Ruth 3-4: Money, Sex and Redemption

Welcome to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit dedicated to the idea that every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New is about Jesus. And this podcast is our experiment to publicly test and not believe. Every episode hosts David Bowdoin and Seth Stewart, work through a biblical text to see how it helps us see and savor Jesus. Let's jump in. [Music] Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Thank you for joining us. We are in week three of Ruth. Week three. Yeah, yeah. We did an introduction and then we did the first half of Ruth. And now we're going to the second half of Ruth. I like Ruth. You like Ruth? I like the person or the book. Like the story. I-- She don't like Ruth first. At one point in time I wanted to name one of my children Ruth. Oh. And then like when I was like a teenager, you know, I was like, how many more kids are you going to have? I was just like, oh, I think Ruth's a good name and then somebody ruined it for me forever. Oh, no, what do they do? They say like, well, what if your daughter's ugly? What? They call her Ruth. Oh, my-- That's horrible. And I've never not had that effect ever since somebody did that to me. Is one of the most belittling things. I know. And I-- It's like one of the things I can't stop thinking about. That's so funny. Anyway. And terrible. And terrible at the same time. There's all sorts of baggage that I have. Should we unpack more of it? Before we continue. I mean, I can tell you what someone once told me I should name my son that I should name him Baba. Baba? So that way every time he says his full name, it sounds like he has a stutter. What's your name, son? Baba Bowden? Didn't. Someone literally told me that. My youth pastor told me that. That's amazing. So yeah. Youth pastor for the win. Okay. So why don't you do a little recap for us to get us up to this point. That's fast and possible. What's happening? No, me. Left. She came back. Ruth came with her. Bowaz gives her food. Period. Okay. I shouldn't have said this fast and possible. Give me some dramatic tension. So it gets me into this moment of nighttime espionage. And nighttime espionage. They're Naomi and a limolec. Left is real when they shouldn't have. They experience another famine in the land of Moab. And Naomi comes back as a last-ditch effort. Her homeland is in Bethlehem. This is the only place she knows that she could possibly find a way to survive the rest of her life, even though she's whittlest. She's widow. She's childless. And she has no even grandsons. Ruth comes with her at remarkable loyalty and then sets about trying to provide for Naomi as best she can by going out and gleaning in these fields and working all day. And in her efforts to provide and be loyal to Naomi, she runs into a redeemer named Bowaz, who generously and loyally provides for Naomi as well like the redeemer should. She generously, extravagantly gives out of his abundance for the sake of Naomi and Ruth's well-being. And that's where we are in the story. And we find out Ruth comes back to Naomi with her arms full of flour. And Naomi's like, "Where did you get all this stuff?" "Oh, I was at Bowaz's field and she says, 'Oh my goodness, Bowaz is one of our kinsmen redeemers.' Yes. And just to find what that means now." Good because the rest of the book of Ruth unpacks this truth. So a redeemer was something that was set up as the Hebrew words go out. Right. Yes. And it's mentioned two different places and it's mentioned in the old testament. It's mentioned a bunch of times in the Old Testament, but when it comes to the law functions that are about to be practiced here, it's mainly listed in two places in the Torah. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit is 25 and Deuteronomy 25. Remember. So easy. And really there's two different functions of a redeemer. Right. A redeemer can redeem property. Right. And this will be the, let's call this the kinsmen redeemer law. Yeah. This is Leviticus 25. This is Leviticus 25, 25. The redemption of property. Okay. Yeah. I hate to do this. Okay. But I want to pause real quick. Yeah. Just let me just define the word redeemer. Okay. It's a Bible word. It's not a Christian word. Yeah. And to redeem something is to buy it back. Yes. So to buy something back. So a kinsmen buyer. Yeah. A related buyer. Yeah. And buy back. A buy backer. Yeah. You can't redeem something that's not already been sold. Buy backer voted. And it's the buy backer voted. But the buy backer. Oh my goodness. Okay. So anyway. So Leviticus 25, the kinsmen buy backer. Yes. And what happens there is somebody becomes poor. Yep. And they need to sell their land in order to pay for their debts. Yes. A relative. This is like, I mean, we do this. Is refinancing your home? Yes. Yes. But what can happen? Taking out a second mortgage. But the ideal is that that land stays within the clan. Right. So another member of that family can come back and buy that land and give it back to pay the mortgage and then give it back to. Oh. Oh, I've got it wrong. Close. No, it's very close though. You're already getting to how Ruth unpacks it, which is better than the law. The law version is the, so this person sells their land because they're poor and they are then these kind of like indentured servants on their own form, you know, working their land that they don't own anymore. And then their brother or their uncle or their grand nephew, whoever is rich enough to be their kinsmen redeemer can come and pay off the remainder of the debt to the people who bought the land from them. But then that kinsmen redeemer owns that land now until the year of Jubilee when it would then be released back to the original owner. Right. And on the year of Jubilee, all property reverts back to its own. So what would happen to that original seller of the land whose land has been redeemed is that they will continue to work their own land as indentured servants, but they still don't own their land. It's just back in the family. The land has been redeemed. Now there are further laws in Leviticus 25 that allows for the redemption of the person as well. This is Leviticus 2547. So if you become poor, you can sell yourself into indentured servitude into the member of a stranger's clan, somebody else's clan. And then after you're sold, you can also be redeemed by a member of your clan. So let's just say you're $50,000 in debt and say I'll work for you for two years and you will forget our debt. Or a member of your clan comes and say no, I'll pay the rest of his debt and he can come back and live on his own land. He's redeemed by him back from you. He no longer has to work for you. The debt is paid and he can come. He's now no longer a slave. Yes. That's right. So again, that would happen at the year of Jubilee automatically. But I mean, that's like you could be in slave for 49 years if you were at the beginning of the term. That's exactly right. So there's two types of redeemer's that you need to know about with