The Gospel Story of Ruth and Boaz
The Gospel Story of Ruth and Boaz.
“The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.” (St. Augustine).
The “Old” Testament? Actually, I don’t think I agree with Augustine’s long-accepted claim. First of all, can’t we Christians start referring to the “Old Testament” as the “First Testament” (FT), or the Hebrew Bible, or the Earlier Testament, or the Jewish Scripture, or simply the Torah? “Old” implies something that is outdated, hobbled by age, past its usage date, irrelevant, antiquated, expired… none of which is true of the Hebrew Bible. The Old Testament is the First Testament, Act One of a Two-Act Bible, and the New Testament is the Newer Testament, the Second Act of that Two-Act Drama. The First Testament anticipates and lays the foundation for the Newer Testament, which fulfills the earlier Scripture. If I were a Jewish believer, which in many ways I am since I follow the Messiah Jesus and am thus grafted onto the Jewish tree (Romans 11), I would be offended by those who assume that the Jewish Scriptures are unnecessary or past its prime. Of course, the Bible of the completely Jewish Jesus, the Scriptures read daily by Him and considered by Him to be the eternal Word of God, was the First Testament. We who follow Jesus don’t have the right to consider the FT as irrelevant or past its usage date.
Gospel Stories in the First Testament. The other reason I disagree with the claim that the NT is concealed in the OT is that that there are countless stories, teachings, and prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures that very clearly point directly to the gospel story. These mini-gospel vignettes are fascinating and inspiring, and they fertilize the ground for the Good News, preparing the way for us to welcome in a fresh way the story of salvation and deliverance. Many of these mini-gospels are not well-known, while many are quite famous. So some of the stories in this series might be vaguely familiar, while the reader might be tempted to skim over others because of their familiarity. Either way, the gospelettes in the Jewish Bible deserve to be unpacked. The criteria I try to use as I choose these FT stories include… the story has to include gospel themes such as sacrifice and death; resurrection and life; redemption and deliverance; punishment and hope; forgiveness and healing. And each gospel vignette in the Hebrew Scripture needs to be a preparation for Christ in some way, pointing to Jesus Messiah as the fulfillment of the story. In other words, if the FT story is the only story you know from the Bible, would it prepare your imagination and spirit for the story of Jesus? Would this vignette make the story of Christ less unexpected and more feasible? If you happen to hear the full gospel story after first hearing the FT story, would the gospel story in the NT remind you in some way of the FT story?
“May the Lord Yahweh reward you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings (“kanaph”) you have come to take refuge.” (Ruth 2:12).
What did Ruth do that so impressed Boaz? The truth is that Ruth heroically went far beyond the call of duty. Here she is, a Gentile from the enemy nation of Moab, in the family line of the notorious Lot, and she chose to remain with her Jewish mother-in-law Naomi after Ruth was widowed. Ruth’s unexpected vow of commitment to Naomi has rightly come down as the very picture of covenant loyalty… “Urge me not to leave you, or to return from following you. For where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there shall be buried. May the Lord punish me – and even more so – if anything besides death comes between us!” (Ruth 1:16-17). Ruth was thus welcomed into the Jewish fold, into the full Hebrew covenant community, and Boaz had the honor of blessing Ruth by introducing her to the protective wings of God. The rest of the story is legendary, and true… Boaz and Ruth eventually married, Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David right there in Bethlehem, and most glorious of all, she succeeded in continuing the family line of Jesus Himself, the Anointed One! Ruth was privileged to be an early family blood-donor to the Messiah! That simple blessing of Boaz over Ruth turned out to be quite the inspired mouthful, didn’t it?
Kanaph: The Hebrew word for “wings” used over 100 times in the Hebrew Bible which has a variety of meanings, often giving us a picture of God in action or revealing for us aspects of God’s character… the literal wings of a bird; the corners of a prayer shawl; the outer extremities of a garment; the outstretched wings of angels; the protective presence God as a refuge and shelter; the glorious rays coming out of the sun; the sudden swooping presence of judgment; the strength of God to rescue and deliver from danger.
