The Kinsman Who Drew Back

Leviticus 25 gave the two conditions of a goel as law: he must be flesh of the same flesh, and his hand must reach far enough to pay. The book of Ruth shows the same two conditions in the life of a family, and it shows plainly that the first condition alone is not enough.

A Field Without an Heir

The story begins with loss. In a famine a man of Bethlehem in Judah went with his family to the fields of Moab.

Ruth 1:1-5 And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a man (ish אִישׁ eesh) went from Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he and his wife (ishah אִשָּׁה ish-shaw') and his two sons. And the name of the man (ish) was Elimelech, and the name of his wife (ishah) Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. And they came to the fields of Moab and were there. And Elimelech, the man (ish) of Naomi, died; and she was left, she and her two sons. And they took for themselves wives (ishah), Moabite women; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second Ruth; and they dwelt there about ten years. And the two of them also died, Mahlon and Chilion; and the woman (ishah) was left of her two children and of her husband (ish).

Elimelech died, and then both of his sons. Naomi was left without husband or sons, and she returned to Bethlehem with her Moabite daughter-in-law, Ruth. Behind them in Judah lay a portion of field that had belonged to Elimelech, and no man was left in his house to keep it or to carry on his name.

This is exactly the kind of loss the goel law was written for. The family has fallen low, its inheritance is about to pass out of its hands, and what it needs is someone near enough to come and able enough to pay.

One of Our Redeemers

Ruth went out to glean, and the field she came to belonged to a man named Boaz. When Naomi heard his name, she told Ruth who he was.

Ruth 2:20 And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law: "Blessed be he of the LORD, who has not forsaken his kindness to the living (chai חַי khah'-ee) and to the dead." And Naomi said to her: "The man (ish) is near of kin to us; he is one of our redeemers."

When Naomi says “one of our redeemers,” she uses the word goel. Boaz has the first condition: he is kin. The text has already told us more about him. He is “a man (ish) mighty of valor, of the family of Elimelech” (Ruth 2:1), and when we first see him he comes from Bethlehem to his own field, where his reapers are at work (Ruth 2:3-4). The book shows him as a man of the family and a man of means.

But Boaz knew something Naomi had not mentioned.

Ruth 3:12-13 And now, though it is truly so that I am a redeemer, yet there is also a redeemer nearer than I. Lodge tonight, and it shall be in the morning, if he will redeem you, good, let him redeem; but if he does not desire to redeem you, then I will redeem you, I, as the LORD lives (chai); lie down until the morning."

In the order of the law, the nearer kinsman had the first right. Boaz did not set that order aside. If the nearer man would redeem, he should; only if he did not desire to would Boaz do it himself. And Boaz bound himself to it with an oath, “as the LORD lives.”

The Morning at the Gate

The next morning Boaz went up to the city gate, the place where the elders of a town settled its matters, and sat down. The nearer kinsman came by, and Boaz called him over and gathered ten elders as witnesses.

Ruth 4:1-4 And Boaz went up to the gate and sat there; and behold, the redeemer of whom Boaz had spoken passing by; and he said: "Turn aside, sit here, So-and-so." And he turned aside and sat. And he took ten men (ish) of the elders of the city and said: "Sit here." And they sat. And he said to the redeemer: "The portion of the field which was our brother Elimelech's, Naomi, who has returned from the field of Moab, is selling. And I said, I will uncover your ear, saying: Buy it before those sitting here and before the elders of my people. If you will redeem, redeem; but if he will not redeem, tell me, that I may know; for there is none besides you to redeem, and I am after you." And he said: "I will redeem."

The nearer kinsman had the first right to redeem, and his answer came at once.

So far he had everything the first condition asks for: he was near, he was willing, and he had the right and was ready to use it. Then Boaz told him the rest.

Ruth 4:5 And Boaz said: "In the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife (ishah) of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance."

The redemption was not only of a field but of a family name, so that the dead man’s line would not be cut off.

I Cannot Redeem

Now the nearer kinsman answered differently.

Ruth 4:6 And the redeemer said: "I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance; redeem for yourself my right of redemption, for I cannot redeem."

He says it twice, at the beginning and at the end of the sentence: “I cannot redeem.” The Hebrew is lo ukhal, “I am not able.” He does not say that he refuses. He says that he cannot. And he gives one reason: “lest I ruin my own inheritance.” The text gives no other reason, and there is no need to supply one. He had the right of a goel, but what it would cost him to carry it through was more than he could bear without loss to his own inheritance.

Then he handed his right to the next in line: “redeem for yourself my right of redemption.” The book even stops to explain the custom by which this was sealed.

Ruth 4:7-8 And this was formerly in Israel concerning the right of redemption and concerning the exchange, to confirm every matter: a man (ish) drew off his sandal and gave it to his neighbor; and this was the attestation in Israel. And the redeemer said to Boaz: "Buy for yourself." And he drew off his sandal.

A sandal was drawn off and handed over, and the matter was settled before witnesses. So the right of the goel passed from the man who had standing but could not carry it through, to the man who had standing and could.

I Have Bought

Boaz then spoke to the elders and to all the people at the gate.

Ruth 4:9-10 And Boaz said to the elders and all the people: "You are witnesses today that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. And also Ruth the Moabitess, the wife (ishah) of Mahlon, I have bought for myself for a wife (ishah), to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place; you are witnesses today."

“I have bought.” Boaz paid. He bought all that had been Elimelech’s and all that had been his sons’, and he took Ruth as his wife. The field came back into the family, and the name came back onto the field.

Both men had standing, but only one had capacity. The man with the better standing drew back, and the man able to bear the cost redeemed. Standing is not enough if one cannot bear the cost. The place of the goel requires standing and capacity together.

What the Story Shows

The book of Ruth does not need to argue the point. It shows a field and a family name that could have been lost for good, and two men who were both kin. The difference between them was whether the price could be borne. Had there been no second kinsman able to act, the law of Leviticus 25 would have left the field in the hand of the buyer until the Jubilee, and the name of the dead would have had no one to raise it up on his inheritance. The family was not saved by the man with the better standing but by the man who could pay.

This bears on Genesis 48:16. Jacob said that the messenger had redeemed him “from all evil.” For that to be true in the sense of the law, the One who redeems must be both kin and able. Boaz was of the family of Elimelech; but when Scripture speaks of people redeemed from every nation, in what sense can anyone be called near of kin to the whole human race? The answer goes back to Noah.