the first one. So the property one. And then the personal slave one. No, incorrect. There's so many redeemer's. Were you trying to talk to you? There's so many times of the air to get us straight. So that's the Kinsman Redeemer laws. Those are the laws. And I know this is the worst, okay? But just to keep it straight, these are the property laws and that includes land and people. So I know that's horrible. That people could be viewed as property. And they weren't in the Old Testament. But yes, that's right. Just for the sake of lumping them together. And then you're sold for a debt. So it's really the money one. This is the money one. Yes, that's helpful. Let's call this the Kinsman Redeemer is the money one where a debt has to be paid for a land or a person. Then there's the leverite marriage one which is Deuteronomy 25. This is the one that's the sex one. The sex one. The money is sex. The money is sex. This is a very hot podcast. Or it's about to get spicy. It's about to get spicy right now. It's about a real spicy. And so in that one, hopefully I can get this one right. I believe in you. When a man loves a woman. When a man loves a woman very much. It's trying to get you a bird in the face episode. So if a husband dies before having a child, a male heir to carry on his name with his wife, the property in the land and the money, the brother of the husband. Yep. Can marry his brother's wife. That's right. Have a child with her and that first son will become an heir of his brother. The dead brother. The dead brother. That's right. And that son will inherit the brother's land. Yep. The brother's money. That son is not the younger brother's son. It's the dead brother's son. Yes. And the widow's son. Yes. Okay. Yeah. It's not the actual biological father. It's the spiritual father. It's like it's now the dead brother's son to carry on the family. That's right. Yep. So that was another type of redemption and it's called the Leverett marriage laws everywhere. So go read Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 25. And then try to say this quickly. - I'm leaving it to yourself. But those two things are on the line. - They are. - Because in Naomi's case, she is a poor woman whose land was left in Israel, and she returns back to it during a famine and moab to an untended piece of land. - Right, and one of two things could be happening here. One, which I think we're landing on is probably the right one, which is that she left, maybe left it to a caretaker or something like that, but didn't sell it. But came back, it would have been a limelax when they left. - Right, it was a limelax when they left. She comes back, now property has passed to her, which is kind of unheard of in that time. But so she is realizing that she needs to sell the land in order to survive. - Right, because she could work it, but she's old and she only has one daughter, and she doesn't, she has to eat now. - The other version is that when they left, they loaned the land out, or did like a sub lease or a mortgage or something like that on it, where, and now in order to pay off that mortgage or fix that financial situation, she has to just go ahead and wholesale it in order to pay back the debt that's racked up while they've been in moab. - Yes. - Whatever's going on, Naomi's in a tough financial position. She's a widow with a widow, or with a widow daughter-in-law. - Right. - And the only way they're even able to put food on the table is by her daughter going and basically begging in wheat fields. - Yes. - Like, so like they're a bad spot. - Yes. - So they fall under the proper, the Kindman Redeemer laws. A relative can buy that field, give that and give them the deed to it, or the proceeds of it. - Yeah, or another way to view it is that she's putting the land up for sale, and someone could buy that land in their, in their clan and own it. - Yes. - And Naomi and Ruth would be under them working the field. - Yes. - That could also happen. - Which is, that's assumed what would happen in the open market. - That's exactly right. - That's the best deal. - That's the best deal you're gonna get. - Right. - Yeah. - Totally. - And because she has no air, we're also hoping that a limelax line will continue, that God will be faithful to the dead by providing an air. - So we have two problems. There's one problem that Naomi is not going to have financial provision, because she's gonna have to sell herself into slavery, her land is gonna pass out of her name. A limelax land is gonna move into somebody else's ownership, which is a reprehensible, you know? And, but then the other issue is a limelax line is about to just end, which is terrible. - Right. - I mean, that's why God put in place things like deliver at marriage. And so it's like economically and biologically, she's in a really tight spot. And this is not only, and it definitely is, so I'm not belittling this, this is not only a, oh, that poor widow story. It definitely is that. - Yeah. - But this is part of a larger story where God guaranteed this land for certain people. Like the covenant and faithfulness and promises of God are tied up into Naomi's form. - Right. - And her being on that farm is part of God's promise to Israel. - Yes. - And her having children and not miscarrying and like being able to carry on a line. - This is part of God's promise continuing. - Exactly. - And so God's covenant is on the line. And so this is, yes, this is economical, but it's also very much theological. - So in a theological sense, they need a redeemer. - Yes. - Oh, and then it blows up even bigger. - Okay. - There's three layers. So there's like the nuts and bolts of what's happening, the economical, there's the theological ramifications of that that the covenant is on the line. But then if you blow out even further and look at Israel as a whole, this seems to be just the state of Israel right now. That it's the judges, there's no king. Everyone's doing what's right in their own eyes. And it's like the whole nation seems to be poor spiritually and they need a redeemer. - Yeah. - They need someone to fix things. - Yes. - Will God's covenant continue through the famine of the time of the judges? - Will God by spend, pay for the debts of his people? Will he provide first people by buying and redeeming for them what they need? - And so with that question, a really important thing for us to point out is the first redeemer in the Bible, the first person called to goel is God himself. - That's right. - Like X the Six talks about how God will redeem Israel out of slavery in Egypt. He will redeem them. And he will buy them out. - They were enslaved. - Like the redemption laws talk about. And he pays their slave price through, and he says, I will redeem you through great acts of judgment. - Yes. He pays the through judgment. And that's what happens. So God's the, and so the redeemer laws in general are actually an extension of God's character. - That's right. - There are a way to be God to one another. - Yes. How clans and family members can