The Judges · c. 1100 BC
Chapter 12
The Redeemer
The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel.He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”
For parents
Following Naomi’s plan, Ruth goes to the threshing floor at night. She uncovers Boaz’s feet, lies down there, and stays at his feet until morning (Ruth 3:3–14). The Story tells it just as the text does. When Boaz marries Ruth, the text’s polite phrase is told as “he slept with her” (4:13).
, mother-in-law, said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find you a home where you can settle, where things will go well for you? is our relative, isn’t he? You’ve been working with his young women. He will be tonight on the .
“So wash, rub oil on your skin, get dressed, and go down to the threshing floor. Don’t let him know you’re there until he’s finished eating and drinking. Watch where he lies down. Then go over, uncover his feet, and lie down. He’ll tell you what to do.”
“I’ll do whatever you say,” Ruth told her.
Ruth went down to the threshing floor and did everything that her mother-in-law told her.
When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was feeling cheerful, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. She came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
At midnight the man was startled, and he turned over. A woman was lying at his feet.
“Who are you?” he said.
“I am Ruth, your servant,” she answered. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, because you are a .”
“You are blessed by the , my daughter,” he said. “What you’ve done now is even kinder than what you did before, because you didn’t go after young men, whether poor or rich.
“Now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do all that you ask. My whole town knows that you are a fine woman.
“It’s true that I am a near kinsman. But there is another near kinsman, a closer relative than I am.
“Stay here tonight. In the morning, if he will do a near kinsman’s part for you, good, let him. But if he won’t, then I will, as surely as the Lord lives. Lie down until morning.”
She lay at his feet until morning, and she got up while it was still too dark to tell one person from another. That was because he said, “Don’t let anyone know that the woman came to the threshing floor.”
He said, “Bring the cloak you have on, and hold it out.” She held it out, and he measured six measures of barley and laid it on her. Then he went into the town.
When she came to her mother-in-law, Naomi said, “How did it go, my daughter?” Ruth told her all that the man had done for her.
“He gave me these six measures of barley,” she said. “He told me, ‘Don’t go to your mother-in-law with empty hands.’”
“Wait, my daughter,” Naomi said, “until you know how this will turn out. The man won’t rest until he has this settled today.”
Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Just then the near kinsman Boaz had spoken of came by. “Come over here, friend, and sit down!” Boaz said to him. The man came over and sat down.
Boaz gathered ten of the town’s and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.
Then he said to the near kinsman, “Naomi has come back from the country of . She is selling the piece of land that was our relative . I thought I should tell you, so you can buy it here, in front of these men and the elders of my people. If you’re willing to it, buying it back for the family, then do it. But if you won’t, tell me, so that I know. There is no one to redeem it but you, and I’m next in line after you.”
“I will redeem it,” the man said.
Then Boaz said, “On the same day you buy the field from Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow. That will keep the dead man’s name alive on the land that was his.”
The near kinsman said, “I can’t redeem it for myself, or I would put my own family’s land in danger. You take my right to redeem it. I can’t redeem it.”
In earlier times in , when something was redeemed or traded, this was the custom for making it final: one man took off his sandal and handed it to the other. That was how a deal was made official in Israel.
So the near kinsman said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” and he took off his sandal.
Boaz said to the elders and to all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have bought from Naomi all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was and . I have also bought Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s wife, to be my wife. That way the dead man’s name will stay alive on the land that was his, and it won’t be forgotten in his family or in his hometown. You are witnesses today.”
All the people in the gateway, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who has come into your home like and , the two who built up the family of Israel. May he treat you well in , and may you be famous in . The Lord will give you children by this young woman. Through them, may your family be like the family of , son by .”
So Boaz married Ruth, and he slept with her. The Lord let her become pregnant, and she had a son.
The women said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has not left you without a near kinsman today! May his name be famous in Israel. He will restore your life, and he will take care of you in your old age. Your daughter-in-law loves you. She is better to you than seven sons, and she has given birth to him.”
Naomi took the child, held him against her chest, and became the one who cared for him.
The women who were her neighbors named him. “A son is born to Naomi!” they said. They called him . Obed was father, and Jesse was father.
This is Perez’s family line. Perez became the father of , and Hezron became the father of . Ram became the father of , and Amminadab became the father of . Nahshon became the father of , and Salmon became the father of Boaz. Boaz became the father of Obed, Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse became the father of David.