“Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”
Ruth 3:9
Ruth asked Boaz to commit himself to her in marriage because he was a redeemer. Redeemer is the single most important word in this story, and it is one of the richest and most beautiful descriptions of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What is a redeemer? God revealed His truth progressively over time and at this point, God’s people did not know the joys of eternal life as we do today. Old Testament believers hoped that two things would continue after they died.
Their inheritance would continue. When God’s people entered the Promised Land, each family was given a portion of land as their inheritance. When a man died, it would be passed to his son, from generation to generation. God made a provision in the Old Testament law to keep the land in the family: “If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his property, then his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his brother has sold” (Lev. 25:25).
Their family would continue. Continuing the family line was of huge importance. So God made a provision in the Old Testament law to continue a family when a husband died without a son. In this case, his brother was to take the dead man’s wife as his own.
“And the first son whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel” (Deut. 25:6).
When Ruth made her proposal to Boaz, she was invoking this law. Far from being offended, Boaz commends Ruth for her loyal commitment to raise a child in the name of her deceased husband so that his inheritance would not be lost, and his family line would continue.
What do these laws about inheritance and family suggest to you about the role of the Redeemer in your own life?