act like redeemers when their brothers and sisters and mothers are enslaved or in debt. - Right. - That's right. - That's not part of God's heart to have people enslaved. It's not part of God's heart to have people without land. - Yes. - Like God wants you to be free. That's why he is a redeeming God. He's a buybacking God. - Yes. He's a buybacking God to provide you a home and freedom. - Yeah. - So, that's everything that's built in the friends. - To know all that. - To know this. - Redeemer. - Yes. - And so let's pause there. - Okay. - Try again. (gentle music) - Okay, so we're gonna now look at how these laws of leverite marriage and Kinsman Redeemer, all the buybacking plays out in the situation with Naomi and Ruth. - Yes. - Okay. One thing I wanna point out here is what happens in chapter three follows the covenant ceremony that God went through Israel with back in Exodus. It's a covenant ceremony. Which is really important. In chapter three there's a covenant ceremony. - Yes. - Okay. - Because God's covenant's on the line right. Like that's the issue we just talked about. And so really quickly, and then I'll let you kind of dive into more of the narrative of it. But thematically what's happening here is Naomi first repeats two of God's covenant promises that he makes to Israel. She says, "Should I not seek rest for you, my daughter? God promises to bring the people of Israel into a land where they have rest." - That's right. - And he says, "And that it might be well with you. That it might go well with you in the land." It's something that God constantly says. So she's repeating God's covenant promises. - Again, this is a matriarch. She's one of the founding mothers of Israel. She's repeating the stories and the phrases from Abraham, Isaac and James. - That's right. - She's one of the founding mothers of Israel. - Yep. - She tells Ruth to go and do what God told Moses and the people of Israel to do before they come up on the mountain to start the covenant ceremony verse three of chapter three, "Wash yourself and anoint yourself." Yes, this could easily be read and probably should be read as like, "Hey, don't smell when you go to have your marriage proposal." - Right. - They smell good. But washing and anointing were ritual preparations for entering into a covenant. And it happened at Mount Sinai. Before the beginning of the covenant. - So the more we discover in this book, the more obvious it is that Naomi is, not is the founding mother of Israel, but she's extending the covenant of Abraham to all nations through this representative Moe by woman, this representative for her. So then, just like in Exodus 19, after the anointing, Moses gives a command of the people and they reply, "All that the Lord says, "we will do," verse five of chapter three, and Ruth replied, "All that you say, I will do." She expresses covenant fealty to the covenant. And then there's this covenant ceremony that takes place at the Threshing Floor of Boaz, which I'll let you unpack later, but you just have these covenant things happening. There's this ceremony that we don't quite understand about the uncovering of the feet, it could just be a practical thing. We'll talk about that. But there's this thing that's happening. And then the covenant comes. - Spread your wings over your servant. - That's the end of the request. But then the covenant starts in chapter 10, where Boaz says, "May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. "You have made this last kind of great in this first." And then he makes all these promises to her. He says, "Do not fear. "I will do this thing you asked for me. "I'm gonna do X, Y, Z, and it's gonna happen." He makes a covenant promise to her. He covenants with her that he will redeem her by any means necessary. - Amazing. - And so it's a covenant ceremony. - It's a covenant ceremony. Anyway, I just thought that was really cool. It proves what we've been saying all along. This is a founding mother of Israel. This is, that's really cool. - It's also just brilliant. - And brilliantly designed. - Designed. - Brilliantly designed. - Okay, so let's do it the normal version now. - So that's like behind the scenes, all the kind of fun, literary, inter-canonical connections. But what's really narrative. - The narrative is just rife with sexual tension. That's kind of the exciting part about sex. - Money about sex. - Money about sex. - Wow. - So the way that Naomi says that Ruth should get married is by going to Boaz. And essentially, so it's a funny story. - It is a funny story. - It's a funny story. It's like Naomi wants Ruth to get married. - Yep. - She wants her to be at rest and not have to work in the fields every day. And so she wants to set up a marriage between her and Boaz. OS has already taken an interest in her. Ruth's already found favor in his eyes. Annie's a Redeemer of the family. It's a wise smart match. And so Naomi kind of concocts this kind of brilliant, cunning and wise plan to not trick Boaz and marrying Ruth but to force the question in like the starkest way possible, to force Boaz to see Ruth as a really worthy and wise woman to marry. And so she tells him to get dressed up, to get on her best clothes and to wait until Boaz is done celebrating the barley harvest. So the barley harvest is, that's the, it's a party. It's a party. It's all in, got no more work to do. That's right. It's eat bread, drink wine, and be married. And be married. And to visit him on the threshing floor, after his heart is glad with wine, after his heart is glad. Which is just again, it's like, okay, it's the most opportune time. If you say all this income, it's like you wait until your parents are happy after they eat in the meal. They're sitting down after the television, their first television show, but not before their second where they're too sleepy. And like that's when you ask your dad for the skateboard. So that's what he's, that's what Naomi's like doing. And said once he falls asleep, what you should do is you should go into the threshing floor, just you and him, uncover his feet. Right. And then lay down next to him. And just, and then wait. And wait for him to wake up. Yep. Like a lot of people want to like disparage a roof of this moment and say, like she's being sexually licentious, that's like she's doing something wrong here. And what they're getting right is that there is actually a lot of sexual tension. Yes. And it's like, how can there not be sexual tension? A single woman going to a man alone in the dark at night after drinking wine, after drinking what? Uncovering? Something. Something. Even if it's just to speak the word, uncovering. Yeah, exactly. It's like, there is sexual tension. Like it's like if you in the middle of night, a beautiful woman that you know that you've been interested in, that you think she might be interested in you, knocks on your door at midnight, beautifully dressed with perfume on say, can I come up? Right. And all she's doing is bringing you that morning's newspaper. Right. It's still like