There Is Redemption for Your Life: Ruth 4:1-12

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways. Well, good morning, everybody. My name is Chris.

It's good to be back. Chris. Jeff.

Yeah, you're Jeff. We are the Bible Guys. We want

to welcome you. Thank you for tuning in and or

you know watching. Yes, Yes, this big day today is

going to be awesome.

And the reason is we have a repeat of a

really cool game that we played.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, it says. Actually this the way

that Desiree wrote it says, she says. A couple of

weeks ago, we introduced a different segment called wrong Answers Only,

where Jeff had to intentionally give wrong answers to Chris's questions.

This time, Jeff is going to ask questions and we'll

see how out there Chris can be with his answers. Right, So,

I think challenge, I think.

I think one of your questions last time was something

like what's a good gift to give your wife on

the anniversary or something scale. So that's the kind of

thing you're looking for. So it's it's an absurd answer

to it's a terrible answer to a legitimate question.

Yes, yeah, which is why it's called wrong answers only

you know it's so appropriately titled.

Yes, okay, okay, So so you're looking for absurdly wrong answers.

And by the way, just so everybody knows, you have

not even thought about the question.

No, so I just with questions. Yeah, I'm struggling. So

here we go. What is the most impressive thing you

could think to say? Yeah, at dinner with Zach Effron.

Ever since your car wreck, you look terrible? Oh wow?

Really yeah. People think he has like botox and like

he had worked one, but he actually gotten a massive

car wreck and had had to reconstructive surgery.

He looks terrib So he looks terrible. So you're telling

him the truth. But you feel like, I feel like

that's the best answer, the best worst answer you can

come up with.

Okay, I mean, it's the one thing. It's the gaping thing.

I mean, it's it's the it's the elephant in the room.

Yeah that's true. Uh, if you could add one incredible

talent to your to your list of talents, what would it.

Be, huzow, Because I mean, you you're.

An incredibly talented person. I mean, just loads and loads

of talent.

To master the art of doing nothing.

Yeah, listen, go like, oh no, he's got that one down.

I just need more practice.

Just honey, leave me alone.

I'm practicing.

You're breaking my concentration.

I got to be better than the breakdancers from Australia.

Okay, Oh, what would be the the best thing you

could think to text to our our entire text group

for fantasy football? Because you are texting like a fiend

right now to the fantasy football Yeah, everybody sends us.

Somebody sends out a message and is the first one

to respond.

Yeah. The best thing you text the fantasy football league

is this.

That Jeff's probably gonna win again this year?

No, No, the NFL is rigged and it doesn't matter anyway.

Okay, Okay, this is hard, Yeah it is uh Okay.

And then if you had the name your pet after

the last thing you ate, what would it be called?

The squirts? Did you have?

Did is that? Did you have a pop? Then?

Is that it?

Okay?

Yeah?

Okay, okay, those are hard. It's hard to come up

with good questions along those lines. Do you need another one?

Yeah? You know what to be honest with you. I

thought your answers were great last time, but on the

receipt being on the receiving end of this, this is

really tough. They're hard to come up with absurd answers

that aren't like, yeah, it's just hard.

It's just difficult. How about this one, what is the

best if if you had to change your voice to

a movie character's voice, what's the best movie character voice?

Maybe you have to answer with a bad answer.

See that's like I can't then I can't do an

impressive movie character's voice. Okay, but that's correct. How about

uh bueller bueler.

Okay, there you go. Or I would think as far

as like a terrible movie will be like pee wee herman.

Oh my word, terrible terrible.

Yeah, that'd be terrible. Okay, it's cherry. Okay. Well, hey,

that's a hard one. That is really a tough yes segment.

I'm not sure.

I like you should ask all the questions from now

on and I'll answer.

I don't. I don't know why my brain didn't work

to no.

No. It's a hard one, man, It's I wasn't asking

great questions either.

Well, yesterday I went to work and we were in

meetings and I was getting everything good, good for you, good, good, yeah, good,

But I was I was getting everything wrong. And Trey's like,

Tree goes, what's the matter with you today? And I

was like, I don't know. And then I'd come out

and then then I'd like somebody would say something, and

I would like talk for like ten minutes and say no,

let's no, don't do that. And then Trey goes, I

was just meaning this, and I was like, oh, He's like,

what's the matter with you?

