I began this series by saying that Ruth is a great love story. The plot of Ruth goes: girl loses boy, girl meets boy, girl gets boy. Today we come to the bit where Boaz and Ruth finally seal the deal and get hitched.

We met Boaz back in chapter 2. He is a godly man, a real contrast to many in Israel at the time. Not only is he godly, showing lovingkindness to Ruth and Naomi, but he is also a close relative. For those of you who missed Sheila's sermon last week, let me remind you of the significance of this.

In Israel, every family had a permanent share in the land God had given His people Israel. When a person had to sell their land because they were poor, they would give the first option to close relatives, to buy the land so that it could remain in the family. If they sold it outside the family, it was still to revert to the family in the year of Jubilee, which happened every 70 years. Then the family would have the option to buy it back, that is, to redeem it. Whether when first sold, or at the Jubilee, it was the obligation of the closest relative, to buy land so that it remained in the family. This relative was called a kinsman redeemer. Boaz stood in that relationship to Naomi's husband Elimelech.

There was another rule in Israel to ensure that a family's name and inheritance among God's people was not lost. It was the law of levirate marriage. This kind of marriage happened when a married man died childless. The man's brother had to marry his widow and have children with her. The first of these children was to be considered the child of the dead man, whose inheritance passed on to it. The law of Moses doesn't command that anyone other than a brother had to fulfil this obligation, but it seems to have been the custom in Bethlehem at least, that more distant kinsmen could also father children for their dead relatives. Boaz as a relative of Elimelech, was able to do that.

Ruth is a strange case. Elimelech's wife Naomi was past childbearing, and Elimelech's sons Mahlon and Chilion, were dead. So Ruth, Mahlon's widow, is somehow able to stand in for Naomi. It's a wierd setup and we don't fully understand the customs behind it. But the purpose of both these customs - the redemption of land and the redemption of the dead man's name and inheritance - is that his family line may legally continue in Israel, so that none of the families of those who were brought into the promised land would be lost.

Well, Boaz is a close relative, able to redeem Naomi's land and provide children who will be the descendants of Elimelech. And he seems keen to do so. But there is a hitch, as we saw at the end of the last chapter.

There is a man closer than he. What will happen? We've grown quite fond of Boaz by now. We know he's godly and kind and has treated the women well. What if this closer relative accepts? What if he's not a good man? What will happen to Ruth?

Well we know what happens next. Boaz and Naomi have obviously thought out carefully their plan of action. Verse one, "Boaz went up to the town gate and sat there. When the kinsman-redeemer he had mentioned came along, Boaz said, "Come over here, my friend, and sit down." So he went over and sat down." Then Boaz puts his plan into action. We read, "Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, "Sit here," and they did so. Then he said to the kinsman-redeemer, "Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech. I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line."

The town gate was an important place in ancient Israelite villages. In Jesus' day, many centuries later, towns were built on the Greek model, where the marketplace was the centre of law and business and public notices. But back in Ruth's day, Israel needed to defend themselves often. So they built very compact towns, with a big fortified wall and one main gate. There was no room for a public square, so all public business and legal dealings happened in front of the city gate. That's where leaders made pronouncements and judges decided criminal and civil cases. It was where people were called for the ancient equivalent of jury duty, or to give evidence, or be witnesses to legal transactions such as land transfer, marriage, divorce, adoption, and so on. That's why Boaz waits at the gate and arranges elders and witnesses. He wants everything to be legally recognised.

Boaz asks this relative, to do his moral duty under Israelite law and ensure that the land does not pass out of the dead man's family.

Will the man help Naomi and redeem the land? It seems so - he says in verse 4, "I will redeem it." He likes the idea of buying another field.

But now Boaz reveals the catch. "On the day you buy the land from Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, you acquire the dead man's widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property."

By marrying Ruth and having children on behalf of her dead husband Mahlon, the kinsman would preserve Elimelech's family name and inheritance. It seems a strange custom, and it's hard for us to appreciate how important land and inheritance was to them. It represented a share in the promised land, in God's national salvation of his people. And way back, God had promised that full salvation for the world would come through a descendant of Abraham. Every godly woman and man in Israel must have hoped that their line would produce the promised saviour.

Well, when Boaz reveals that the land of Elimelech and his sons comes with a Moabitess mouth to feed, he does a 180 degree turn. "Then I CANNOT redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

He doesn't say won't, but can't. To him at least, it seems impossible. Here we see the shrewdness of Boaz and Naomi. If they had offered the man just the field, he might have taken it. If they had offered just Ruth in marriage, he might have done it. But he is not willing to take on both at once.

If it weren't for this complication, he would just inherit the land as the closest relative and pass it on to his own sons. That sounded like a good deal. If it were just a matter of marrying Ruth, he could have children by her and they would be his own heirs. But having to redeem both the land and the inheritance of the dead man, meant taking a risk. Maintaining the land would cost money. He would have to provide for Ruth and have children by her. Her first son would be considered not his heir, but the heir of the dead man, and the dead man's fields would pass on to that son, not to the kinsman-redeemer's line. What if this financial burden forced him to have to sell his own land? What if his own heirs died, or if he didn't already have children, what if Ruth only had one son? That son would be legally the heir of the dead man. Then he would have no heir for his own name. No the risk was too great.

So Boaz becomes the redeemer. Verse 9. "Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, "Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion and Mahlon. I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon's widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from the town records. Today you are my witnesses!"

Here the story reaches its climax. Naomi will have means to live on. Elimelech's name will continue in Israel. And the love story will have its consummation. Ruth has a husband once more.

