4:1–2 Scene 4 (4:1–12) features Boaz’s righteous resolve. Specifically, it recounts his acquisition of the redemption right, with some form of “redeem” occurring twelve times (vv. 1, 3, 4 [5x], 6 [4x], 8). The first two verses set up the action by describing Boaz’s initiative to honor his promise to Ruth (cf. 3:13) in a manner that also honors Israel’s laws and customs. References to “the gate” and “the elders” enclose the unit (4:1–2, 11), which underscores the lawfulness of the proceedings, since legal matters in ancient Israel were often settled by elders at the gate.42 Probably Boaz sits down at Bethlehem’s gate to signal his intention to convene a formal assembly. When the kinsman-redeemer (i.e., Elimelech’s nearest male relative) providentially passes by, Boaz bids him to sit as well.43 Boaz then calls ten elders to sit, likely to establish a quorum.

4:3–8 Boaz’s dialogue with the kinsman-redeemer exhibits Boaz’s integrity. He informs the kinsman-redeemer of Naomi’s intention to sell Elimelech’s plot of land and calls the kinsman-redeemer to claim or cede his redemption right to Boaz, who is next in line (cf. Lev. 25:23–28). As the focus of the conversation between Ruth and Boaz was about marriage, Boaz’s leading with the issue of Elimelech’s property is, at first glance, surprising for modern audiences.

That Boaz casts the transaction in terms of redemption implies that Naomi is selling the right to the land’s yield for a limited period of time, providing short-term income but no long-term means of support (cf. Lev. 25:23–28).44 Yet the issue of Naomi’s sale involves numerous ambiguities that have inspired much debate.45 For example, if widowed Naomi possesses the legal right to Elimelech’s land, how has she obtained that right,46 and why has Ruth been gleaning elsewhere (cf. 2:2)? Perhaps before departing for Moab Elimelech sold the right to his land’s yield for a specified amount of time, and now at harvest’s end Naomi is selling her right to redeem the entitlement to the land’s yield from whomever purchased that entitlement from Elimelech.

The kinsman-redeemer initially agrees to redeem Elimelech’s estate, which heightens the dramatic suspense. Boaz then clarifies that redeeming Elimelech’s property will entail redeeming his legacy. That is, the redeemer must “acquire” through marriage Mahlon’s widow, “Ruth the Moabite,” for the purpose of begetting an heir to “perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”47 The commercial language in verse 5 applied to Ruth (“acquire”; “bought,” v. 10) is used in light of this marriage’s association with a commercial transaction involving property.48 Biblical redemption legislation nowhere instructs a redeemer to marry a deceased relative’s widow. Boaz seems to be applying kinship principles operative in levirate marriage that aim to preserve the family line of a deceased male relative (cf. Deut. 25:5–10).49 Perhaps he is following extrabiblical customs rooted in levirate-marriage principles about which Naomi and Ruth know (cf. Ruth 3:9), or else he is innovatively going beyond the law’s letter to apply its spirit along the lines of Ruth’s proposal (cf. comments on 2:4–17).50 Regardless, Boaz’s speech exhibits his resolve to embody righteousness, no matter the cost.

Just as Orpah’s ordinary decision to return to her maternal home comparatively highlights Ruth’s extraordinary loving kindness to cling to Naomi (1:14), the kinsman-redeemer’s ordinary pragmatism comparatively highlights Boaz’s extraordinary righteousness. The kinsman-redeemer claims the redemption right only when, to his knowledge, the transaction is limited to Elimelech’s property. Presumably he calculates the transaction’s potential benefit to his own inheritance and its relatively minor cost. (The cost would involve taking responsibility for Naomi’s welfare.) But the cost-benefit ratio changes with the addition of marrying “Ruth the Moabite” to produce an heir for Elimelech. Without a male heir, the property would have passed to this kinsman (cf. Num. 27:1–11). But as soon as a male heir would be born, it would pass back to that child, which means this man would have used his resources to support two widows, with no long-term financial gain to himself.51 And so, concerned with preserving his own estate and not that of his kinsman Elimelech, the kinsman-redeemer cedes his redemption right. Perhaps this redeemer’s namelessness ironically reflects his self-interested refusal to perpetuate his deceased relative’s name.52

After the kinsman-redeemer verbally transfers the redemption right to Boaz (v. 6), he does so ceremonially (vv. 7–8).53 The narrator’s explanation of the ancient ritual performed in the presence of witnesses emphasizes the lawfulness of Boaz’s acquisition. Boaz dutifully follows every proper procedure and custom in order to become the authorized redeemer.

4:9–12 Boaz’s speech to the witnesses and their response bring to the fore the covenantal character of Boaz’s redemptive act. Boaz first calls the elders and bystanders to confirm the transfer of the redemption right. In the process he reiterates his covenantal interest in marrying “Ruth the Moabite” (cf. v. 5), namely, to perpetuate Elimelech’s name and keep it from being “cut off” (cf. 1 Sam. 24:21 [David’s promise to Saul]).54 Boaz thereby epitomizes covenant loyalty.