weird. What's happening? I was like, I'm asleep, nobody else in the house, but sure. Like there's like, it's full of sexual tension. Right. In the middle of night, he wakes up. Yes. So verse eight says at midnight, the man was startled and turned over and behold, a woman thought, a woman, I love how it just anonymizes it. Well, yeah, whereas just like, that's part of the genius of it. Everybody shrouded in like mystery. Who is there? Who isn't there? It's like, what was done? What was done? It's meant to be kind of covered and secretive. You know, I think we would know better what was going on here if someone was in the room when it happened. We've been watching him. And then he was in plus. Everything is a Hamilton reference right now. Anyway, continue. So part of the reason I think he was a wise move to uncover his feet is because at midnight, it's cold. Yeah. And if your feet are uncovered, you're going to start shivering. Sure. And the word startled there can be like tremble or tremor. So it's like, oh, he starts shivering in the middle of night because his feet were uncovered. Right. And Naomi wanted to make sure that he discovered Naomi or Ruth before the morning. And so he wakes up in the middle of the night and behold. Right. And then he goes to his back and says, I'm going to start to eat. And then he goes to his back. And then he goes to his back and says, I'm going to start shivering. than what the law requires there and here she's going beyond Naomi's law and asking for Boaz to redeem her, which is also beyond the law. Yes. So going back to the leverage law, that applied specifically to the deceased husband's brother period. Right. Like that's what the law describes. So Naomi's taking the law and saying that principle should apply to me as well, to Naomi and to me as well. And so yeah, and it's a double whammy because not only is it not a direct relative, like a brother who she's asking to perform redemption, she's not saying so go marry Naomi who is the one who's barren and without an heir. That's the one, but she's probably too old. She's probably past child bearing years. And so she is putting herself in the position to vicariously be the person who will perform the leverage. Normally it would be a limelax brother should have performed the kinsman, the lever. That's right. But he's dead. But he's dead. Yes. So Naomi is asking for him to marry her, her boas marry her on behalf of a limelax. So that's really important. Naomi is not, Ruth is not trying to secure for herself. That's right. A decent life. Okay. I'm going to just say stop. If you're if you're listening casually, take a second. Seth say that again. This is so crucial to understand. Ruth is not trying to secure for herself a decent life. That's right. She is trying to secure for Naomi a redeemer. That's right. She's not trying to get her own husband. She's not trying to get her own land. She's not trying to get her own child. She's trying to get Naomi's land back and give Naomi a son. Yes. She is trying to find someone to put a surrogate baby in her to then give to Naomi. This is why boas responds in verse 10 with may you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter, because you have made this kindness greater than the first because you've not gone after young men whether poor or rich. What is meaning there? You're saying your first kindness was leaving your home, leaving your father, leaving your mother, coming to a land you didn't know. That was your first kindness. Coming out and gleaming on behalf of Naomi. Yes. You've already kind of like, curiously been fulfilling the law for Naomi to take her. We've already been acting as her surrogate, giving her every match you've done. Now you're doing even greater kindness by not marrying a poor man for love or a rich man for your own status. You're marrying me so that Naomi could have her land back and she might have a son through you. That's right. He sees all that happening immediately in front of him because he's aware of the leveraged laws. He's aware of the laws of redemption and he sees Naomi as being full of hesed covenant loyalty towards Naomi. Yes. This cuts against so many of the normal ways this book is talked about. Yes. Where it's like, oh man, Boaz just really had it for Ruth and Ruth was just swooning over the righteous Boaz and it's like, no, Ruth was trying to find a surrogate donor to bear a child for her widowed mother-in-law. Yeah. And like, yes, all of it's kind and full of love but it's a different kind of love. It's not love for Boaz. It's love for Naomi. It's yes. Yes. Yes. That's very good. Yes. Yeah. I really like that. And they probably did like each other. Oh, there's probably a lot of reasons why he's a good man. She's a good woman. She's a good woman. There's no reason to think that this was a loveless, horrible marriage. No. Yeah. But that's not the driving motivating factor. And what's emphasized consistently is Ruth's loyalty to Naomi. Yes. That's what's happening right here. And then Boaz in response to seeing Ruth's loyalty in love says, you are a worthy woman. And everyone knows it. I love these. Everyone around town knows that you're a worthy woman. Yeah. I love that. It's so good. Yeah. Anyway. And she says, yes, I'll marry you. I will be a redeemer. Yep. Except plot twist. Plot twist. Here it is. There's another redeemer. Somebody else could fulfill these obligations. Right. And like, and so as a reader, you're like, no, I want Boaz and Ruth to get together. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want this random guy. I want them to get together. Right. And I think this even cuts against some of the romantic tension. And he's like, and if he can, great. We'll let him. That's awesome. Because at the end of the day, the goal is redeeming Naomi, not getting Ruth a love hook up. Yes. So again, like, that's the problem. Think about Naomi. She says, I'm bitter because I've gone come in empty. I went away. When I pulled back empty, but now she has two redeemers. Yes. And all this barley that she can eat in the evening. Like she's, there's a surplus of provision. - Sir plus provision for Naomi, because not only she's full, she's overflowing with provision. - Yes. - Wow. - And then, and then Boa says, "Remain here for the night." And then go away in the morning. And this, let's select again, people will say like this is them sleeping together. This is them doing something like sentias. Okay, sure, maybe. I don't think so. - I don't think so either. - I think he's protecting the worthy woman Ruth. - Exactly. - Because imagine the threshing floor, it's somewhere near town. You have a bunch of people celebrating, partying late into the night. The threshing floor, we didn't even mention this, like, is kind of like also a known place for like little like, - Things around. - Things around the middle of the night. - It's like, underneath the bleachers. - Yeah, underneath the bleachers. Yeah, underneath the bleachers. - It's like the parking lot. - Yeah, make out hill. - Yeah, make