January 7, 2024 The Book of Ruth

Loving-Kindness as God’s Character in Ruth

It's doing something that you don't have to. It's a voluntary act. You're not coerced to do it. You're not forced to do it. To show extraordinary mercy. And it acts to supply the urgent need of another person.

And ultimately it's rooted in God's character. This word loving-kindness is one of the characters that God announces of himself in various places in the Bible. The more famous place being Exodus 34 when he announces who he is, the Lord, the Lord.

Merciful and gracious. Slow to anger. Abounding in loving-kindness and truth. That's who he is. And in the book of Ruth you will see various characters reflecting loving-kindness. And in the end they're reflecting God's character to those around.

Ruth Chapter 1: Naomi’s Loss and Return to Bethlehem

First we're going to talk about chapter 1. A lot of my notes are from a class I took with Dr. McGeary. And at the end of the class, I think on the last day, he just summarized each chapter with a sentence.

And I thought it was really helpful. So whatever is in quotation, that's his word. Living a life of loving-kindness is making a new beginning in the life of faith. That's how he would summarize the chapter 1.

Living a life of loving-kindness is making a new beginning in the life of faith. So from verses 1 through 5, you see a family from Bethlehem. And they move to the land of Moab. And the reason is it is the closest region away from Bethlehem to survive the famine.

They're doing it because there's a famine in the land. There's Elimelech, that's the husband. There's Naomi, the wife, and then two sons, Mahlon and Kilion. And they go to the country of Moab. And what happens is we find out that Elimelech dies.

We don't know why. Again, we don't speculate what the Bible doesn't tell us. Some theologians say, well, they're unfaithful because they went to Moab. The Bible doesn't tell us why he died. Now, the family actually remains at Moab.

And the two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, they get married. They take up Moabite as women. And they actually dwell there. They live there. It's no longer just for temporary refuge or asylum. They live for 10 years.

And then they die. The kids die. Mahlon and Kilion, they die as well. And Naomi's all by herself. So that's the beginning of Chapter 1. Only Naomi survives from the family that left Bethlehem. But she is with her two daughters, Laorpa and Ruth, both Moabitess women.

So verses 6 through 22 tell us Naomi's journey back to Bethlehem. She's going back home because there's nothing keeping her in the foreign land. And the reason to return is directly in verse 6. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return to the country of Moab.

For she has heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited his people by giving them bread. Verse 6 is the reason. And this is the only explicit action of the Lord in the whole of Chapter 1. Now what does this tell us about the Lord?

What is it? He's gracious, right? And this is why I don't want to speculate, why did the two boys die? Why did Elimelech, the husband, die? I don't want to speculate that. Because the only explicit action that the Lord has done throughout the whole Chapter 1 is that he visited his people to end the famine and to provide them with bread.

That's loving-kindness, right? So that's why I don't like speculating, oh, that's why he died or that's why they died. We don't know. But all we know is God is gracious. He's loving and kind in providing them with food when he doesn't have to.

Verse 8, Naomi actually tells both the girls farewell. Go, return, each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. What's odd is the phrase mother's house.

It's actually a rare phrase in the Old Testament. Oftentimes it's father's house. The reason is mother's house actually insinuates potential for marriage. So when Abraham's servant went up to pick up a wife for Isaac, the woman, Rebecca, it tells us that she went into her mother's house.

Also the Song of Solomon, which is a book about love, I think at least two places there is about mother's house. There's potential for marriage. What Naomi is saying is go return to your mother's house as in you still have a future.

You still have potential to be married. After all, back in those days, if you're widowed, your future is at stake, right? If you don't have land, if you don't have wealth, your future is at stake. And what Naomi is saying is if you follow me, you have nothing, but you have potential to go back and start a new family.

And in verse 9, the Lord grant that you find rest each in the house of her husband. That makes it clear, right? Verse 9 makes it clear. It's about getting married again. So she kissed them and they lifted up their voices and wept, right?

Now she repeats this again. Go return to each to her mother's house. The Lord deal kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and with me. This sounds really good until you consider who's the standard of loving kindness.

Here, the Lord must deal kindly with you, right? As you have dealt with the dead and to me. All of a sudden, it's the daughter-in-law who's loving kindness that the Lord has to follow. And when we think about that, it's troubling.

