of her life. Naomi advised Ruth to ask Boaz to fulfill the role of a kinsman-redeemer and take Ruth as his wife. He expressed the willingness to do so, but because there was another relative in line ahead of him, he first arranged to find out if that man would be willing to fulfill that role.
There are several passages of Scripture that explain the requirements the Lord gave the people of Israel for the redemption of widows and the redemption of land. Both subjects are relevant in this story. Deuteronomy 25 gives us details about the ways in which a widow was to be cared for after the death of her husband. Leviticus 25 explains the laws of redemption regarding the land.
“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.
25 “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold." (Leviticus 25:23-25)
As Boaz prepared to honor Ruth's request for redemption, he sought to follow the law because he was an honorable man. We're told that he invited the other potential redeemer to redeem the land belonging to Elimelech and Naomi. The man agreed to do so, but then Boaz made a point to mention that there was more to the redemption story. Upon acquiring the land, the redeemer would also be required to take Ruth as a wife so that Mahlon's family name would be continued, but that was a request the man was unwilling to honor because of his fear that his own inheritance might be jeopardized.
So Boaz bought the land, but the Scripture tells us he made another purchase as well...
““Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife,” ”
How do your modern sensibilities react to the statement Boaz made regarding buying Ruth as his wife? Does that sound offensive to you if you're a woman? If you're a man, what do you think about that custom? Whether or not it fits with our present-day perspective, that's how these matters were handled under the requirements of the Old Testament law, and these requirements were put in place, not to degrade people, but to protect them, honor them, and secure a lineage for them in a legally binding manner.
By the way, if the concept of Ruth being bought sounds a little odd to your ears, I'd like to point something else out to you. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ and have genuine faith in Him, you've been bought and purchased as well, and you no longer belong to yourself, but to Him. In fact, the Bible says it directly on more than one occasion.
““Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” ”
One of the things that I have come to appreciate about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it challenges our modern sensibilities. At times, it may even offend us for a moment while we wrestle with the meaning of what's being explained to us. But when we come to trust that our Lord has our good in mind, and He's joyfully working out the details of His redemptive plan for His glory and our benefit, we may often find ourselves thanking Him for the very things that once caused us offense.
Scripture tells us that our bodies are not our own. The moment we came to faith in Jesus, we were indwelled with the Holy Spirit, thereby becoming a temple in which He dwells. We are made holy in the sight of God and we no longer belong to ourselves, this world, or the devil. So instead of living in rebellion against the Lord, we're called to glorify God in our bodies. That means treating our bodies and using them in such a way that we remember it is a temple of the Holy Spirit. This has implications for what you put in your body, how you care for your body, and for the sexual activity you engage in. Never forget who lives within you, and do not offer your body to be degraded now that it is a holy temple.
““knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.””
Scripture makes it clear that we were ransomed or redeemed from the futile kind of lives and mindsets we once embraced while in a state of unbelief. Now, we don't have to think or live like people who are distant from God because that isn't the way we relate to Him any longer. We were bought at a price and redeemed with something of eternally greater value than money. Our redemption was paid for through the precious blood of Jesus Christ when He willingly and joyfully gave His life for ours upon the cross.
Before we were united to Christ by faith, the Bible speaks of us living in slavery. We didn't realize we were slaves, but we were. We were enslaved by sin and Satan. We were enslaved by a worldly mindset with its empty promises. We were enslaved to a perspective that failed to take eternity into account while we just lived in the moment without a true understanding of the future.
But Jesus purchased our freedom from slavery. He made us His bride, brought us into His family, gave us His name, and set us free from the shackles of sin we were once bound by. Please consider the many benefits of our redemption through Christ;
Through Jesus, we've been granted eternal life.
Our sins are forgiven forever.
Sin no longer holds us in chains.
We've been adopted into the family of God.
We're no longer God's enemies, but His family.
We bear the name of Christ.
We possess a peace that is beyond the limits of human understanding.
In God's eyes we are seen as holy and blameless.
A wealthy English family once invited friends to spend some time at their beautiful estate. The happy gathering was almost plunged into a terrible tragedy on the first day. When the children went swimming, one of them got into deep water and was drowning. Fortunately, the gardener heard the others screaming and plunged into the pool to rescue the helpless victim. That youngster was Winston Churchill. His parents, deeply grateful to the gardener, asked what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, then said, “I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor.” “We’ll pay his way,” replied Churchill’s parents.
Years later when Sir Winston was prime minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. Greatly concerned, the king summoned the best physician who could be found to the bedside of the ailing leader. That doctor was Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved Winston from drowning as a boy! Later Churchill said, “Rarely has one man owed his life twice to the same person.”
What was rare in the case of that great English statesman is in a much deeper sense a wonderful reality for every believer in Christ. The Heavenly Father has given us the gift of physical life, and then through His Son, the Great Physician, He has imparted to us eternal life.
May the awareness that we are doubly indebted to God as our Creator and Redeemer motivate us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto Him. - Our Daily Bread, April 29
© John Stange, 2022