out point. - Make out point. - Yeah. - So if somebody sees Ruth walking away from the threshing floor, and they saw Boa's going beforehand, like her reputation is tarnished and probably even more easily because she's a moabite. - Right, and they're looking for an excuse to condemn her. - Yeah, even though she's a worthy woman to be. - Oh, I knew it. - I knew it, those moabites. - Those moabites, yeah. - Totally. - They had sex with their father. - Yeah. - Yeah, like lot, anyway. - Oh, right, right, right, yeah. - Yeah, it's just how they do things. - That's how they do things. - Yeah, that's how the nation was started. That's how they always started. - Yeah, totally. - So he's, I think he's protecting her. - So that's interesting. You bring up the story of Lot because here we have a reversal of that story where instead of a woman going into a drunk man and tricking him into having sex with her. - Yes. - Instead you have a woman, a worthy woman going into, probably a buzzed dude. - Yeah. - Because he's very witty. He still knows what's going on. - Yeah. - He knows that there's a closer redeemer. He's full of wisdom here. Going into just a married, in-hop man. - Happy man. - Happy man. - And they go to extra lengths not to have sex, not to do something scandalous, and end up not bringing about the nation of the Moabites, which ends up occasionally falling under God's wrath. Instead they end up creating the line of David and Jesus in a worthy way. So it's the unworking of the past sins of Lot. - That's really good. - And his daughters. - That's cool. - I like that a lot. - Anyway, a lot. - A lot. - Get it? - A lot. - My favorite comments in our, like, are you reviews? - Oh yeah. - Is that dad jokes for the win? - Yeah. - Great theology of dad jokes for the win. - We're dads. - We're dads, we got that on lock. So in the morning, he sends her away with a whole bunch of food, and he tells her, "You must not go back empty handed to your mother-in-law." - Right, because Naomi said, "I am empty." - And empty. So again, two redeemer's more food that she can ever eat. - Yep. - She's not empty anymore. - Yeah, Boa is proving to her the first words on his lips are true. Yahweh be with you. And I'm proving to you, Yahweh will bring you provision. So how do we see Jesus then in Ruth chapter three? - Whole, I mean, do we do the redemption stuff right now, or do we wait until chapter four? 'Cause that's everything. - Well, let's talk about spreading your wings. - Great. - And let's do that. - I have the plan there. - Yes. - So God has often talked about, and I think we've talked about this already, in the last episode, as having these big opinions, these big wings that wrap us up and shelter us and keep us safe. And it's like, if you want my son, you gotta go through me kind of thing. - Yep. - Jesus, when he comes to Jerusalem, on his last trip to Jerusalem, he looks over the city of Jerusalem and starts to cry. And just is just weeping over the city. And he says, "How I've longed to wrap you up in my wings as a mother hand covers her cheeks. If only you would have let me, but you fought me and you ran away." He just wants to wrap you up. So like Ruth is asking Boa as to do what Jesus did. That does for his church. - Yes. - And so Jesus, to wrap them up, to protect them, to provide salvation, in the middle of emptiness, in the middle of chaos, in the middle of destitution. - Yes. - Jesus seeing the broken city of Jerusalem longs to wrap them in his wings. - Right. - And provide those things for him. - But instead, he's weeping, because instead people kept doing what Naomi's family did. They've been running away. And they just kept denying and not trusting and running away. What does faith in Jesus look like? It looks like coming under his protection. You know, it looks like coming under his protection, letting him wrap you up in his wings. And saying like, "If you want this child of mine, you'll have to go through me first." And he proved that on the cross. Like condemnation, death. If you want them, you have to go through me. And then when it tried to go through Jesus, it got beat. You know, like, it's just so good. And like Ruth, who considered Naomi's life, and her salvation as more significant than her own interest or love or marriage, Jesus does the same. He empties his life so that we like Naomi can become full. - Yes. - And have more than we need. - Yeah, as Paul says in Philippians 2, he did not count his status, his equality with God. Something to be held onto, right? But instead, he lowered himself and became obedient, like a slave, even to death on a cross. He lowered himself and he didn't hold onto what he should've had or could've had. And that's what Boaz praises Ruth for. You didn't marry poor for love or rich for status. You know, you did something that was self-effacing. And ultimately that will bring about redemption, not only for Naomi, but for the whole world through this child and his children, Jesus. And so, yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, okay, we'll move on and we'll get to my favorite thing, which will be the redemption stuff. But let's wait till the purchase actually takes place. - Do it. (soft music) - Okay, Boaz has accepted the marriage proposal. I'm right. And he has to figure out this issue with the other closer redeemer, that guy. And so he got that guy. So he goes to the city gates, which is where transactions like this would take place. - It was probably where the marketplace was. - It's where the elders of the city hung out. And he goes there early in the morning and waits to see him. That's like, he's taking initiative, he's going out at the gates and he's looking for the guy. And as soon as he sees him, he invites him over to all the, where all the elders are and said, "Hey, here's the deal. Here's the situation. Naomi is selling her plot of land. And then you are the closest redeemer. - The closest redeemer. If you want the land, buy it. - Right. - If not, I will buy it. And conveniently, he leaves out the fact that Ruth is involved at all. - Right. He doesn't mention it. - He mentions the fact that there's Kinsman redemption, Leviticus 25 stuff going on. But he leaves out the fact that there is also leverite marriage deuteronomy 25 stuff going on. - Yes. - Yes. - And then he's like, well, of course, I'll take the land. - Yeah, I get to add that to my parcel. - Yes. - It's a win win for him because he would get more land, more space to build crops. And Naomi, presumably would either live on that land as its caretaker, or even work on the land. So it's like he has a landlord and land. - It's easy. - It's an easy win for him and he has the money to spend on it. - Right. - So he's happy. Then Boaz says, but wait, there's more. What's behind? Go on number three. And he says, the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite. And he mentions her race here. - Oh, he does. That's true. - Of her ethnicity here, 'cause I think that's probably intentional. The widow of the dead, which