And the reason is Naomi's really, really distressed. She just lost everything. And this will repeat at the end of chapter 1. She says, don't call me Naomi, which means pleasant. Call me Mara, bitter. For I went out full but came back empty.

Which is ironic because the reason why they went to the land of Moab was because they were empty. It was a famine. But to her, losing her two boys and her man, her husband, just really brought her down.

So that's what it tells us about Naomi's internal life. She is extremely distressed. Now, at first, the two daughters-in-law, they actually tell her, we'll go with you. However, Naomi reasons in starting verse 11.

Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands? These are rhetorical questions. Naomi's saying there's no hope for me to even give you.

I can't raise up new sons so you can marry them and then you'd be provided for. That's not the case. Turn back, my daughters. Go, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them until they were grown?

Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me. Now, you can see her internal struggle here.

Who is she blaming for what happened to her? The Lord. The hand of the Lord has gone against me. Oftentimes when we read the book of Ruth, we want to. We're so used to just reading it, you know, just skimming it, reading it.

And it's like, yeah, Naomi's a good person.

And she is.

It's not like she's an evil person. Just that she's really distressed. We sometimes miss the depth of emotions. To Naomi, her view is the hand of the Lord has gone against her. That's right.

Right.

And I think it's inappropriate to say like, oh, Naomi should have known better. You know, it's just like this woman just lost two sons and her husband. Her internal life is a mess. So this is important.

But we have to keep continuing. We have to still come back to what the text says. What is the one explicit act that the Lord has done in chapter one?

That's right.

Visited his people and giving them bread. Verse six. That's what we have to go by. We have to go by what the narrator tells us. Rather than what the character experiences. Because Naomi's not omniscient.

Right.

Naomi's not God. Naomi's not the narrator. She's just speaking from what she's experiencing emotionally. So it would be inappropriate to say it is the Lord's fault that these men died.

No, no, no.

For right now in chapter one, the Lord has only been gracious to his people. That's loving kindness.

All right.

Let's go to the next slide.

All right.

Those are the verses in which mother's house is mentioned. And that's potential for marriage. Genesis 24, 28, Song of Songs 3, 4, and 8, 2. It's mother's house. It's marriage. There's potential. There's future for you.

There's future for Orpah and Ruth. Just follow through.

All right.

Next.

Okay. And then next.

All right.

Now, the rest of chapter one is that Orpah leaves and Ruth clings to Naomi.

Cling.

Right.

It's the same verb. It's a verb of commitment and loyalty.

Right.

The question is, did Orpah sin by not going with Naomi? Is Orpah at fault?

No.

That's important. Orpah is not breaking any rules. In fact, Orpah is just listening to Naomi's advice. Yeah, she's actually honoring what Naomi wants. And this is important because Orpah serves as a foil character to Ruth.

Do we know what a foil character is? Foil character in the literary terms is there's a character who when you put that character next to the main character, usually main character, the main character's personality, characteristic stands out.

Like when you compare them, the foil character accentuates the main character's either good traits or bad traits. So Orpah serves as a foil character to whom?

To Ruth.

Because Ruth actually stays. Ruth stays. Orpah doesn't. And what it accentuates is Ruth's loving kindness. Because Ruth also heard the same talk by Naomi. And Ruth also had a choice to leave. But she doesn't.

That's loving kindness. Loving kindness is doing something that you don't have to do for the sake of the other person. Because in Ruth's mind, if Naomi's left alone, who's going to take care of her?

Nobody.

Or all her family passed away in the foreign land. Ruth's focus is to take care of her mother-in-law, even though there's nothing to gain from that. In fact, we'll see that Ruth has everything to lose from going with Naomi.

People are going to question, why is she here? I think we just talked about that. What does this tell us about loving kindness? But does anyone want to add to that? Let's go to the next slide.

All right.

So when we take a look at verses 16 through 17, I just put it up there so that we can visually see. This is Ruth's response when Naomi urges her to leave. Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods.

Return after your sister-in-law. And then Ruth tells us this whole speech, really. Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you. And when you follow this argument, the logic of this argument, it's actually a beautiful structure.

Take a look. Wherever you go, I will go. And wherever you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die. And there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything, but death parts you and me.

And what we see here is from going to burial, that Ruth will stay with Naomi.

Right?