I'm like, I don't know. Poor Chris, and you did

like eat well, listeners, pray for Chris. Mine comes and goes.

At this age, my.

Wife bought me gummies for h adhd oh really yeah,

these little uh natural all natural something apparently not good.

I needed double I need up my doses gummy. All right.

So we have been in the Book of Ruth and

just to really, if you missed last week, I think

it'd be worth going back and catching up on a

few of those. It's just a few, I think, what

three episodes last week. But such a beautiful story of well,

quite honestly, you're gonna find out today, a beautiful story

of redemption. So we're gonna look at Ruth chapter four.

And Ruth has approached the guy that could be what

is called the Kinsman Redeemer, which we'll talk about. He

is very interested in her and is trying to find

a way to marry He's a cousin, a cousin of

her deceased husband.

Deceased husband, and so yeah, and so she was she

was picking corn from his from his brain, and then

he actually said no, no, no, no, no, come come with me.

You can have anything you want, right, and he sends

her home with gifts, with extravagance.

And this is where we pick up too, and she

lets him know, Hey, if you asked, I'd probably say

yes to marriage. Yes, And so he goes, hey, let

me go sort this out with because there was somebody

else that was closer to her in the opportunity to

marry her. Right, So they had this whole hierarchy. We'll

talk about it as to how people can get married.

But anyways, so in Ruth chapter four, verse one, it

says Boaz went to the town gate and took a

seat there. Just then the family redeemer he had mentioned

came by. So Boaz called out to him. Come over

here and sit down, friend, I want to talk to you.

So they sat down together, and then Boaz called ten

leaders from the town and asked them to sit as witnesses.

And Boa said to the family redeemer, you know Naomi

who came back from Moab. She's selling the land that

belonged to her relative Alimelech, and I thought I should

speak to you about it so that you can redeem

it if you wish. If you want the land, than

by it here in the presence of these witnesses. But

if you don't want it, let me know right away,

because I am next in line to redeem it after you.

And the man replied, all right, I'll redeem it, and

then Boas told him, of course, your purchase of the

land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the

Moabite widow. That way she can have children who will

carry on her husband's name and keep the land in

the family. Then I can't redeem it, the family redeemer replied,

because this might endanger my own estate. You redeem the land,

I cannot do it now. In those days, it was

custom in Israel for anyone transferring a right of purchase

to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party,

and this publicly validated the transactions. So the other family

redeemer drew off his sandal, as he said to boas

you by the land. And then Boaz said to the

elders and to the crowd standing around, you are witnesses

that today I have bought from Naomi all the property

of a Limelech Kilian and Malan, and the land I

have acquired. And with the land I have acquired Ruth,

the Moabite widow of Malan, to be my wife. This

way she can have a son to carry on the

family name of her dead husband, and to inherit the

family only property here in his hometown. You're all witnesses today.

Then the elders and all the people standing in the

gate replied, we are witnesses. May the Lord make this

woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah,

from whom all the nation of Israel descended. May you

prosper at ephra Hath and be famous in Bethlehem. And

may the Lord give you descendance by this young woman,

who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the

son of Tamar, and Judah. There you go. That's a

big long speech.

Yeah, well what weird traditions. Yeah, it was customary for

him to take off the sandal and hand it to

the person. Like what is that about? Why the sandal?

I don't know.

Yeah, And he's like and he's like, you're all witnesses.

I'm holding the sandal. You see it.

You see the sand?

So weird. I'm sure there's a good reason for it.

I'm sure there is smart enough to know it.

Well, everything was so symbolic, everything was so you're right there.

You want you want to ask Ai seriously? Yeah, yeah,

I'll ask right now. Oh wow, let me see in

Ruth Wow four, why did Boaz exchange sandals.

With the Redeemer?

With the Redeemer? There you go, let's see what it says.

