Ruth: Christ, Our Hesed Redeemer

Ruth 4:14 "Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!'"

We come this morning to the great and wonderful book of Ruth. In the first verse of the book, we find that Ruth took place during the time of the Judges. Thus, we take a pause this morning from the book of Judges to look at Ruth. In this book, we find many great things, two of which stand out above all else: the themes of hesed and redemption.

The beautiful story of Ruth can be summarized as follows. A man by the name of Elimelech took his wife (Naomi) and his two sons outside of Israel due to a famine in the land of Bethlehem. While they were in a foreign land, Elimelech's sons marry foreign wives, one of whom was Ruth. Elimelech and his sons end up dying, leaving the widow Naomi with her two widowed daughters-in-law. One of the daughters leaves Naomi, but her other daughter, Ruth, "clings" to her, following her back to Israel (ch. 1). Back in Israel, Ruth kindly provides for Naomi, gathering food for her in the barley fields. It just so happened that Ruth gleaned from the field of Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi, as well as a bachelor. Finding out that Ruth had met Boaz, Naomi rejoices knowing that Boaz would be able to redeem their family line (ch. 2). Thus, Naomi encourages Ruth to go to Boaz and ask that he "spread his wings" over her, thus fulfilling his redemption rights (explained below). Boaz agrees to do so (ch. 3), and after finding out that a certain nearer redeemer desires not to redeem Ruth lest he corrupt his own inheritance, Boaz performs covenant faithfulness by buying Elimelech's possessions, and marrying Ruth, the foreign widow. Ruth becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, who the women of the city call a redeemer, since through his line the family of Naomi would be continued. The book ends by pointing out that David was an offspring of Obed (ch. 4).

As I pointed out before, this book has two great themes: hesed and redemption. Firstly, let us look at hesed, which is a Hebrew term often translated "steadfast love," "kindness," or "loyalty." In the original Hebrew, the term hesed carries with it all of these three ideas and more, and it is thus difficult to translate. Hesed deals ultimately with covenant faithfulness, by which one out of their own choosing binds themself to another out of love. We serve a God of hesed (Ex. 34:6) who has kindly covenanted with a sinful people, but here in Ruth we see God's people carrying out the same hesed that he has performed to them. Firstly, we find Ruth promising hesed to Naomi in her vow to her (see Ruth 1:16). Secondly, we find Boaz promising hesed to Ruth in his marriage to her as he fulfills his rights for redemption (Ruth 4:13). However, above all of the human acts of hesed, we see in this book a God of hesed who has provided redemption for his chosen people.

The second theme that is found in the book of Ruth is the idea of redemption. According to Israelite law (see Deuteronomy 25:5-10), if a man passed away before having any male offspring with his wife, that man's brother was obligated to "perform the duty of a husband's brother" to his brother's widowed wife. In other words, if a man had a brother who died before he bore his wife any sons, that man would be obligated to marry his brother's wife and produce offspring with her, redeeming his brother's name. This concept in scripture is called kinsman-redemption, and it is exactly what we see Boaz doing for Ruth as he fulfilled the duties of a kinsman-redeemer. Furthermore, we see Obed being called a redeemer as well, as he "redeemed" the family line of Ruth.

Lastly, let us observe how Christ fulfills both of these ideas of hesed and redemption, as he truly is our Hesed Redeemer. Just like Noami and Ruth, we were without hope of redemption, yet God provided Christ to redeem us from our hopelessness. Although we had a great debt to pay in our bondage to sin, Christ freely paid our price of redemption, just as Boaz paid the price to redeem Ruth from her hopeless state. Yet why did Christ do such a thing? Ultimately, for the same reason Boaz did: because of his hesed. In his own covenantal faithfulness, loyalty, lovingkindness, and mercy, our Lord took our sins upon himself to redeem us from our hopeless state. Thus, what we find in Ruth is a great story of hesed and redemption, yet we ultimately find a story pointing to Christ, the son of David, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz (see Ruth 4:18-21), who would be our ultimate Hesed Redeemer.

As we come to this devotional the day before the start of Holy Week, consider: have you responded correctly to both the hesed and the redemption of Christ, as we see foreshadowed in this great book of Ruth?