From going to death, from life to death, I will stay with you. What does this tell us about loving kindness? The important part here, this is not even the context of marriage. And I think that's what sets Ruth apart even more.

Even married people have a hard time committing. But Ruth is a daughter-in-law. She's not even related to Naomi by blood. But what's more is, what's her ethnicity? She's a Moabitess woman. And I think for ancient Israelites to hear this story, this would be a shocking thing.

Wait a second, it's not Naomi who's doing this? It's not the Israelite? It's a Moabitess woman? Remember, the Moabites, they weren't looked favorably by the Israelites.

Right?

They're the descendants of an incestuous relationship of Lot and his daughter. But it is precisely Ruth the Moabitess, which the narrator will emphasize, Ruth the Moabitess. Whom the story and God chose is the one reflecting his character of loving kindness.

It is Ruth. And this will build up even more. Alright, next slide. Now let's talk about chapter two. There's more detail on Ruth on our YouTube slide. Because we just finished a Bible study on Ruth. So if you have any more questions on chapter one, chapter two, three, four, it goes into greater detail.

So they get to Bethlehem. And the context is, it's after the harvest.

Right?

And Ruth doesn't stay just calm. Or she doesn't rest when she gets to Bethlehem. She immediately goes out to provide for Naomi. Because in her mind, Naomi and providing for her is her priority. And we need to talk about gleaning.

Gleaning is not something we practice. So it's a foreign concept to us. But it is prescribed in the law. Gleaning you can find in Leviticus 19, 9 through 10. And it happens after the harvest. That's the key time.

It's after the harvest. And the command is don't reap every corner and don't pick up everything you drop.

Right?

Don't leave the fallen fruits alone. For whom? For those who are in need.

Right?

Those are the widows, orphans, and the foreigners. Those who don't have any support. Those who are not dependent on anyone else in the land. Widows, orphans, and foreigners. Sojourners, right? And what that means is who is ultimately the one providing for these people?

Widows, orphans, and sojourners. Who's the main provider? God. It's God. What this tells us about the law is the law reflects God's loving kindness for the poor. I think people need to change their mind about the law.

I think a lot of the times people read the law as if it's just another thing I have to do. But ultimately the law reflects the character of the law giver. Where else can you find a God who takes care of those who can't pay back?

Only here. And that's the note on gleaning. God's people are to reflect God's character in how they obey the law. That's the importance of gleaning. Alright, next. Now, chapter 2. Living a life of loving kindness is taking initiative to making a difference.

Living a life of loving kindness is taking initiative to make a difference. Alright, next. So, here's the context. Chapter 1, verse 22, this latter half. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.

But Ruth goes out to glean immediately in chapter 2. Now, what's wrong with this picture?

Exactly.

You don't glean during the beginning of the harvest. That's not what gleaning is. Gleaning is supposed to be done after the harvest when there's leftover. Now, some people say, well, Ruth is a foreigner, she doesn't know any better.

No, I think she knew. Because at least Naomi knows. Rather, it tells us, what's Ruth's priority? Taking care of Naomi. It doesn't matter. She knows. She knows it's not time for gleaning. But for her, waiting 2 to 3 weeks is not an option.

Because there's a mother-in-law that she has to feed. And that is her priority. And again, the next question is, who is the only one helping out Naomi? Isn't that amazing? Because when she gets to chapter 1, at the end, people actually recognize Naomi.

The whole town of Bethlehem is stirred.

Is this Naomi?

Right?

The whole city knows. They haven't forgotten her in 10 years. And that's when Naomi says, don't call me Naomi, call me Mara. But who's the only one helping Naomi? That's loving kindness. And that is convicting when you're an Israelite and you're reading this.

Wait a second. It's only Ruth who's taking initiative to make a difference. She doesn't know how she's going to provide for her, but she's just going out. She'll do something. She'll be out and about.

Okay, next slide. Verse 1, we get the introduction of Boaz, who is going to be another main character who shows loving kindness. I think verse 1 is a nail-biter, how Boaz is introduced. Instead of saying, there was Boaz.

Instead of that, it's this. There was a relative of Naomi's husband, a man of great wealth, of the family of Elimelech. His name was Boaz. You would think, and I think this is a nail-biter because everyone who's reading chapter 1, who's just read chapter 1, you think, oh no, what's going to happen?

