The Ultimate Purpose of Ruth (Ruth 4:1–22)
The story reaches its resolution at the city gate, where Boaz publicly and legally redeems Ruth, taking her as his wife after a closer relative declines the responsibility. Their marriage produces a son, Obed—and the chapter closes with a genealogy that quietly reveals the real point of the whole book: Obed is the grandfather of King David. What began as a family’s famine-driven exile ends with the seed of Israel’s greatest king—and, as Matthew 1 later reveals, with a direct line to Jesus Christ himself, the King the book of Ruth has been pointing to all along
Introduction
Have you been blessed by the book of Ruth? I hope this little story has expanded your mind with God’s truth, opened your heart to God’s love, and moved your hands and feet in God’s service.
It’s a great little story, isn’t it? Someone said last week that it’s like a soap opera and that’s an interesting observation because this story shows us that God can use anyone for his purpose, even you!
The story began in chapter 1 with a disobedient family going down to Moab but ended with a surprise Moabite convert going up to Bethlehem.
Chapter 2 began with Naomi depressed in her house but ended with an expression of the faithfulness of God as Ruth returned from Boaz’s field with almost more food than she could carry.
Chapter 3 began with Naomi’s innuendo-filled plan but ended with a holy promise from Boaz to redeem Ruth. And now comes the end in chapter 4. What will Boaz and Ruth—what will the Lord—do for an encore?
What we see here is The Ultimate Purpose of Ruth And like the rest of the story, this is wonderfully written with a story we can see and a story we cannot see, with what is obvious and what is a surprise, with man’s purpose and God’s purpose. May the Holy Spirit lead our heart and minds this morning!
The Ultimate Purpose for Man
What is the ultimate purpose of Ruth? On one level we can see this story from the vantage point of Naomi and the obvious. So recognize here the ultimate purpose for man. You have two widows, one old in Naomi and one young in Ruth; they are poor and need to glean what’s left over in the fields; they have no protection of a man of the house and no children to protect them in their old age.
So what’s the story all about? It’s about finding a husband, finding provision, and finding protection. That’s where our story has been and that’s where it’s ending up here in chapter 4. Let me just say that I’m not saying this is wrong. Not at all. In fact, this, too, is the purpose and work of God himself through Boaz and Ruth. But it’s not all there is. And we’ll come to that. For now, though, look at the story with me.
This episode begins with Boaz at the gate (v. 1). The gate was where business and legal matters happened took place. It was like a downtown where we would meet for coffee to discuss a business deal.
Why is he there? As he mentioned in chapter 3 to Ruth there was a family member closer to Elimelech than he and it was he who would be the redeemer. So Boaz is at the gate and we read: And behold (v. 1). At just the right moment and just the right place the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by (v. 1). Isn’t God’s providence amazing? So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here” (v. 1). Here is where the narrator, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, is so wonderful.
How so? This closer relative is left anonymous. But it’s even more than that, in fact. The Hebrew phrase is literally “such a one.” In our terminology Boaz says, “Hey, you, sit down.” And because of the official nature of what he wants to do at the gate, Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here” (v. 2).
So what were they all doing there? Boaz said to the redeemer—notice he’s still anonymous!—“Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech” (v. 3). Boaz doesn’t lie when he first introduces the issue in terms of being a business deal for some land; he’s just being wise in his presentation. He then says, “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” (v. 4). Then we read what Mr. So-and-So said to the deal: “I will redeem it” (v. 4).
Now comes Boaz’s anti-sales pitch: “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance” (v. 5). That’s the fine print. Children, when I was a kid almost everything was done on paper with words and signatures. Now when you buy something online or you download software you have to click “accept” on the terms and conditions. Those terms and conditions are the fine print. So the redeemer says he will buy the field, but then Boaz, who obviously wants to marry Ruth—so there is love here—adds the dirty little secret: “You get a wonderful piece of land, and oh, by the way, you also get a widowed Moabitess!” Guys, what would you say to this? Probably what Mr. No Name said: “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it” (v. 6).