is, - Yep. - He's pretty well limelacked, but like, - The widow of the dead, I think, would invoke in him the idea of deuteronomy 25. - So technically, she's not the widow of the dead. - Right. - But like, connected. - Yes. - She is the widow of a dead man though. - Yes, but just not the dead man who's not a limelacked. - Not a limelacked. It should have, yeah, anywhere. And then she said, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. - Right. - Which would be a limelack. - Yeah, it would be a limelack. - Yes. - Then the redeemer said, I can't redeem it for myself because it would cost him too much. Less to impair his own inheritance. So the idea would be there is that now he realizes, in order to invite Naomi into his family, he would have to marry her, have a son, and then all that property would then belong to Ruth's son. - Yes. - Instead of him, which means the guy didn't really want to redeem the land. He wanted to acquire the land. - Yes. - Because it's really the same cost. - Yeah. - If his intention was to redeem it, which would be to buy it back and give it to Naomi. But that was not his intention. His intention was to buy it grow as a state. And now that he's learned that once there's an heir, a parent, then he would have to forfeit that, even if it was at the year of Jubilee, at the worst case scenario, it still won't be his land. And then essentially then he's just losing a bunch of money. And he's not able to provide for his sons as well. So it's like, it's a $300,000 bath for his sons inheritance. - Yes. - It's, I can't do it. - I can't do it. - Yeah. And to be fair, neither quote unquote could Boaz. It will ruin Boaz or any other redeemer just as much as it would have ruined this person. - Yeah. So it's like, he's doing, like Orpa left into the smart thing and went back to her mother's house. - Yes, that's right. - He's actually doing like the fiscally responsible thing and providing for his family. - That would financially ruin me. - And so Boaz is the one who's being extravagant, wasteful, sacrificial, prodigal, prodigal in order to, provide for a moa bite woman. - It's like the scandal is pretty sick. - And then they seal the deal with the strange sandal ceremony, which no one knows. It has roots in-- - What was it? - Do you know where the Kingsman, the lever marriage laws are mentioned. So there is some connection there. It's like whenever someone refuses. - Yeah, so it's kind of the opposite meaning almost. So it's like whenever somebody refuses to become a Kingsman Redeemer, you're supposed to take their shoe off, hand it to you, and you're supposed to spit in their face because you were-- - It's a way to shame them. - It's a way to shame them. But here it doesn't carry any of those shameful connotations. It just has a connotation of sealing a deal. - Like a contract. - Shaking hands. - Shaking hands. So there's probably some like kind of like cultural-- - That the culture has developed that law in such a way. And it's original meaning is now just-- - And-- - Undiscoverable to us. - The lever marriage law doesn't really apply in this situation because normally it's the brother of the deceased husband. But again, this is now the daughter-in-law of the mother-- - Like-- - The mother-in-law's daughter-in-law who is asking for the redeemer. - Right. - Who shoe comes off in this story? It's a-- - Is it bow as a shoe or the guy who did not redeem? - So then when the redeemer said to bow as, "By for yourself," he took off his sandal. And then bow as I said to the elders, "All the people, your witnesses to this day that I have bought the hand of Naomi." - Also the wrong-- - So the redeemer who said no took off his sandal. - Yes. - Is that in-- In Deuteronomy 25, is it the person who refuses to redeem? Is he the one who takes off his sandal? - Or it-- - I have to reread it. - Okay, 'cause I'm very curious about that. - Why? - Well, because if it's true, then he is basically accepting this shameful curse on himself, where like he knows he's breaking the law in a sense. - Yeah, his first son bears it. However, the man does not want Mary's brother's wife. Da-da-da-da. (sighs) "His brother's widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face, and say this is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's line." So the other-- - Oh, I see. - Bow as in that situation could take off his shoe, slap him in the face with the shoe, and spit in his face. - Right, but instead of the good takes off his own shoe, yeah, as a way to kind of say like, "Hey, I know I'm giving up my right, as Ken's been redeemer," was, I think is what's happening here. - Yes, okay, that makes sense. - Yep, that makes sense. - Okay, I told you it makes sense. - Cool. - And, verse 10, which is again, sorry, like Ruth is called an honorable woman. This sandals ceremony would have been a sign of shame, and so Bow as is proving himself and Ruth to be honorable in this passive redeemer who gives up his right and responsibility is given shame. - Yeah, I mean, there's no shame in the passage. - So, but it's like, if you read back into the context, it heightens the costliness and the worthiness and the righteousness of Bow as. Bow as is just an exemplary man. He's an exemplary, sacri- - Yeah, sacri- - This whole part of the story was given not to create romantic tension, but to be a foil to show you just how extravagant Bow as has to be to do what Ruth is asking him to do. - Yeah, and then he tells the crowd, I have acquired Ruth the mobile to perpetuate the name of the dead and his inheritance. The name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of the native place. You are witnesses to this day. Bow as knows, he's not doing it for himself, but for Naomi's family. - And not even for Ruth. - Not even for Ruth, right? - For Naomi's family. - They're both doing something extremely self-sacrificial that doesn't even benefit themselves. They're both doing something for someone else. - Yes. - Yes. - And then the crowd responds by looking to, I think it's looking to Ruth and saying, "May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house "like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house "of the Lord. "May you act worthily in a paphreath "and be renowned in Bethlehem and may your house "be like the house of Perez whom Taimar boarded Judah." So what's happening here is that the crowd, the elders of the town is recognizing what's happening here is within the line of character of God and the line of the character of the patriarchs. And he's doing something faithful to the covenants that God has made previously. He's acting like, he's perpetuating the messianic, the line of Israel so that it's not destroyed. - Which is what he's doing. - Yeah, we're getting kind of a matrilineal line here. - Yes, yeah. - And it's specifically towards Rachel, Leah, - And Taimar. - Yeah. - And all these women, they, so what's funny here then is how the attention is drawn away from Boaz's active sacrifice. And back onto Ruth. - Yes. - Yes, Boaz is being