Who's going to provide for them? There's a foreigner who knows nothing about the land, who's not known by anyone. And there's a widow. I mean, they're both widows. But the narrator gives us a glimpse of what's going to happen.

And he starts with a general characteristic. There's a relative of Naomi's husband. Okay, but he's a man of great wealth. And he's a family of Elimelech's. And then it gets too specific. His name's Boaz.

The narrator kind of gives us a glimpse that you can anticipate something's going to happen with Boaz. Now, we get a description of Boaz and his workers and how they interact. Now, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem.

So where did he come from? Bethlehem. And said to the reapers, the Lord be with you. And they answered him, the Lord bless you. So this is important because what can we learn from this interaction of Boaz and the workers?

That's right. They have mutual respect and love. And any other interpretation that makes the workers into some wicked, petty people or Boaz being driven by greed or lust or anything like that would be out of the ordinary.

That's just wrong interpretation. And I say this because when we get to the part where Boaz commands the workers not to bother Naomi, people put in, they import our culture of like, oh, you know, they're against women.

It's misogyny, right? They're against women. They're against foreigners or hashtag me too, all that. They import all that. But from here, the only thing we can learn from Boaz and his workers is that they mutually respect each other and they have regard for the Lord.

Look how they greet each other. The Lord be with you. The Lord bless you. Really, in the book of Ruth, there is not a bad guy. There's no villain in the book of Ruth.

All right.

Now, Boaz's loving kindness toward Ruth is shown when he speaks to Ruth directly. So before Boaz talks to Ruth, Boaz sees a woman and then Boaz asks his, you know, chief guy, manager, right? Who is this woman?

And then the servant actually tells him this is a Moabitess woman and she came to ask to glean. But then she's been standing here. And, of course, she's standing there because the manager told her you can't be picking things up right now.

It's not gleaning season.

Right.

It's not that the manager's being a petty guy. He's doing his job. There's a woman, a foreign woman, who's saying, I'm here to glean. And the manager's like, it's not the right season. But you know what?

Wait. Wait until the master comes. Wait until the owner comes. So and she said, this is the manager speaking, and she said, please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house.

Now, Boaz speaks to Ruth in verse 8. You will listen, my daughter, will you not? Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here. Stay close to my young women. The purpose of that is for protection.

Don't go to someone whom you don't know, who may not provide for you. Don't go to another field. Stay close to my women. And that's protection, too. Stay with the workers, my workers. They'll take care of you.

Let your eyes be on the field which they reap and go after them. And then he says, have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And you might think, when did he talk to the young man? Think of it like this.

There are young men working. And he's directly speaking to Ruth. And yeah, you're right. He didn't have time to talk to the young men about Ruth. He just found out. So this is like this. Have I not talked to the young men not to touch you?

Who can hear, right? The young men. They better follow that. And this is where that hashtag me too, all that jazz come in, right? It's like, why are they touching her? Well, consider this. She is trying to glean during the harvest season.

If they're workers, and if they are working faithfully, they're the ones who say, excuse me, you need to step aside. This is not your job. This is not the time. You can't be doing that. Because what Boaz is offering Ruth was extraordinary.

This was not a regular thing. It was not even commanded in the law. Boaz is not coerced nor forced to do this by the law of God. He is going beyond what the law requires of him. That's loving kindness.

So I'll read on. And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink from what the young men have drawn. Boaz provides for this Moabitess woman in every single way. So Ruth reacts in humility. She fell on her face and bowed down to the ground.

Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take notice of me since I am a foreigner? I think next slide. We get to find out the reason. What influenced Boaz to show such loving kindness? It has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.

Now what is the influence for Boaz's act of loving kindness? The Lord. Who else? That's right.

Yeah.

Right.

Boaz is touched by Ruth's loving kindness toward Naomi. The reason why Boaz is showing loving kindness is because he's been touched by Ruth. And you might wonder how did Boaz know? Well, remember where he came from in verse 4.

He came from Bethlehem. And Bethlehem, all of Bethlehem was stirred when Naomi and Ruth entered. Boaz heard. And now Boaz is almost paying it forward. And we kind of went over that. Are Boaz's workers against Ruth?

No, they're not. They're doing their job. It's a harvest season, and there's someone who's trying to glean. That's not normal, right? And how else does Boaz provide for Naomi and Ruth? Here he goes above and beyond.

