Our Kinsman-Redeemer

I wonder what comes to mind when you think of the book of Ruth? A love story? Two widows arriving bereft from a foreign land? The gathering of corn after the harvest? The generosity of Boaz the wealthy farmer, or perhaps Ruth herself, the ancestress of our Lord Jesus?

For myself, I see the golden fields of corn such as those painted in The Gleaners by the French artist Millet. It is painted in colours, which evoke the soft, warm light that is seen towards the end of day, making the world look full and beautiful. It features three peasant women, prominent in the foreground, stooping to glean the last scraps of the harvest. Their gaze does not meet the viewer and their faces are hidden beneath their peasant caps. Indeed they are bent over like the corn in the wind. Their earthy figures blend into the colours of the piece, ingraining them well into the scene.

This painting has a resonance with the story of Ruth, gathering the leavings after Boaz' workers had finished harvesting the crops. In Leviticus we read that ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.' Instead they were to be left for ‘the poor and the sojourner'. But what had happened to Ruth that she found herself in this humble position?

The story is set in the time of the Judges. This period in the history of the Israelites was characterised by a time of moral degeneracy, national disunity and many occasions of foreign oppression. The book of Ruth reflects a time of peace between Israel and Moab. It gives a series of intimate glimpses into the lives of an Israelite family and presents a remnant of faith in an otherwise dark era of Israelite history.

A famine had hit the land and even Bethlehem, which was traditionally very fertile, producing abundant harvests, was now suffering great hardship. The town of Bethlehem meant ‘house of bread' but at this time it became a ‘house of no bread'. An Israelite named Elimelech and his wife Naomi had left this area and had travelled to Moab. Perhaps his intentions had been to protect his family. We may have some insight into his reasons for leaving, when we consider the names of his two sons. Mahlon, means ‘to be sick' and Kilion means ‘failing', ‘pining' or even ‘annihilation'. His intention may have been to save the lives of these frail sons. However, for a God-fearing Israelite, Moab was not the place to go for a holiday, let alone take his family to live there! We can even detect a sense of tension, for there may have been temptation to change allegiance: to turn away from Yahweh and to turn towards foreign gods, such as those of Baal who was closely linked with fertility.

Their new life in Moab led to a bitter-sweet mix of joy and sadness. Elimelech died, his two sons married Moabite girls: Orpah and Ruth but then, in turn, the sickly pair Mahlon and Kilion found their graves in foreign lands. What emotions Naomi must have experienced. What was left for her?

Only to return to her home in Judah where she had left her heart. Especially in this patriarchal society, she was lost because she had no heir, no-one to protect or provide for her. It is no wonder that she wanted her name Naomi, which means ‘pleasant', to be changed to ‘ bitterness'.

It is at this point of return that we find Ruth and Naomi needing the support of El Shaddai, God Almighty, to provide refuge for them. And so we return to where we began – Ruth collecting the remnants, the left-overs.

Widowed, destitute, poor and vulnerable, they had to rely on the laws of Israel that allowed them to collect the remains after a day's harvesting. It seemed by chance that Ruth chose Boaz's field for her work. As we read the story we realise that it was God's provision that had led her to this place. God's plan was about to be unfurled and the story moved from what God had provided for the two women to whom God had provided for them.

Boaz the wealthy farmer had deep-seated qualities of generosity and kindness. As Ruth gathered up the grain, Boaz gently encouraged his workers not to embarrass her and even to provide for her by pulling out some stalks for her from the bundles. Boaz was the epitome of a godly man whose faith was real. For him there was no gap between the spiritual and the material, the secular and the sacred. He stayed loyal at the time of famine, remaining in Bethlehem.

He was obedient to God's laws and sensitively provided a safe haven for the girls involved in the gleaning. His hospitality was overwhelming. He did not treat Ruth as a foreigner but sat and ate with her. Calling her ‘daughter', he made her feel welcome. Boaz was ‘ Mr. Right ' for Ruth and Naomi. He was a channel ideally suited to be the means for God's loving kindness and favour to be lavished upon them.

Boaz, their kinsman-redeemer, prefigures our kinsman-redeemer, the Lord Jesus. He was obedient. He lived in perfect submission to the law of the Lord and his Father's will. He was welcoming to all who took refuge in him. He ate at the table of tax collectors and sinners, sensitively dealing with each one. The invitation to Ruth to eat bread and wine resonates with Jesus' call at the Last Supper and for all to come to his table. Jesus, too, was generous. The author of Ruth tells us ‘she ate all she wanted and had some left over', reminding us of the feeding of the five thousand and the baskets full to overflowing.

Towards the end of the book of Ruth, Naomi also refers to a ‘kinsman-redeemer', who is a small bundle in her arms. This time she is looking at the child of Ruth and Boaz, Obed. When she first returned to Bethlehem, she was without hope, immersed in her bitterness but through God's loving kindness she too was restored. Obed was to be the father of Jesse and grand-father of David, whose line would lead to Jesus. It is not by accident that Ruth decided to gather the remnants in the fields belonging to Boaz. God had a plan in bringing a Moabitess to be part of that family. She was from a scandalous nation with a poor pedigree in relation to Israel, but God did not use the rich and influential but the poor, unlikely and apparently insignificant. God specialises in the remnants, the left-overs and those whose lives are in tatters. He longs to meet each one of us at our point of need, whatever that may be, and it is as we begin to recognise him as our Kinsman-redeemer, that he can lavish us with his loving-kindness, redeem, restore and make us whole again. Amen.