All stories of this kind end with "and they all lived happily ever after..." And that's what verses 11 and following say. But these verses are not just an after thought. They tell us much about the purpose of the story.

"Then the elders and all those at the gate said, "We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. Through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah."

"So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son."

It's at this point we realise for the first time something about Ruth. Up to now she has been barren. We don't know how long she was married to Mahlon. It could have been up to ten years. And she had no children. That's why the women say "May the Lord make her like Rachel and Leah." You can read about these two sisters in Genesis 29 to 35. The people of Bethlehem were descended from Leah. Rachel was buried just outside the town. They were the wives of Jacob, whom God called Israel. They were mothers of the tribes of Israel. And they were both barren, until God enabled them to conceive, just as it says here in verse 13: the Lord enabled Ruth to conceive, and she gave birth to a son.

That Ruth was barren highlights Boaz' faith and his determination to show lovingkindness to her and to Naomi despite the possible cost. Boaz must have loved her very much. And his love for her is a product of his love for the Lord, whom he knows he can trust to provide children for them.

From barrenness to birth is a story often repeated in Scripture. Many of the heroines of the Bible were first barren and then had very special children. There was Sarah, Rachel, Leah, the unnamed mother of Samson, Hannah the mother of Samuel the prophet, and in Luke's gospel, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist. Verses like Psalm 113:9 declare "He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!" Here in Ruth 4, God does this for two women through the one child. Ruth physically and biologically gives birth to her son Obed. But in God's sight, the child is also a son for Naomi. Verse 16 & 17: "Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, "Naomi has a son!"

The story begins and ends with Naomi. She goes from being empty and bitter at the end of chapter one, to being blessed and full. "The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the Lord, who has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth."

Well, what can we learn from this series on Ruth?

First, like so much of the bible, Ruth is a book written from the viewpoint of women. It is a book that honours women. Verse 15 for example, describes Ruth, Naomi's daughter-in-law, as being better than seven sons. People who've hardly read it often associate the bible with right-wing male-chauvinist, sexist and racist attitudes. Yet here we have a book whose heroines are women who take the initiative. It is Ruth who proposes to Boaz, and Naomi who does the matchmaking. This Ruth is also a migrant alien. Even Boaz, the Jewish male in the story, has a family pedigree that is far from Kosher. His mother, or possibly grandmother, was Rahab the prostitute, a Canaanite woman who through her faith in the God of Israel was saved when Israel conquered Jericho. The whole story shows God's care and concern for women, especially those who are powerless, such as widows and aliens and the childless. Are we as a church, concerned as God is, for the needs of the powerless and brokenhearted, of the single parent, of the widow, or the migrant?

Second, the faith and conduct of Boaz and Naomi and Ruth is something we can learn from. They have a sure faith in God's sovereign control of events and in his lovingkindness and faithfulness to the promises he has made to his people. That faith leads them to bless God at all times, even through difficulty and heartbreak. It also leads them to bless others with the blessing God has given to them. Because God has loved us, we are able to love one another.

But blessing others always has a cost and a risk. Do you want to be a blessing to your Christian brothers and sisters, and to those who don't know Jesus? Then it will cost you. It will cost you time and effort and money and potential grief, loss and heartbreak. Are you willing to come out of your own comfort zone for the sake of blessing others? Will you stick your neck out for them?

The potential kinsman-redeemer in verse 6, wasn't about to stick his neck out for anyone. This unnamed relative refuses to bless Naomi and Ruth because "I might endanger my own estate." It might jeopardize his own inheritance and name. Yet isn't it ironic. Who is the only major character in the story whose name has been lost forever? He could have been remembered all over the world as the ancestor of the Messiah, yet now we don't even know his name. What blessings are you missing out on by not blessing others?

Boaz, on the other hand, was willing to take the chance. It must have cost him dearly in financial terms. It wasn't just that he was in love with Ruth. He knew that God was a God who freely blessed his people, and that he must be like God.

Finally, God is like Boaz, only better. If even Boaz, a mere creature of God, was able to behave as a redeemer, taking an outcast and bringing her into the fellowship of God's people, then two things could be said of the creator of Boaz. First, God must feel even more compassionate towards all the Ruths of the world, as his creature Boaz felt towards Naomi's daughter-in-law. Second, God must be a God of Redemption, with the desire and the power to redeem all outcasts into fellowship with him when they come to Him for help. God is not like the other relative who has neither the love nor the means to redeem. He is like Boaz who is willing to risk everything. How does God do this? Let me tell me you as I finish.

Verses 14 and 15 speak not just of Boaz, but of the child, as a redeemer. They named the child born to Ruth, Obed. A curious name, for it means "Servant." This child is the grandfather of Israel's great King and first Messiah, David. So we have here in Ruth 4, the concepts of kinsman-redeemer, servant, and king.

The same genealogy as in verses 18 to 22, appears at the beginning of Matthew as part of the genealogy of the second and greatest Messiah, Jesus. This is the ultimate fulfilment of the book of Ruth.

Jesus Christ, the descendant of Boaz and Ruth, fulfils perfectly what Boaz foreshadowed in his redemption of Ruth. Jesus has the power and the love to redeem us because he is God. He has the right to do so because he is human, our kinsman. He is the kinsman-redeemer king who came as a servant. This is the Jesus who was a friend of prostitutes and immoral women. The Jesus who saved a woman from stoning. The Jesus who said "whoever comes to me, I will never drive away." The Jesus who hung in agony and blood on a Roman torture stake to redeem people like Ruth and Boaz and Naomi and you and me. The Jesus who has now been raised as Messiah King to God's right hand in heaven and who will return to judge the living and the dead. The Jesus whose spirit is present with us today. Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman redeemer.