It was a symbolic act that was customary in ancient

Israel as a way to confirm and legalize the transfer

of property or rights. Right, But they don't say one

in the contact of this story. It just explains what

he was doing. The sandal likely symbolized walking on or

owning the land, so giving it away was a way

of saying, I give up my right to walk on

this land or to own it, and I give that

right to you.

You know what, AI, isn't that smart? I don't believe that.

That's pretty slick. It is pretty slight.

That makes sense, right, So this act was a public

legal gesture witnessed by the elders and the people at

the city gate, making the transaction official and binding.

I mean, I figured it had something to do with walking.

I wasn't really thinking about walking.

Somehow, I'm giving up my right to walk on this land.

And now it had something to do with like symbolizing

the journey of life or something. Right.

So I'm not saying I think the AI is always right,

but it's that's a pretty good if you're listening, you

know what they say.

If you don't, if you can't make it, fake it.

Yeah, yeah, there you go.

It's funny.

So that that might be it. Yeah, it's right to

walk on the lane.

So so a kinsman redeemer.

Right, yeah, so this is so important.

Yeah, this, it really is. So when I was looking

up the Kinsman Redeemer, many of us know that Jesus

is called the kinsman redeemer, right, So it actually gave

me a reference to Hebrews Chapter two verses eleven through

eighteen is sort of you know, a good passion that

talks about that also references Psalm one eleven nine, like,

for instance, Some one eleven nine says he has sent

redemption to his people. He has ordained his covenant forever.

Holly and awesome is his name. And there were four

requirements of a kinsman redeemer. This was the law of

the kinsman redeemer. If it is listed for qualifications which

were necessary for a man to fulfill the role of

a kinsman redeemer, it was only when a man possessed

these four qualities. Blah blah blah. Okay. Number one, he

must be a kinsman. The passage is very explicit that

this redeemer must be related to the one whom he

is going to help or buy out or assist. Number two,

he must be free himself. Number three he must be

able to pay the price. And number four he must

be willing to pay the price. Right, and so Jesus

then you know, buys us.

Yeah, So let me just clarify, this passage didn't use

the word kinsman redeemer said family and it's the same, right,

So you and I we grew up with King James.

And so we think of that theologically with the phrase

kinsman redeemer.

And all the songs that talked about it. That's right, but.

Kinsman just means family member, right, So this is a

family redeemer. And so in that context, then using those

four things that Jesus was the is our kinsman redeemer.

The idea being so if you don't know, Ruth's husband died,

she's a Moabite, she's not a Jewish woman. Her husband

had died. Naomi is her mother in law. Naomi decides

to move back from Moab back to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem,

Ruth notices this guy, Boaz, and she starts harvesting the extras,

the leftovers in his field, which was part of the

Jewish law at the time to take care of poor people.

And he noticed her and went, oh, hey, you can

pick these better things, and was kind of flirting a

little bit in the way that, you know, the sophisticated

way that they would have flirted without being inappropriate. So

then Naomi goes, hey, wait a minute, he's in line

to be your kinsman redeemer. And what that is is

there was a law, there was no safety net for

social safety net for widows. Right, And so the law

opened up this opportunity that a family member of the

deceased person. So in this situation, Ruth's husband, a family member,

the next in line, a brother, a cousin, whatever, could

marry the wife of the deceased man and then provide

for her, whether that meant that they were going to

enter into you know, physical relations or not. What he's

doing is he's bringing in her house to take care

of her. If she is young enough and does not

have any children, and he doesn't have any children, then

he can then they can have children together. And partly

what that does is continue the line of the other

family member too. So there's all these things. So the

requirement then would be first of all, that he would

be free, that he would be a family member, that

he would be willing, I mean able, cable to pay

the price, and that he would be willing to do so.

And that's exactly what Jesus is. So, you know, we

are hopeless and without help. There is no safety net

for us unless somebody rescues us. Right, And that's what

Jesus did, is he was free, he was free from sin,

He could pay the price for us when we couldn't

and he had the ability to and did.