Verse 14,. Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, Come here and eat up the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar. So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her, and she ate and was satisfied and kept some back.

And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded the young man, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Sheaves are gathered grains. They're tied up so that they can be taken to the threshing floor so that the grains can be isolated.

Now, is it normal to glean among the sheaves? Not at all. At this point, it's harvesting. To allow her to get from the sheaves, that's harvest. That's not gleaning. Gleaning is whatever's left over behind.

But what Boaz is saying, Let her take even from what's been harvested. Purposely.

Yeah.

Also, let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her. Leave it that she may glean and do not rebuke her.

Right?

They're the sheaves that's been bundled up. Just drop them. Just drop them, and have her pick them up. That's going above and beyond what's required. Boaz is going above and beyond of the law on gleaning, which already was loving and kind.

He is motivated by Ruth's loving kindness toward Naomi. They're both reflecting the Lord's character of loving kindness by doing so. They're taking initiative to make a difference. In the end, she brings about an ifa of the grains.

An ifa is about 30 to 50 pounds. That can last weeks, if not months, from just one day of gleaning. Really, that extraordinary picture is to show the effect of loving kindness. When God's people actually reflect God's character in serving the need of others who need.

Ruth Chapter 3: Following Through on the Best of Intentions

All right, next slide. Chapter 3, living a life of loving kindness means following through on the best of intentions. Chapter 3 moves on really quickly. Naomi finds out about Boaz, and then Naomi now wants to actually start providing for Ruth.

Naomi tells her Boaz is going to be sleeping in the threshing floor. When he's sleeping, go by. Sleep by his feet and uncover them. Naomi's intention for Ruth is that Ruth and Boaz marry. That's Naomi's best intention for Ruth.

Naomi knows that this would be just temporary. There's no guarantee that Boaz will continue to provide for Ruth and Naomi. But Naomi's intention is that Ruth will have someone provide for her, even when she's gone.

That's loving kindness, best of intention. Ruth uncovers the feet. Again, modern theologians, they perversely sexualize this. The reason why the feet are uncovered is that it's cold at night, and when Boaz feels the coldness, he wakes up, and whom does he find?

Ruth.

It's supposed to be innocent. It's for him to notice Ruth. It has nothing to do with whatever the modern idea is. When Boaz notices Ruth, he praises her, and then Ruth tells Boaz, basically it's a marriage proposal to spread your wings.

This is a play on word from Chapter 2. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel. Under whose wings you have come for refuge. So Boaz, when he provided for Ruth in Chapter 2, he's saying, it is the Lord who provides, come under his wings.

And then Ruth tells Boaz, spread your garment over me. That word garment and wing, they're the same thing. What Ruth is saying, you know the blessing of the Lord that you promised in Chapter 2, may that be so when you take me as a wife.

But Ruth actually goes beyond. Naomi just wanted Ruth to get married, so she's provided for. But Ruth says, I understand that you are a relative of ours. Please redeem the land. Please redeem Naomi's land.

So Ruth's intention is still looking out for whom?

Naomi.

Even when Naomi's looking out for Ruth, Ruth looks out for Naomi's future. Because when the land is redeemed, then Naomi's still taken care of. And then Boaz, in the middle of the night, says, okay, just go quietly.

And why go home quietly? Unless someone notices you. Now why does Boaz not want anyone else to see them together? There's this concern that there is an unmarried widow woman. It's protecting Ruth's reputation.

She already is a foreigner. But not only that, what is this woman doing in the middle of the night with a man? So Boaz is looking out for Ruth to every detail. Alright, next. Now we get to Chapter 4. Living a life of loving kindness means getting beyond the guarantees.

Redemption is when the land of the impoverished family members is purchased so that the land is not lost within the family. And also the impoverished family members are not enslaved. Because you owe money, you get enslaved.

Debt slavery, right? It was an expensive enterprise. It was not just like $20. It was someone's wealth. What that means is for Boaz to perform as the Redeemer, it was not an insignificant request. It was an expensive request.

But Boaz readily accepts as long as the first Redeemer says, I can't do it. Because there's an order of who can redeem. Now ultimately, who is the ultimate Redeemer in the Bible? Yeah, God, Jesus, right?

