Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 99
4:2-17
R u th
87
together. Then Boaz called ten leaders from the town and asked them to
sit as witnesses. And Boaz said to the family redeemer, “You know Naomi,
who came back from Moab. She is selling the land that belonged to our
relative Elimelech. I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can
redeem it if you wish. If you want the land, then buy it here in the presence
of these witnesses. But if you don’t want it, let me know right away, because
I am next in line to redeem it after you.”
The man replied, “All right, I’ll redeem it.”
Then Boaz told him, “Of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi
also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow. That way she can
have children who will carry on her husband’s name and keep the land in
the family.”
“Then I can’t redeem it,” the family redeemer replied, “because this
might endanger my own estate. You redeem the land; I cannot do it.”
Now in those days it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a
right of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party. This
publicly validated the transaction. So the other family redeemer drew off
his sandal as he said to Boaz, “You buy the land.”
Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You
are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of
Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. And with the land I have acquired Ruth,
the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son
to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family
property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”
Then the elders and all the people standing in the gate replied, “We
are witnesses! May the Lord make this woman who is coming into your
home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended!
May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. And may the
Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those
of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.”
So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he
slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave
birth to a son. Then the women of the town said to Naom
i, “Praise the
Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child
be famous in Israel. May he restore your youth and care for you in your old
age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been
better to you than seven sons!”
Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for
him as if he were her own. The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi
has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse
and the grandfather of David.