Yeah. And if you think about it, it's so awesome

to try to think of all the number of ways,

the millions of ways. It just seems like mathematically it's

probably not millions, but the odds are beyond billions and

trillions and guad brillions that Jesus would be able to

fulfill every prophecy, right, and over three to you know,

sometimes people say up to four hundred prophecies, but at

least over three hundred prophecies, and then he has to

be related. So Jesus then was born of a virgin,

and he becomes human, and so he becomes one of us.

Therefore he is one of us. He is a kinsman

of the human race. God who created us became one

of us, right, and so he.

Can qualify because we're all sons of Adam.

Yes, that's right. Yeah, and he's the second Adam, right,

that's right. So so yeah. And by the way, this

law of marrying widows, uh, that carried on from this

time in Ruth all the way up to Jesus's day. Yes, yeah, right,

which is why I remember when they asked they had

a question for Jesus, and they said, okay, let me

give you a scenario if one guy, you know, if

one guy dies and then the brother marries her and

seven brothers marry or who she married to in heaven,

remember it. And it's because of this law. Yes, it's

the law of the Pentitook. It's found in Leviticus where

it talks about you know, this social safety net that

you're referring to.

So then it might seem weird for our listeners. Right,

he bought land and got ruth. Right, that feels weird

a little bit to our sensibilities that what in the

world he's purchasing a wife feels weird. So you have

to understand the concept of a dowry. You and we've

done a lot of work around like the Pocots and

they do a dowry as well. Right, And this also

is a part of the fact that there is no

social safety net. So he literally, he says, so that

she'll have an inheritance. So what he's doing is he's

purchasing her dowry, which then if he dies, that's her. Basically,

what he does is before they say I do, he

paid for her life insurance, his life insurance policy. Right,

that's what he did. So he went and bought this

land that is now permanently her dowry. If he didn't

own the land and he died six months later, she

would have nothing because she wouldn't technically be qualified for

his land if he had other family members that could

qualify for it. So she instead. What he did is

he went and bought her ex or her former husband's land,

and her brother's in law's land, and her father in

law's land. He bought it all that let him provide

for Naomi. That's what he was doing was for Naomi,

that's her retirement, and helped purchase this life insurance policy

for himself so that Ruth would be taken care of

for the rest of her life no matter what happened.

It was a brilliant system. So when you and I

look at it, he seems to be buying land and

Ruth gets thrown in on the deal. Or on the

other hand, at one point there's a sentence in there

it seems like what he's doing is he's purchasing Ruth.

But that's not it. It's what he's doing is he's paying

the price so that she could be provided for forever,

which again is what Jesus did.

Yes, it's more about responsibility and the law, right, and

as opposed to an exchange of you know, a price.

Right. But I mean it would be like if a

guy goes to a girl today in our culture and said, hey,

I'd like to marry you, and she goes, oh, that'd

be really nice, and then he says, just so you know,

I just bought a ten million dollar life insurance policy,

and she goes, oh, yeah, I'll marry you right, right, right,

So or they stand in front of the pastor and

the pastor is like, you know, do you, Bob Johnson

take this woman and he goes yes. But before we

get to that point, I have I just purchased a

ten million dollars life insurance policy, right, And so then

the dad goes, oh, yeah, that sounds good, go ahead, right.

That's kind of what happened. Is it's making sure that

she's forever cared for and taken care of, which is

again what our kinsman redeemer did. This is why the

Bible talks about Paul. You know what Paul says this

in Corinthians. He says, don't you know that your body

is not your own, for you were bought with a price,

right right. Therefore, glorify about God in your body. And

there's multiple times where the Bible says, as Christians were

not our own anymore. That Christ bought us, He paid

for us with his blood. It's why Jesus said on

the cross to tell ustite. Right, it's paid in full.

Is he paid the price, that kinsman, redeemer. But what

he did is he didn't just buy us for himself.

He provided for us for the rest of eternity, right right,

it's really neat. It's a neat picture.

Yeah. You know the idea of redeem you know we

we don't you know, you take one thing and you

you exchange it for another. You know, we could redeem

like with a coupon, right, this coupon is equal to that.

It's it has value.

At Chuck e cheese, you could back when you use. Yeah,

you redeem the.

