Sunday, August 8, 2004
Dormition Fast (Tone 1) The Sunday after the Transfiguration
Kellia: Ruth 4:1-22 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 4:9-16 Gospel: St. Matthew 17:14-23
Ruth 4:1-22, especially vs. 6: "Then the next of kin said, 'I cannot
redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I
cannot redeem it.'" It helps to focus on duty while reading this passage. Under the Mosaic Law,
it was a duty to redeem a family's heritage in land when the property was threatened with sale
outside the clan (Lev. 25:23-28). God commanded redemption as part of the larger principle
involving the entire Promised Land: "the land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is
Mine...and in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption" (Lev. 25:23,24).
The man Elimelech had died while living away from Bethlehem in Moab. The normal
expectation - that his sons would keep claim to the family property in Bethlehem - was voided by
their untimely deaths (Ru. 1:5). How could the family allotment be retained in Elimelech's
extended family in perpetuity as the Law required (Lev. 25:25-28)? Naomi, as a poor widow,
was without the means to protect the land of her deceased husband. She was forced to sell, and
the rights of Elimelech's family to the property were endangered. Whether Naomi was forced to
sell in order to survive, being destitute, or whether Elimelech had already sold the land before he
left for Moab and Naomi was now pressing the obligation on the family to buy it back, is not
clear. No matter, for as Boaz states clearly: "the parcel of land which belonged to our kinsman
Elimelech" must be redeemed as the Law stipulates (Ru. 4:3,4). He understood the duty.
Boaz went to the gate of the city, where public business was transacted, and approached the
nearest of kin to Elimelech. He put the matter to the nearest relative: "If you will redeem it,
redeem it; but if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem
it, and I come after you" (vs. 4). The relative closest to Elimelech was willing to buy until Boaz
stated the additional obligation: "you are also buying Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of the dead,
in order to restore the name of the dead to his inheritance" (vs. 5). She would come along with
the purchase. Duty aside, the next of kin demurred, "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair
my own inheritance" (vs. 6). His demur passed the right of redemption to Boaz, the next in line.
"Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, 'You are witnesses this day that I have bought
from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to
Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to
perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance'" (vss. 9,10). The matter was now public
record. The witnesses sealed Boaz' action with a blessing (vss. 11,12) that reads much like the
blessing in the Orthodox marriage service: "Bless them, O Lord our God, as Thou didst bless
Abraham and Sarah. Bless them, O Lord our God as Thou didst bless Isaac and Rebecca...."
The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, observed that "we become what we are as persons by
the decisions that we ourselves make." Ruth chose to leave her native land and to adopt the
People of God as her people (Ru. 1:16). Naomi chose to send Ruth to Boaz discreetly with a
proposal of marriage (Ru. 3:1-4), and Ruth chose to obey (Ru. 3:5). Boaz chose to "do the part of
the next of kin" if possible (Ru. 3:13). The nearest kinsman to Elimelech chose to side-step the
duty of redemption when it entailed marriage to Ruth (Ru. 4:6), and thus, in the mystery and
providence of God, Ruth and Boaz became the great grandparents of the holy king and Prophet,
David. They are immortalized for trust, loyalty, industry, kindness, submission, and fulfillment
of duty, and, thus, became the ancestors-in-the-flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us all celebrate the memory of the revered forefathers, extolling their lives by which they
were made great and ask of Christ our God that we may walk in their holy footsteps.
