Kinsman Redeemer

Don't you just love that term?  I don't really know what it is about it...it just sounds like some epic romance.  Like a piece of some incredible story.

And actually, that's just what it is.

With my Bible study girls this week, we talked about Ruth.  We'd already discussed Ruth earlier this year, but then we looked at the relationship between Ruth & Naomi.  This time we were studying Ruth as a woman in the lineage of Jesus.

If you don't know the story, read it in the book of Ruth...but for now, here's my nutshell version:

Elimelech was married to Naomi.  They were living in Bethlehem ("house of bread") in Judah ("place of praise").  The name Elimelech means "my God is King," & he was living just as such.  He was a Godly man, growing in his faith, had a good marriage, & overall, a good beginning.  Then there was a famine.  Not only were the crops failing, but the nation was failing.  It says in the last verse of Judges that "all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes."  So instead of remaining & waiting out the famine, Elimelech bailed.  He took Naomi & his sons (Mahlon, "you are sick," & Kilion "you are wasting your life") went to Moab.  The prophet Jeremiah didn't have anything good to say about Moab.  In Psalms (60 & 108), David called it the washbasin.  As in, what people washed their feet in.  Ick.  So, while in Moab where they were never supposed to have been, there are deadly results: Elimelech, Mahlon, & Kilion die, leaving 3 widows (by this time the sons had married Ruth & Orpah) alone.  And that takes care of the first five verses.  And then comes one of my favorite parts.

The first thing it really says about Naomi, other than identifying that she was Elimelech's wife & then his widow: Then Naomi heard (Ruth 1:6).  I love that that the first action verb used with Naomi's name is heard.  [Okay, maybe English scholars would argue that heard is not an action verb, but if you've ever tried listening to God, you know that it is.]  If she heard, that meant she was listening.  He didn't ignore her.  He sent her a message.  And then she took action.  She left Moab.

Then you know this part.  Ruth & Naomi take off, Orpah stays.

Super nutshell because I'm now realizing that my nutshell version is longer than the Bible version: Ruth meets Boaz, a relative of Elimelech's.  Naomi wants to find a real home for Ruth, so she tells her to take a bath, put on her best dress & perfume, & go lay at Boaz's feet.  Boaz wakes up, realizes there's a woman at his feet (how often did he wash those feet?), & Ruth basically asks him to be her kinsman redeemer (see Leviticus 25), at which time he tells her that she has a closer relative who would have dibs on her.  So Boaz plans to meet with this closer relative & discuss it.

Now, you may ask (if you've read this far), what are the qualifications to be a  

kinsman redeemer?

one. He must be a kinsman.
two. He must be free.  A slave can't buy a slave out of debt.
three. He must be able to pay the price.
four. He must be willing to pay the price.

So when Boaz talks to the other relative, he meets one-three, but he is not willing, for fear that it would jeopardize his own immediate family's inheritance.  So, Boaz meets all four qualifications & Ruth becomes his wife.

***breathe***

So what do I think is so great about this story, other than that I'm a sucker for a good love story?

Who else is a kinsmen redeemer?

one. Jesus is our closest relative.  We're made in God's image, so it doesn't get any closer than that.

two. He is free.

three. He paid the price.

four. He was willing to pay that price.  He could've gotten out of it, but didn't.  He thought we were worth it.  And why were we worth it?  Certainly not because we're so great, but because it would bring more glory to the Father.

So, through the story of Ruth...

-We are painted this beautiful picture of how Jesus redeemed us.

-Ruth is bought out of poverty & in the same way that she becomes not a slave but a wife, we become children.

-Ruth became a part of the lineage of Jesus.

So you see why I love it?  Sorry for the longest post ever [if anyone is still reading...], but it was per McKinlie's request.  Well, not the length, but the story.  Either way, blame her.  And Ruth & Jesus.