sacrificial, but Ruth is the one who initiated it. And ultimately, Ruth is the one who's gonna have the child. - Right. - And so, and again, we keep saying, like Naomi's this founding mother of Israel keeps for calling all these passages back from Abraham's covenant. And so they're saying, be like the other founding mothers of Israel, Rachel and Leah and Taimar, who by their initiative secured the family line, specifically with Taimar. So Taimar is a crazy story. You can go back to our Genesis podcast for that one. But she by her own clever initiative engages in some sexually kind of strange acts, just like Ruth has kind of implicated some sexually tense filled moments. And secures the continuation of a line that's not really about her specific line. - And Judah. - The line of Judah, God's line. - Yes. Wow, okay. So, this announcement is made, and then it all comes to pass. - Yep. - And this is kind of the, they lived happily ever after section. - It just resolves really quickly. - It does. - And they got married and they had a baby, and its name was Obed. And Naomi is happy again. - And the foot and again, to prove our point, the focus is not on Boaz and Ruth. - It's not Naomi. - It's on Naomi. - The story ends with Naomi. - Yeah. Then the women said to Naomi, verse 14, "Blessed be the Lord, "who has not left you this day without a redeemer, "and may his name be renowned in Israel. "He shall be to you a restore of life "and a nersure of your old age "for your daughter-in-law who loves you, "who is more to you than seven sons, "has given birth to him. "Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her lap "and became his nurse." So what you're seeing here is, the story re-centering on Naomi. So Ruth has the child and it becomes Naomi's. - Yes, because I mean, read verse 17, this is a woman and the women of the neighborhood gave him a name saying, a son has been born to Naomi. - To Naomi. - Wait, hold on. This is Ruth's kid, right? No, not when it comes to what's happening here with redemption. - Right. - What's happening is this kid is actually Naomi's because Ruth has performed vicarious redemption, surrogate redemption. She is surrogately bought back and born a child for and on behalf of Naomi. - Yeah. - And that son, so I don't know if you wanna go here yet, but that son becomes Naomi's redeemer. - Yes, so blessed be the Lord, who's not like she's just out without a redeemer, and that's a reference to Obed, not to Boaz, because that son is going to grow up and provide for Naomi in her old age. - Yep, he shall be to you a restore of life and a nourisher of your old age. So, Obed becomes the redeemer because of the redemption of Boaz, because of the initiative. That's what's happening. And that becomes true in more ways than one, because Obed becomes the father of David. - Yes. - The woman whose husband names the king is dead, her son becomes the king of all Israel. - Yes, like, yes. - Yes, yes. - Right, the king, yeah, her husband's the king is dead and now her son or grandson becomes the king of Israel. - Yes, she, the king is the king. - The king is the king of Israel. - In empty, and then she was killed by the Lord. - Yes. - Oh, wow. That's beautiful. And third level of meaning she was redeemed because the son of David is Jesus. - Yes. - Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the redemption of name. - Yes, yes, her land was bought back in this story. Yes, her name, her family's name was preserved in this story. But there is something that stands against her, a record of debt that stands against her from which not even Boaz could redeem, right? The record of her law breaking that stood against her was still a black mark on her. And Jesus, when he came and died on the cross for her, like, he redeemed her. He bought her back from the curse of the law that she and every Israelite and human being is under. - Yeah. And even to double down on the land, Israel would eventually lose its land. So like, yes, she gets her land back. And yes, David expands the land, but David also eventually loses the land. So right before Jesus is born, they're in the same place as Naomi was. They're exiled, they're in power, they're enslaved by a Roman occupying force. Their land is theirs, but not really theirs. - Yeah, and most of the leaders are like, Hellenized puppets. of the Romans. The land needs to be redeemed from people that own it. They need to be redeemed from their own sins, which cause them to go into exile in the first place. And their homeland is not their home anymore. So the story of Jesus is again, the story of Ruth. You have people who are not, who need to be redeemed, who do not have a home, who are sinful and don't really deserve access to the blessings of the covenant. And yet there is a man like Boaz, who comes in a great cost to himself, secures a covenant and a land and forgiveness for the people that trust in the Lord. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. There's so many layers there to pull back. I think how we should land the plane is to talk about how does Jesus redeem us? I think what's so interesting about the book of Ruth is that it actually goes into the economy of redemption. Yeah. Which is confusing. One, and two is very filled with differing opinions and conflict and theological disagreements and things like that. And I just think it's very clear what's happening here. So I think the main thing to pull out of this is this theme of vicarious redemption. Okay. Yes. Which means redeeming somebody that's not your cell. Like redeeming on behalf of somebody else. Surrogate redemption. Yes. And so like the easy one to see is like Boaz, like so like, sorry Naomi has to sell her land and she's going to miss out on it. All these blessings and everything like that. So Boaz buys the land, pays the debt and gives Naomi something that she could not afford herself. Right. I mean, that's a really clear way to talk about how Jesus redeems us. We have a debt, right? We are sold to sin every day. Right. Even Romans talks about the wages of sin. Exactly. Right. The proper salary for sin is death. Is death. Yeah. That's right. And Jesus pays that debt by dying. He pays it. Now we get something we didn't deserve, which is life. Yeah. Yeah. And so like that's just, that's redemption. Jesus buys us back from death by paying the wage of death himself. Yes. He pays it. There's a price for our sin and it's death. In the same way that there was a wage, it was the mortgage, all the land that was paid by Boaz and great cost to himself. Great cost. And really it should harm his inheritance. And yet he does it anyway to give life to people who deserve, who should have died by both circumstance and by willful disobedience. That's right. That's right. And so I think we need to see Jesus as Boaz here, that Boaz at great cost to himself redeems Naomi. And he doesn't get anything from it. I mean, it's why the other redeemer walked away from the deal. I mean, any other redeemer other than Jesus would have walked away from the