In fact, Exodus 6 says He's redeeming His people. Isaiah 41. He's the one to redeem His people. 43 .1. And then Hebrews 2 .11. Jesus considers us His brethren. That's the kinsman Redeemer. Someone who's related to us and saves us, right?

So that's an important theme in the Bible that we see, right? It's an act of love and kindness to go above and beyond what's required. Because the first Redeemer, He says, I can't do it. It's too expensive.

Now, did the first Redeemer sin?

No.

He just couldn't do it. He couldn't take that risk. He had his own family to take care of. But Boaz does it. It's an expensive venture. But he does it anyway.

Next.

Did the law require Boaz to marry Ruth? Boaz marries Ruth as well. Did the law require that? No, it didn't. That's what makes it striking. Leverant marriage, that's the law, right? Where your brother marries the widow.

Boaz was not Elimelech's brother. That's why when he does so, it is shocking. Boaz is going above and beyond what's required of him even by the law. And then we get to Chapter 4, and Ruth finally has a, she conceives.

Which is odd because for the last 10 years she's been with Mahlon. They didn't have a kid. Again, we don't put our interpretation. Oh, that's because Mahlon's sinful. We don't know. We just don't know.

But what it does tell us in Chapter 4 is, by whose power was Ruth able to conceive?

God.

It actually tells us the Lord did it. If I can flip to that. But it's in Chapter 4. And again, I think that's an important concept for us because when anyone conceives, it is the act of the Lord. And that's why we hold to the fact that the baby's a human and a gift from God since conception.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And when he went into her, the Lord gave her conception and she bore a son. It's the Lord. Again, from Chapter 1 to Chapter 4, what has the Lord done? Provided.

He's only been gracious. We need to be aware of that. Loving kindness is a characteristic of the Lord. Now, how do people respond at the conception, at the baby? This is Verse 14 of Chapter 4. Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a close relative, and may his name be famous in Israel.

What's their response to Ruth's conception? They're delighted as well. They praise God. They bless the Lord because they know it's the Lord's work. And what this tells us is living life of loving kindness leads to praising God.

And the opposite is true. If God's people fail to live lives of loving kindness, they rob God of praise that's due. That's important. Next slide.

Yes.

Yeah, that's the whole argument right there. There are two views here. One is the land deal and marriage went together. And the hard part with this is because levered marriage only shows up a couple of times in the Bible.

Genesis, levered marriage, having to marry, you know, and then the land coming with. But it's hard because it's Genesis 38 and the law about levered marriage, which doesn't talk about land redemption.

But some argue that it's both, mainly because it's a unique circumstance. Because Naomi, it's not like she had the land. The land was being used. She didn't have it with her at that point when she arrived in Bethlehem.

So it becomes confusing. So, therefore, when Boaz redeemed the land, the wife came too. The hard part becomes how come the first redeemer who once agreed to redeem the land didn't know that and then backed out when Boaz said, then you marry Ruth.

Like, why wouldn't he know that? There's a textual variance here, actually. It's in Boaz's speech in verse 5. On the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you must also buy it from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead.

The textual variance is the original, I mean, I guess we don't know if it's original, but the Hebrew text says the day you buy the field from Naomi, I obtain Ruth, as in Boaz will obtain Ruth. That's one.

But the Greek translation of the Old Testament says that the day you buy, the day you purchase land from Naomi, you obtain Ruth. Most English translations, I think, went with the Greek translation. But I think if you go with the Hebrew text, on the day you buy land from Naomi, I obtain Ruth, actually can make sense, which is, well, regardless, if you do redeem the land, I intend to marry Ruth.

Now, why would Boaz say that? Well, because it's an expensive venture. If it's an expensive venture, think about this. The moment Ruth has a kid on behalf, with Boaz, and Boaz has the kid on behalf of Mahlon, which would be Naomi's son, that son would have the claim on the land after, very soon even, considering the fact that Ruth is young.

Maybe then this expensive venture is not worth it. Well, I'm going to, the first redeemer is mine. Well, I'll purchase the land on behalf of Naomi because Naomi is barren. There's no more kids. Ruth doesn't have any kids.

Ruth is unmarried. But for Boaz, because he's a kind person, he says, I intend to marry Ruth, though. All of a sudden, the calculation changes. The moment a kid is born, the land goes back to Ruth's family, Mahlon's family, Naomi's family.