The elders and bystanders ratify the redemption and invoke the Lord’s blessing on Ruth and Boaz by asking the Lord to show the same benevolence to Boaz and Ruth that he has to his servants in the past.55 First, the group agrees to serve as formal witnesses. Second, they petition the Lord to cause Ruth to be fruitful in building up Boaz’s house, “like Rachel and Leah” were fruitful in building up Israel’s “house” (i.e., lineage; cf. Gen. 29:31–30:24).56 The witnesses clearly view Ruth as a legitimate marriage partner for Boaz. Third, they express their desire for Boaz to “act worthily” (cf. Ruth 2:1; 3:11) and “be renowned” among his native clan in his native town. Their desire for Boaz’s renown evokes his concern to keep Elimelech’s name from being cut off in his “native place.” Boaz’s ultimate renown probably exceeds the witnesses’ expectations, as he becomes the great-grandfather of King David. Finally, the witness-chorus asks the Lord to give Boaz offspring through Ruth so that his “house” would be built in the pattern of the house of Perez, Tamar’s son through her father-in-law, Judah.57 On the whole, the witnesses’ benediction exhibits the power of covenant kindness to inspire joyful hope among God’s people.

4:13–17 The narrator transitions to show the outcome and significance of Boaz’s and Ruth’s loving kindness. The immediate outcome is summarized: Boaz marries Ruth and consummates the marriage, and the Lord “gives [Ruth] conception” so that she bears a son (cf. Gen. 29:31). The Lord’s generosity in this conception is highlighted without any comment on Ruth’s previous childlessness with Mahlon.

The Bethlehemite women play the major role in illuminating this baby’s significance. They celebrate the Lord’s restoration of Naomi, which heightens the sense of dramatic resolution due to their role in scene 1 (cf. 1:19–21). They bless the Lord for not leaving Naomi “without a redeemer,”58 whose name they desire to be renowned in Israel (cf. 4:11). This baby is a “redeemer” in that he preserves Elimelech’s family line and, as the women elatedly envision, returns life to Naomi and will provide for her.59 They know he will care for Naomi in her old age because his mother is Ruth, “who loves [Naomi], who is more to [Naomi] than seven sons” (a number signifying completion; e.g., Josh. 6:4).60 The narrator then shares a touching moment: Naomi, bereft of her own “sons” (Ruth 1:5), now embraces the “child” in her lap (4:16).61 Finally, the women name the child and sum up his value to Naomi: “A son has been born to Naomi.”

The narrator punctuates the drama by disclosing a final (shocking) piece of information about this child’s identity: he is “Obed . . . the father of Jesse, the father of David.” By waiting until the conclusion to reveal Naomi’s connection to King David, the narrator spotlights the Lord’s hidden and blessed providence at work throughout her circumstances. Humanly speaking, without the famine in Bethlehem precipitating Elimelech’s family’s sojourn in Moab, without Mahlon’s marriage to Ruth and subsequent death, without Ruth’s clinging to Naomi, without Ruth’s “happening” (2:3) upon Boaz’s field—and so on—there would be no King David, nor the rest for the nation that the Lord ultimately grants through him (cf. Deut. 12:10; 2 Sam. 7:1, 11). The book of Ruth underscores the Lord’s supernatural grace at work even generations before David’s birth to raise up his servant David by way of his dealing kindly with his servant Naomi, who would have died before learning that the Lord had incorporated her into the royal lineage. The book’s surprise ending thereby calls the covenant family to trust the Lord’s loving kindness, even if they cannot perceive his providence or know how he will accomplish his salvation purposes during their days on earth.

4:18–22 The narrator concludes the book with a ten-generation genealogy from Perez to David. This selective genealogy (cf. 1 Chron. 2:4–15) symbolizes the renewal of Elimelech’s decimated line (Ruth 1:1–5) and highlights Boaz and David, placing them in the seventh and tenth positions, respectively.62 Moreover, the genealogy brings into view the plot’s embeddedness in the larger biblical storyline by stressing the long-range import of the Lord’s grace to Naomi. In the Lord’s providence the impact of Ruth’s and Boaz’s loving kindness stretches well beyond Naomi’s field of vision to help secure rest for all Israel.

Indeed, the impact stretches well beyond even the human narrator’s field of vision. The prophet Micah announces the day, after the nation’s experience of exile, in which a ruler coming from “Bethlehem Ephrathah” would “stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord” and secure lasting peace for the Lord’s people (Mic. 5:2–5). As the Gospel writer Matthew makes plain, this anticipated ruler from Bethlehem is the Lord Jesus Christ, David’s greater son (Matt. 1:1–17; 2:5–6; cf. Rev. 5:5). In Christ the lineage of Ruth 4:18–22 finds its ultimate fulfillment. No matter how hopelessly cyclical human history may seem in the days when the judges judge (1:1), the Lord is advancing his salvation purposes to raise up his anointed servant, a king (v. 22), on behalf of all those who take refuge under his wings (2:12).