cross. Yeah. Yeah. It's like that song that has a bridge. What other King leaves his throne? What other King leaves his glory? Any other King would have walked away from that deal. But Jesus at great cost to himself goes to the cross to buy us back from death. Yeah. And Jesus is also like Ruth. Yes. Yes. Buy his initiative. Buy his cunning. Buy his wisdom. Secures for us. Secures like his divine line. Yes. That's right. So it's like if there is a divine messianic line that brings about salvation in Jesus, that's like the line of David, the line of Obed, the line of Ruth. That doesn't end with Jesus. He now has offspring who are born by believing in him. Yeah. We are his body and his bride and his people. But how do we become adopted into Jesus' family by the cunning, the initiative and the boldness of Jesus to try to think of like a way to like go to a threshing floor moment and like do that with what would Jesus and the cross go like? Yeah. I mean, it is the cross though. It is the cross. Yeah. It's absolutely the cross. I mean, and I think the shrewdness is the way Jesus tricked death itself. Yeah. Is that like he was wise. Like the greatest wisdom is Jesus dying on the cross, Paul says in 1 Corinthians. And so like it was wisdom for Jesus to die on the cross because death was tricked. Yeah. And like they thought they were killing the Son of God, but really they were only killing death itself. Yeah. And so like yes, Jesus in his shrewdness was doing that. I think as we're talking about Ruth and how to see Jesus as Ruth as the vicarious redeemer because Boaz is not the vicarious redeemer. He just buys it, right? Ruth is the surrogate, vicariously redeeming Naomi, having a son that is not hers. Jesus is the one that leaves his homeland. Jesus is the one who leaves his father. Jesus is the one who leaves his mother. Jesus is the one who would rather marry, who would rather secure a marriage with a whore. There's another way of describing like unfaithful church. Yes. Then like marrying for love or status. Yes. Like Jesus marries himself to us not because we're the best for him personally, not because we're the most worthy. But because it accomplishes salvation for all of his people in order for him to show covenant love and faithfulness to those who don't deserve it. Yeah. And I just think it's, I think a lot of times when we talk about vicarious redemption or in theological circles, we talk about vicarious atonement that somehow Jesus and the right, his righteousness, his life, his goodness, his favor and position as a son of God, right, as the son of God, that that could somehow be credited to us. People are just like, that's not how things work. You know, like, like, imputed righteousness is what that's called. When the goodness and status of Jesus is counted as mine, that's called imputed righteousness or vicarious atonement. He is, he is, anyway. Yeah. People are often like, I just don't get that. That's not how that works. And it's like, we see the economy of how that can work here in Ruth. That Ruth is the one bearing the child going through the nine months, going through the labor pangs, right? Like bringing a child to family going home. Exactly. All the cost is hers and all the reward is Naomi's. It's now Naomi's. A child has been born to Naomi. That's not Naomi's kid. Right. Well, it's the same thing. That's not my righteousness. I didn't earn it, but it is mine nevertheless. It's almost a diminishment of Ruth's involvement. Like, wait, Naomi's son, what does she do? Nothing. Yes. And that's entirely the point. That's the, that's the whole point of grace. We are not saved by our works. We're not saved by our certainty. We're not saved because of our ethnic lineage. We come to God with our emptiness. Like Naomi came back to Bethlehem and God provides miraculously a redeemer for us to go and get all the bread we need, pay all the debts we owe and bring us into the lineage that we need. He brings us a redeemer who is Jesus. A redeemer in Bethlehem. Yes. A redeemer who came from Bethlehem to buy us back. All God wants you to do is come to him with his, with your emptiness. Like, and he will fill you up and you will be able to say, his righteousness is now mine. His life is now mine. His status is now mine. God has born this day to me. A son. Like, that is what's happening here. That's good news. In Ruth. So, at the end of the day, we're in Naomi. We are empty, sinful and hopeless and Jesus does everything to fill us up. That's good. That's good. And I was even, this is just a side note, but it's like, I like how Jesus is God who is the father and the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity is a complex thing. Yes. But like, the economy of redemption happens within the working of the Trinity. And when you try to start thinking about like, well, how does that work in real life? You automatically have to have multiple people. Yes. You have three. You have multiple actors simultaneously in human terms in order to accomplish what God does within themselves. And just like to make a note here about just the makeup of the Bible and the brilliance of God, and really the reasons spoken gospel exists is that God has done a beautiful thing in acting out in a human drama, the story of our redemption. Like because otherwise, if we didn't have stories like this or books like Leviticus, we wouldn't understand what Jesus did for us on the cross. God had to tell us a long, beautiful, involved story for us to even be able to scratch the surface of understanding what occurred at Golgotha. You know, like, yeah. And I just think that's why I do this podcast and why we make stuff that's spoken gospel is because the more we dig into the, our first and longest gospel, which is the Old Testament, the more we get to see the beauty of what happened when Jesus was nailed to that tree. And so anyway, I just think this is a beautiful picture of that. - Yeah, well thank you guys for joining us in the book of Ruth. This has been a blessing for us. I've really enjoyed it. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review on our podcast. We are at the time of this recording. We're five reviews away from our first hundred reviews and get us to 100 guys. - Yes, so that'd be great. - And it's not just vanity. - No, that's actually how people see more of Jesus on iTunes. - It's a lot of fun. - When you leave a review, it tells the iTunes algorithm to send our show to other people. And so if you like this show and other people discover it, leave a review, leave a rating. Anyway, regards all that. We appreciate you guys. Thank you for listening and we will see you next time. (upbeat music) - Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel Podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit that gives all its resources like this podcast away for free because of supporters like you. To help Spoken Gospel in our mission to speak the Gospel out of every corner of scripture and view all our free resources, visit SpokenGospel.com. (upbeat music)