Sure redeem the tickets, yeah, the tickets. Yeah. But you

know that's what you do. You have to have something

in order to get something else, and that's something has

to be value, and that the thing that you hold

is is valuable. So we we redeem in our lives

all the time. Sounds like a you know, a word

that is reserved for a lot of church. You know,

a lot of churches use the word redeem a lot

and a lot of the songs. And I would just say, no, no,

we that redeeming is a part of our everyday lives.

It's just that we probably don't view it that way.

Well, we were owned by our sin, right, right, So

the debt that we owed, we we were owned by

our sin. And then Jesus came in as our kinsman redeemer,

as our family redeemer, and he paid everything necessary because

he was able to and because he wanted to, and

he provided for us for the rest of eternity, and

and the whole story, the whole concept of redemption is

based and rooted in love. Right, the King loved us

and paid the price when nobody else could or would,

and when we didn't have the ability to either.

So do you remember that old song he paid a debt?

He did not? Oh yes, he paid a debt? He

did not. Oh debt I could not pay. I needed someone,

yeah to wash mys and okay, so yeah.

And I haven't thought of that song in like a

thousand years.

I know it always comes up in my brain, you know,

all these old songs. Did I ever tell you the

prank that I paid it with a dowry? Did I ever

tell you that prank? A good friend of mine had

a son in law and you know, engaged to his daughter, right,

so just a future son in law. And she was

crazy about like Kroger organic produce, and so he fabricated

a stationary and emailed them and said, this is Kroger.

Apparently all the produce that you've been buying for the

last five years has not been organic, right, and so

and so like there was this elaborate prank, right, and

so she literally called them and like chewed them out,

and they're like, what are you talking about? Like it

was hilarious. And so anyway, she was so upset, and

I was the one doing the wedding, right, and then

you know, there's like a really rich, fancy kind of

kind of family, and so she says, I want you

to think of a way to help me pay him back.

So I came up with this. I literally went online

like Canva, you know, and did like this entire packet

and sent him a packet and said, okay, well, in

order for me as a pastor of this church that

they belong to. In order for you to perform this wedding,

you have to choose which dowry you're going to pay

to the church. Okay, now listen. And I had like

three thousand, seven thousand, ten thousand, and twenty five thousand,

right based on how much he loved her, Bason, how

much he loved her now and and by the way,

it was, I did it. I did it up, baby,

I like the twenty five thousand was like like like

buying goats, like for our global partners, and like you know,

buying sewing machines for the women of India. I mean,

like we're adopting children, right, Like I had all like

attached to something, all the legitimate I wrote it all out,

everything else, and I sent it to him and he goes,

what's this? And I called him on the phone. I

was just the jet. I was totally jet. I said, listen,

you can choose whatever you want. The three thousand, the

seven thousand to ten thousand and twenty five thousand, I said,

But just so you know, I've been doing this for

like seventeen years, and I don't know a single person

that has not chosen the twenty five thousand. But it's

up to you, that's what I said. I go, but

it's up to you. Yeah, And I was like, so,

I'll let you know. And then and then literally he

goes back to the to the to the wife, to

the you know, and says and says, is this real?

And and they're like yeah, And they let it play

out for like for like a month. Well I wasn't

a month. It was probably two weeks.

Wow.

Yeah, that's pretty funny.

That's crazy. So then they wind up literally, if you're

wondering how the story end, they live happily ever after. Right,

this is one of the great love stories of the Bible.

I wish we could have dug in just a little

bit more, but we read most of it. And then

they are the great great great great great great great

great great. I think it's eight generations grandparents of King David.

Wow.

So it's either because there's a list there at the

end of the Oh yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no,

I'm sorry, I read it wrong. Perez, I went from

pez so bo As was the father obd Ovid was

the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David.

So these are the great These are just the great

grandparents four generations. Yeah, so, uh, that's really cool because

Boaz and Ruth become the grand great grandparents of of

King David. David is the lineage, the line the family,

the royal line of Jesus, and so ultimately Boaz and

Ruth are in the lineage of Jesus right now. That's

also family members. So just a really beautiful story. Anyways,

very cool.

Listen, that is our time, so hopefully we'll see you

next time on the Bible Gush