Tallit: The square or rectangular garment with four corners that is used as a prayer shawl for faithful Jews and many Christians who want to follow the daily practice of Jesus. Per the commandment above, the tallit is required to have a knotted tassel, or fringe, hanging from each of the four corners. The tallit was usually white and made of wool or cotton linen. The four corners of the garment represented the four extremities of the earth, and point to God’s complete sovereignty over the world, His universal Kingship. The four dimensions of height, width, length and depth also reminds us of God’s eternal and unlimited love for us. The four corners of the tallit were called “wings” because when someone who is wearing a tallit raises his arms in prayer, the appearance is one of bird in flight.
Spreading the Wings of a Garment. There was an ancient Near East tradition adopted by the Hebrews regarding how a man was to propose marriage to a woman. He would pick up the corners, the “wings,” of his robe or outer garment and drape them over his intended spouse. Covering a woman with the edges or hem of his garment was an announcement similar to an engagement ring in modern times. The pious Jew would go one step further and didn’t use just any garment… He would take the wings of his tallit, his prayer shawl, and spread them over his betrothed to communicate his seriousness and the holiness of his intentions. Once a man covered his intended bride with his tallit, they were considered as good as married, promised to a future together as man and wife. This symbolic act revealed that this was a man who would protect his intended bride, would provide for her, and would remain faithful to her all their days.
“In the middle of the night, the man Boaz was startled awake and turned himself. What a surprise! There was a woman lying at his feet! So he asked her, ‘Who are you?’ And she answered, ‘I am Ruth, your handmaid. Spread the wings (‘kanaph’) of your garment over your handmaid, because you are my kinsman-redeemer.” (Ruth 3:9).
Role Reversal. Here we find a righteous foreign widow from Moab, technically a member of a Jewish family through marriage, asking a wealthy, highly esteemed Jewish man to marry her! By inviting Boaz to cover her with the corners of his tallit, Ruth is asking Boaz to take her in marriage. Ruth is banking on the fact that Boaz fulfills all the requirements of being her “goel,” her next of kin who is obligated to rescue her from poverty, marry her, and thus faithfully provide for her in a faithful covenant of love.
Modern Versions of the ‘Spreading of the Wings.’ This ancient Jewish signal of a man’s intentions to marry a woman, what was essentially a marriage proposal, turned out to be a symbolic action that has remained an important part of the Jewish wedding ceremony to this day. The wings of the tallit can be found in the traditional “chuppah,” the wedding canopy or covering that involves hanging a large tallit over the couple during the ceremony. This sacred prayer shawl that remains above the heads of the couple throughout the ceremony is supported by four posts holding up the corners, or by friends of the couple holding the tallit corners up by themselves. This chuppah is accepted as a sign of the covenant of love between the husband and wife. Another popular tradition is that after the wedding vows, a large prayer shawl is wrapped around the shoulders of both husband and wife as they stand together, signifying their promises of faithfulness to each other. Finally, as a sign of the sacred covenant between them and the husband’s promise of faithfulness and love, the groom covers his new bride with his own personal tallit at the end of the ceremony. Under the Wings. What a powerful statement of commitment and love through thick and thin.
The Obligations of a Kinsman-Redeemer. To buy back; to restore; to recover by purchase; to perform the obligation of the next of kin; to put something back into its original condition; to repay a debt; to advocate for a relative if wrongly accused; the blood relative who will do what is needed for the kin if that person is unable to do it for himself. The term Go’el was used more generally to mean to rescue from captivity, to deliver from some type of confinement; to ransom from slavery; to bring justice to a loved one’s unjust situation.
The Kinsman Redeemer was obligated in the Hebrew community to do the following for a relative:
(1.) To purchase a brother’s freedom if serving as a “slave” or an indentured servant. If this brother was in dire poverty and hired himself out to a master as a working servant for an extended time, the Go’el was obligated to buy his brother back from the master’s employment to release him from his obligations.
(2.) To buy back the brother’s land if the brother had to lease his land to pay off debts. This was done in order to regain what was originally family property to keep it within the family for inheritance.