I can’t resist saying this, but we do see a beautiful picture of love here. The redeemer was only interested in what he could get out of this arrangement. And when he heard that he had to marry what our culture calls “damaged goods”—you know, a widow, a divorcee, a single mom, a woman with “drama”—he ran away. Boaz, though, loved what this other man deemed unlovable; Boaz cared for what the other man did not care about. And because Boaz did, we see that God did, and God still does. Don’t listen to what the world says about you, if this describes you today; listen to what God says. The world’s labels do not compare to the Lord’s identification of you.
So Boaz redeems, or buys, the field and Ruth. That seems strange and downright degrading to us but it was God’s provision for the needy. And verses 7–10 describe the custom in former times (v. 7) oftaking off a sandal and giving it to another. And when he does so, the crowd that had gathered and the elders offered a prayer for Ruth:
May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman. (v. 11–12)
And then there was a wedding (v. 13). And then there was a child (v. 13). And notice the direct action of the Lord in the conception: and the Lord gave her conception (v. 13). And when the baby was born,
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! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him” (vv. 14–15).
Remember that she came back “empty?” The women of the city recognize in Ruth a value greater than seven sons even as Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap (v. 16).
The Ultimate Purpose for God
God was so faithful and good to Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz, wasn’t he? But he was up to something bigger than food, marriage, and babies. Through that there was the ultimate purpose for God. Just like in our lives, through all the mundane affairs of life, God is up to something bigger that we cannot see sometimes for years, he was up to something big in the days of the judges. We all struggle with that, don’t we? While we’re at home day after day watching our kids or on the job doing the same thing without much thought or heart, we wonder why? It’s only as you look back that you see why. So why was the story of Ruth given to us in Holy Scripture? It's written many years later.
Verse 17 gives us the scoop: And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. David! That’s what God is up to!
Our story began in 1:1 “in the days when the judges ruled” and our story ends with King David. How did the period of the judges get described? “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25).
Then verses 18–22 expand on that quick genealogy in verse 17 and tell us this:
Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.
This seems like an anticlimactic, irrelevant conclusion to us, doesn’t it?
“Who is Perez,” you ask? He was the son of Judah and Judah’s daughter-in-law, Tamar, who dressed like a prostitute to entice Judah. So Perez is of the line of Judah.
And you know why Judah is so important, don’t you? Judah is the clan of Israel in which kingship was to be given to Israel. As Jacob said in Genesis 49: “The scepter shall no depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Gen. 49:10). Judah is the line of kings.
And his son was Perez. And then the genealogy goes down through Hezron, and Ram, and Amminadab, and Nahshon, Salmon, and our Boaz. And after Boaz would come Jesse, and from Jesse, his youngest son, David. He was the ultimate purpose of Ruth.
But even he was just a means to an end. The genealogy did not stop with David. Turn with me to Matthew 1. Verses 2–6 take us from Abraham to David, but then notice how the Holy Spirit takes our genealogy and continues it from David to Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate purpose of the line of Judah, of the kingship of David. Jesus Christ is King and Lord!
Conclusion
What kind of a king is he?
He’s an eternal king. Unlike David, not even death could hold him down. In fact, even before he lived on this earth he ever was. And now he ever is and he shall ever be.
He’s a gracious king. He saves those who have run the farthest away from his kingdom and those who live in the depths of depravity.
Oh, but he can’t save! He’s an infinite king. His grace is without measure and his love is without end.
He’s a merciful king. He brings into his kingdom outcasts like Ruth and the destitute and disillusioned like Naomi.
He’s a promised king. Ancient prophecies said he would come, and he came. These prophecies tell us the ethnic group from which he would come, the particular tribe within that group, the particular town in which he would be born—and he was born there—and the particular time he was to be born.
And it all happened just as they said. Coincidence or divine providence?