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More Ruth commentaries
Ruth 1:1-14
Choices we make in life
Ruth 1:15-22
Ruth is committed to Naomi
Ruth 2:14-23
Boaz invites Ruth to lunch
Ruth 3:1-18
Ruth’s redemption is assured
Ruth 4:1-6
Sacrifice is necessary
Ruth 4:7-12
Boaz marries Ruth
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Boaz marries Ruth
Ruth 4:7–12
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
Author Leo Buscaglia once told about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child; the winner was a four-year-old boy. His next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the … More
The shoe symbolized motion and wandering. To make a sale legal in those days, one person would take off a sandal and give it to the other (v.7). So after the man had agreed to let Boaz buy the property, he took off one of his sandals and handed it to Boaz (v. 8). The shoe also symbolized rest and possession since one trods the earth with the shoe. Hence, on the holy ground, the shoe must be pulled off. An example of this is Moses (Ex 3:5) and today in Israel when one visits the mosques he must remove his shoes. The action of Boaz told everyone that he had bought from Naomi the property that belonged to Elimelech and his two sons, Chilion and Mahlon (v 9). It also proved that he had agreed to marry Mahlon’s widow Ruth (v. 10).
Boaz took upon himself all the losses the unnamed kinsman feared, and the joyous task of marrying Ruth as well as taking on Naomi. Also he promised to bring up a child for the dead kinsman (Ruth’s former husband who died. He carried out all the arrangements for marriage publicly, decently and in order (v. 11). The marriage consists of commitments made:
May the children you have by this young woman make your family as famous as the family of Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah (v. 12).
Because of Ruths’ faith her name is given in the New Testament as being in the royal line through which the Lord Jesus was born. Ruth had given up her own way to go God’s way. She had obeyed her mother-in-law and helped her in every way instead of thinking about herself. She was unselfish and God brought a successful man into her life to marry.Application
I can learn from this that I should be teaching my children and grandchildren to be good workers and care for those that are older. These are good characteristics for a wife or husband to have.
Ruth 4:7-12 (English Standard Version)
Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel. So when the redeemer said to Boaz, "Buy it for yourself," he drew off his sandal. Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, "You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day." Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, "We are witnesses. 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."
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