(3.) To enact vengeance on a brother’s death if it was the result of a murder. This is called being the “avenger of blood” (Gen. 9:5), which was offset by the establishment of “cities of refuge” throughout Israel. In those cities, vengeance could not be taken, and was a sanctuary protecting those who accidentally killed someone or who acted in self-defense. The Go’el was obligated to kill the murderer of his brother.
(4.) To marry a relative’s widow if that couple was childless. The go’el, the nearest kinsman, was obligated to produce a male heir for his deceased brother’s family. In that culture, they would continue producing children until a son was born, who would then be the guardian and breadwinner of the family.
Redeemer-God. How did Redeemer become such an important title for the Lord God?
(1.) Father God redeemed His children the Israelites from oppression in Egypt. As their Father, God was the closest relative to His Chosen People, He was united with them by a blood covenant, and therefore was the first in line to redeem His children, rescuing them from tyranny and slavery. “This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me.” (Ex. 4:22). And then the Lord followed that up with, “I am the Lord Yahweh and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them and will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.” (Ex. 6:6-7).
(2.) Jewish believers developed the meaning of redeemer to include Yahweh as they understood the parallels between deliverance from Egypt and God’s continual rescue mission of each of them from evil and destruction. What was once a kinsman redeemer evolved into a God-Redeemer.
(3.) The Father sent the Son to forgive our indebtedness to God because of our sin; to redeem mankind: to deliver us from evil; to rescue us from our captivity to our fallen nature; to remove the penalties of sin in our lives; to save us from our slavery to sin; to regain mankind’s innocence; to avenge the evil done to mankind through judgment of Satan and his demons; to wipe the slate clean and offer eternal life in God’s presence.
(4.) To redeem mankind, God the Son was required to be a divine Go’el and buy back the human race from sin and sin’s master. In order for this redemption to occur, Jesus purchased our spiritual freedom by offering His own blood as a worthy sacrifice. Jesus saw we were on the slave block, and He ransomed us, giving up His life in the process. We were not able to regain our own salvation from the guilt of sin, we were not able to restore our own innocence by our own efforts, so in the role of kinsman redeemer, Jesus rescued us because of His unfathomable love for us.
(5.) Among Jesus’ parting words before His Ascension, He declared that His God was our God, and His Father was our Father. So we have the same Father as Jesus, which makes us brothers and sisters with Him. Who was the first relative obligated to redeem a blood relative? The brother. Jesus was our Go’el, our kinsman redeemer, the brother coming to the rescue.
(6.) In every way possible, Jesus Christ is the biblical fulfillment of the kinsman redeemer. Jesus is the Go’el of the world.
Everyday Redemption. There is a mysterious thread of redemption woven into our lives. Somehow, a person who has had a difficult time of rebellion and disobedience actually becomes a stronger person after turning that part of his life around had he never had that time of rebellion. Something bad transformed into something that is even better than if that bad had never existed. Mistakes made has the potential to mature a person even deeper than if he had never made those mistakes in the first place. So don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because the truth is Redeemer God wants to transform those mistakes into something better than if those mistakes had never happened. God doesn’t waste mistakes, there will be no such thing as lost time. God redeems bad mistakes and lost time to make things even better had they never happened. Sometimes we see redemption, in the cases of healing, deliverance, rescue, restoration, the opportunity to start over. And sometimes we don’t see redemption, in the cases of chronic pain, fatal illness, ongoing suffering, and tragic death. Only our good God has the Big Picture on how redemption fits into a world that is not fully redeemed, freed from the shackles of sin and its consequences. There are no easy answers, of course, and Christians should be careful about blithely throwing around Bible verses when in difficult circumstances with someone who suffers. Some thoughts on everyday redemption:
The Bottom Line. We are not capable of understanding how the world works, or even how God works. So it comes down sooner or later to trusting in God’s mercy, regardless of the situation. Trust that God is good and knows best, that He wants what is good even if we don’t see the redemption in the situation. Believe that we will for certain see the fullness of redemption in the next life in God’s kingdom… “I hope in God’s mercy, I trust in God’s faithfulness, forever and ever and unto ages of ages.” (Psalm 52:8).