Ruth 4

This depended on the Yerushalem.

The Yerusha of the Messiah goes back to the book of Ruth.

The book of Ruth.

Okay? Particularly the fourth chapter.

Now, honor thy father and mother.

Normally it would be the brother, but it didn't have to be.

It depends on the family and their circumstances.

Look with me to the book of Ruth.

There's this famous scene in the threshing floor where she makes the request of Boaz, this rich landowner, to take her as a bride.

And then we have the big climax in Ruth 4 in which Boaz purchase the land back for Naomi and takes Ruth as his Gentile bride.

Now, it's interesting that chapter 4 is the big finish.

Boaz confronts the guy that's in the way, this nearer kinsman, who was willing to redeem the property, yet he was not willing to take Ruth as a bride.

And the integrity of the family inheritance could thereby be preserved.

We have examples of this definition in Leviticus 25 and an example in Ruth 4.

That pattern then fits remarkably well within the, and here's where it's helpful for Benjamin's point, the larger DCW story.

Humanity was created to ultimately share in God's rule, while the nations were later placed under hostile divine powers.

And Judges asks us a question that reaches far beyond ancient Israel.

What happens when a people remember the gift but forget the giver? Today we'll enter the world of Israel's tribes and judges, the quiet faithfulness of Ruth.

The pressures of the Philistines, the demands for a king, the failure of Saul, and the covenant promise given to David.

We will place Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and selected Psalms, and the people around them on one timeline.

We'll listen to an Egyptian victory inscription, religious texts from Ugarit, and the political world of ancient kings.

Those witnesses can illuminate the world.

A king can also do what is right in his own eyes.

A king can spread one man's rebellion across an entire nation.

And God's providential hand is at work in all of the details.

Well, I'll just spoil it for you because Ruth gets us from Judges to 1 Samuel, and we see that most clearly in Ruth 4, verse 17.

The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, A son has been born to Naomi.

They named him Obed.

Such a restorer, usually a close relative like in Ruth 3, verse 12, was expected to regain land sold by a family member.

We see that in Leviticus 25, Jeremiah 32, and Ruth 4, and to redeem a relative from slavery.

The blood avenger was literally, take her back of the blood.

That is, a redeemer, with a specialized function.

Now, we might ask, well, yeah, that may be true, but what of the hatred between Rachel and Leah? And what of Rachel's disappointing marriage? And what about those idols that she had stolen from her father and then had hidden in the bags of her camel? I mean, what about all of that? Now, look, it is true that Rachel's life did not turn out as she had desired, and yet there's a passage of Scripture that we might very easily miss unless we're directly looking for it.

It's found in Ruth 4:11.

You might remember that Ruth was a widow.

She was a woman whose life also didn't turn out as she had imagined, but then she was about to marry a retired war veteran, a man by the name of Boaz.

You'll find more and see more than I can ever articulate.

Welcome to Chapter by Chapter, and today's chapter is Ruth 4.

You wanted the land, but not the Moabite.

Big mistake.

We tend to shut down.

I've experienced what sociologists call choice overload or paralysis and decision fatigue." If you've ever tried to pick out a paint color for a wall, stood in your closet full of clothes with nothing to wear, or found yourself trying to find the right word at the end of the day but your head is muddled from the thousands of decisions you've already sifted through, you know this doesn't feel like freedom.

What happened in Ruth 4 to this closest kinsman is devastating.

He didn't have choice overload.

There is a Redeemer, and He will be the focus.

He is the focus of Ruth chapter 4.

I think all of the book of Ruth in that sense.

Take your Bibles and go with me to the book of Ruth.

So Joshua, Judges, and then Ruth.

And we are going to read.

I was tempted to read the whole story again, but for sake of time, we will just read the second half, which is Ruth 3 and 4.

So follow along with me.